Post by Kiwi Frontline on Apr 20, 2024 6:29:21 GMT 12
UNPUBLISHED letter to the Northern Advocate
Dear Editor,
While Whangarei folk are going about their busy lives I wonder how many are aware that Justice Layne Harvey is currently hearing Marine & Coastal Area ‘permanent right’ claims to the Whangarei Harbour and beyond by a few opportunistic local Maori tribes.
I say ‘opportunistic’ because in the eighteenth century individual Maori tribes never had ‘permanent rights’ to NZ’s coastline. Their occupation could be ended by a stronger tribe.
Yet today we have Judges and Government granting tribes ‘permanent rights’ to our coastline to the detriment of all other NZ citizens.
In a recent NZCPR article Graham Adams wrote: ‘The MACA law confers the right for iwi and hapū to be involved in coastal planning and policy development, including vetoing resource consents in an area from the high tide mark to 12 nautical miles out to sea. This could affect applications to set up fish farms, marinas, offshore wind turbines or to build new wharves in their designated areas.
Financial windfalls will also be available through charging commercial operators a fee. Some fear that could devastate business enterprises such as inshore fisheries as ticket-clipping renders coastal industries uneconomic.
And although the government will continue to own nationalised minerals and resources — gold, silver, uranium and petroleum — other valuable commodities such as rare earth elements will belong to tribal groups.
Not least, the right to public access may be infringed by their imposing rahui (bans), or declaring some or all of their area to be wahi tapu (sacred places), with a fine of up to $5000 for trespass.’
Bizarrely these claims for our coastline seem to be flying beneath the radar of the general public?
Geoff Parker
Kamo
Click to enlarge
Dear Editor,
While Whangarei folk are going about their busy lives I wonder how many are aware that Justice Layne Harvey is currently hearing Marine & Coastal Area ‘permanent right’ claims to the Whangarei Harbour and beyond by a few opportunistic local Maori tribes.
I say ‘opportunistic’ because in the eighteenth century individual Maori tribes never had ‘permanent rights’ to NZ’s coastline. Their occupation could be ended by a stronger tribe.
Yet today we have Judges and Government granting tribes ‘permanent rights’ to our coastline to the detriment of all other NZ citizens.
In a recent NZCPR article Graham Adams wrote: ‘The MACA law confers the right for iwi and hapū to be involved in coastal planning and policy development, including vetoing resource consents in an area from the high tide mark to 12 nautical miles out to sea. This could affect applications to set up fish farms, marinas, offshore wind turbines or to build new wharves in their designated areas.
Financial windfalls will also be available through charging commercial operators a fee. Some fear that could devastate business enterprises such as inshore fisheries as ticket-clipping renders coastal industries uneconomic.
And although the government will continue to own nationalised minerals and resources — gold, silver, uranium and petroleum — other valuable commodities such as rare earth elements will belong to tribal groups.
Not least, the right to public access may be infringed by their imposing rahui (bans), or declaring some or all of their area to be wahi tapu (sacred places), with a fine of up to $5000 for trespass.’
Bizarrely these claims for our coastline seem to be flying beneath the radar of the general public?
Geoff Parker
Kamo
Click to enlarge
