Post by Kiwi Frontline on Apr 28, 2024 9:49:38 GMT 12
COASTAL COURT ACTION FLIES UNDER THE RADAR - Graham Adams.
The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 — known as MACA — was introduced as part of National’s coalition deal with the Māori Party to repeal and replace Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. It restored the customary interests extinguished by that Act to allow rights over the foreshore and seabed to be granted to Māori — either through hearings in the High Court or direct negotiation with the Crown — but made the specific criteria for a successful application narrow.
Since then, to the horror of opponents, activist judges have expanded those criteria to open the floodgates to claims lodged by iwi, hapū and whanau that will likely cover much, if not most, of New Zealand’s coastline. More than 200 claims have been filed in court, with as many as 300 seeking direct ministerial grants of title.
Finlayson himself has acknowledged that the elastic way MACA is being interpreted is a concern. Last year he told the Listener that the law’s “tests are being routinely ignored by the courts, but that is an issue for another day”.
That day can’t come soon enough for critics like NZCPR’s Muriel Newman, who commented on a Court of Appeal judgment released last October which significantly lowered the bar for awarding customary title and rights and is now the leading case on how MACA is interpreted:......
www.nzcpr.com/coastal-court-action-flies-under-the-radar/
The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 — known as MACA — was introduced as part of National’s coalition deal with the Māori Party to repeal and replace Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. It restored the customary interests extinguished by that Act to allow rights over the foreshore and seabed to be granted to Māori — either through hearings in the High Court or direct negotiation with the Crown — but made the specific criteria for a successful application narrow.
Since then, to the horror of opponents, activist judges have expanded those criteria to open the floodgates to claims lodged by iwi, hapū and whanau that will likely cover much, if not most, of New Zealand’s coastline. More than 200 claims have been filed in court, with as many as 300 seeking direct ministerial grants of title.
Finlayson himself has acknowledged that the elastic way MACA is being interpreted is a concern. Last year he told the Listener that the law’s “tests are being routinely ignored by the courts, but that is an issue for another day”.
That day can’t come soon enough for critics like NZCPR’s Muriel Newman, who commented on a Court of Appeal judgment released last October which significantly lowered the bar for awarding customary title and rights and is now the leading case on how MACA is interpreted:......
www.nzcpr.com/coastal-court-action-flies-under-the-radar/