Post by Kiwi Frontline on Aug 21, 2020 15:47:48 GMT 12
BAY OF PLENTY COASTLINE CLAIM - by Dr Muriel Newman
The first of 202 pending applications to the High Court for the ownership and control of New Zealand’s coastline under the Marine and Coastal Area Act is now underway. It is the Edwards claim for a stretch of the Bay of Plenty coastline south of Whakatane from Ohope to Torere and out to the edge of the Territorial Sea.
Most of the claims were lodged with the High Court in 2017 on the eve of the seven-year deadline established by the Act. A further 358 applications were submitted to the Crown for direct negotiation. The Minister for Treaty Negotiations, Andrew Little, who is managing that process, recently released a draft timetable for dealing with those applications – he expects it will take 20 to 30 years for those claims to be resolved!
The Edwards case is important because it is likely to determine a number of crucial matters of principle regarding the claims process. To qualify for a customary title to the coast, the Act requires tribal applicants to prove they have had exclusive use and occupation of their claimed area without substantial interruption since 1840.
But since most of the coastal claims overlap with other claims, applicants are now seeking to re-define what is commonly understood to be ‘exclusive’, from the use of an area by one applicant group only, to the notion of ‘shared’ exclusivity whereby more than one tribal group can jointly claim control of the coast.
Since the Judge is expected to use this case to make a precedent-setting judicial determination regarding the ‘exclusive use and occupation’ test, the Landowners Coalition – a voluntary group representing the public interest – is pro-actively involved in the case as an interested party.
The Coalition, which is represented by the law firm of former MP Stephen Franks, opposes the concept of shared exclusivity. Their legal team is arguing that resolving claims under the Act is intensely factual, and requires the applicant group to prove they have satisfied all of the tests in the law, namely, that their use is ‘exclusive’, that they have ‘occupied’ the claimed area since 1840, and that there has been no ‘substantial interruption’ to their exclusive use.
With claimants having access to over $300,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance to prepare their cases, those opposing them in the public interest, like the Landowners Coalition, have to pay all of the costs themselves. That’s why the NZCPR is continuing to support the Coalition’s involvement in this important 8-week long case.
The law defines the coastal marine area as the distance between the average spring high tide waterline and the 12 nautical mile territorial limit – along with the airspace above, the water, and the subsoil, bedrock and mineral wealth below. It covers 10 million hectares of the richest natural resources in the country, equivalent to a third of the land area of New Zealand.
Claimants who succeed in gaining customary title to the coast will have rights akin to ownership, including the right to veto resource consents and conservation activities in their area, the right to charge commercial operators, the ability to impose a wahi tapu to restrict public access, and ownership rights to all non-nationalised minerals.
www.nzcpr.com/important-developments/#more-32867
The first of 202 pending applications to the High Court for the ownership and control of New Zealand’s coastline under the Marine and Coastal Area Act is now underway. It is the Edwards claim for a stretch of the Bay of Plenty coastline south of Whakatane from Ohope to Torere and out to the edge of the Territorial Sea.
Most of the claims were lodged with the High Court in 2017 on the eve of the seven-year deadline established by the Act. A further 358 applications were submitted to the Crown for direct negotiation. The Minister for Treaty Negotiations, Andrew Little, who is managing that process, recently released a draft timetable for dealing with those applications – he expects it will take 20 to 30 years for those claims to be resolved!
The Edwards case is important because it is likely to determine a number of crucial matters of principle regarding the claims process. To qualify for a customary title to the coast, the Act requires tribal applicants to prove they have had exclusive use and occupation of their claimed area without substantial interruption since 1840.
But since most of the coastal claims overlap with other claims, applicants are now seeking to re-define what is commonly understood to be ‘exclusive’, from the use of an area by one applicant group only, to the notion of ‘shared’ exclusivity whereby more than one tribal group can jointly claim control of the coast.
Since the Judge is expected to use this case to make a precedent-setting judicial determination regarding the ‘exclusive use and occupation’ test, the Landowners Coalition – a voluntary group representing the public interest – is pro-actively involved in the case as an interested party.
The Coalition, which is represented by the law firm of former MP Stephen Franks, opposes the concept of shared exclusivity. Their legal team is arguing that resolving claims under the Act is intensely factual, and requires the applicant group to prove they have satisfied all of the tests in the law, namely, that their use is ‘exclusive’, that they have ‘occupied’ the claimed area since 1840, and that there has been no ‘substantial interruption’ to their exclusive use.
With claimants having access to over $300,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance to prepare their cases, those opposing them in the public interest, like the Landowners Coalition, have to pay all of the costs themselves. That’s why the NZCPR is continuing to support the Coalition’s involvement in this important 8-week long case.
The law defines the coastal marine area as the distance between the average spring high tide waterline and the 12 nautical mile territorial limit – along with the airspace above, the water, and the subsoil, bedrock and mineral wealth below. It covers 10 million hectares of the richest natural resources in the country, equivalent to a third of the land area of New Zealand.
Claimants who succeed in gaining customary title to the coast will have rights akin to ownership, including the right to veto resource consents and conservation activities in their area, the right to charge commercial operators, the ability to impose a wahi tapu to restrict public access, and ownership rights to all non-nationalised minerals.
www.nzcpr.com/important-developments/#more-32867