Geoff Parker: TIMELINE - Of The Foreshore And Seabed saga (Summarised)

Pre 1997 - Under British Common law, the foreshore and seabed were owned by the Crown on behalf of all New Zealanders. This was affirmed in the 1963 Ninety Mile Beach case, when the Court of Appeal found that no common law ‘customary title’ existed in the foreshore and seabed.

Dr Muriel Newman on the Foreshore & Seabed Controversy

Dr Muriel Newman continues the discussion with Sean Plunket on the Platform about the foreshore and seabed controversy.

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NZCPR Newsletter: Court of Appeal Opens Coast to Maori Ownership

A Court of Appeal decision was released last week that will have a profound influence on the future of New Zealand. Poor drafting and a radical application of ‘tikanga’ by the judiciary has delivered the exact opposite outcome from what the public was promised.

The law in question is the Marine and Coastal Area Act (MACA). It was introduced by John Key’s National Government back in 2011 as part of their coalition agreement with the Maori Party. The new law repealed Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed and opened up the coast for tribal claims.

Chris Trotter: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today - More at Stake Than Sun and Sand.

“An unhappy summer” is the prediction of at least one of the Maori leaders laying claim to the foreshore and seabed in response to the Government’s declaration that New Zealand’s beaches and coastal waters lie in the “public domain” - i.e. belong to all of us.

Maori nationalists have raised the prospect of fencing off public beaches and requiring non-Maori to apply for “visas” before being granted access. Titewhai Harawira has gone even further, denouncing the Government’s proposals as another “confiscation” of Maori property rights, and threatening to organise a nationwide march on Parliament in protest.