Hugh Barr: Tribal groups threatening the public’s foreshore and seabed

National’s Marine and Coastal Area Act (2011) controversially gave Maori tribal groups the ability to privatise New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed out to 22.2 Km (12 nautical miles) from shore, if they could prove that they had exclusively used  and occupied an area of the coast and territorial sea from 1840 to the present day.

Until the 2011 Act, New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed had been in public ownership since 1840, when the colony adopted British law, under which the territorial sea is declared a public common, to which the public generally has access.

Mike Butler: Coastal claim stuns bach owners

Mahia bach owners were stunned yesterday to find out about a claim for customary marine title to the foreshore and seabed around Mahia Peninsula could bring patrols to keep out those who are not members of the Rongomaiwahine group and fines of up to $5000 for those who go there without permission.

Around 120 bach owners and claimants crammed the Mokotahi Hall at Mahia 187km north of Napier at 4pm yesterday to hear Hugh Barr of the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand explain how the Marine and Coastal Area Act 2011 opened up the entire coastal area to claim by tribal groups.

Mike Butler: Dodgy deals and the twisted treaty

Did John Key do a deal with the Maori Party involving repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 before the 2008 election and not breathe a word of it during the campaign? Part of one chapter in Twisting the treaty – a tribal grab for wealth and power, published last week, says just that.