A Submission

on the
Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004
To the Ministerial Foreshore and Seabed
Review Panel

In which Ngati Kuta me Patukeha ki Te

Rawhiti, Bay of Islands, reject the
Foreshore and Seabed Act, 2004.

QuickTim
are
decompressor
needed
eªtoand
seeathis picture.
Emailed to:
foreshorereview_submit@justice.govt.nz but site disconnected. Sent
by post.

Date: 23/04/2010
Ko Rakaumangamanga te Maunga
Ko Ipipiri to moana
Ko Ngatokimatawhaorua te waka
Ko Ngapuhi te iwi
Ko Ngati Kuta me Patukeha nga
hapu
Ko Te Rawhiti te marae
Ko Te Pere-te Mauri o Patukeha me
Ngatikuta-te wharehui

Ko Rakaumangamanga, ko te maunga rongo nui,

E tu mai nei, kei te marangai

Ko te herenga kupu o nga tupuna

Ko Rakaumangamanga, no Hawaiki e.

Rakaumangamanga is the well-known mountain

Standing to the east

The binding word of the ancestors

Rakaumangamanga is from Hawaiki.

Na Henare Clendon
Te Rohe Moana o Ngati Kuta me Patukeha
Our rohe kaitiakitanga begins at Taupiri on the eastern side to
Tapeka in the west, from Wiwiki in the north to Motukokako in the
south and 200km out as set out in Map 1 below.

Map 1

Tapeka
Taupiri
Cape Wiwiki
Motukokako

Te Rawhiti Marae Rakaumangamanga

Mana Whenua Mana Moana

Ngati Kuta and Patukeha hold mana whenua and mana moana over
Te Rawhiti and Rakaumangamanga tribal lands.

The tribal lands of Rakaumangamanga have an ancient history with

a direct link to Hawaiiki. Our ancestor, Kupe, the greatest navigator
we know, charted a vast navigational triangle covering the entire
Pacific Ocean. Rakaumangamanga, Hawaii and Rapanui were the
markers. It was to Rakaumangamanga that our ancestors were
directed. This is where the huge ocean waka gathered. This was
the place where we stepped ashore. As the seventh pillar of the
Whare Tapu o Ngapuhi, we guard and care for it as ahi kaa roa. We
take their inherited role and responsibilities seriously.

Ngati Kuta and Patukeha share mana whenua of Te Rawhiti,

Rakaumangamanga. We are a coastal people. As ahi kaa roa we
hold mana whenua and mana moana for this district of Ipipiri (Bay of
Islands). This is what underpins our actions in developing our
projects to care for our rohe, and placing our claim with the
Waitangi Tribunal to redress the past and to oppose the present
Foreshore and Seabed Act in its current form.

We acknowledge that Te Rohe o Te Rawhiti has great significance to

iwi/hapu, to the community, the nation and government agencies.
Our goal is to develop beneficial relationships with all iwi/hapu
interests so that we participate in the decisions and management of
our rohe. In this way we honour our bond with the past and the
future, to care for the mauri, the life force, of ‘nga taonga tuku iho’,
the treasures handed down. These treasures are the people, all
people, and the environment-the air, the whenua and the moana
and our tikanga.

Developing ways to keep this mauri of people, whenua and the

moana healthy is the main purpose of our submission. If this mauri
is alive with health, then so is everything, everywhere.

There will be hapu collaboration with all stakeholders in the Bay of

Islands. We all need this co-operation at managerial, decision-
making levels to ensure the best care for the most precious Mauri.
We welcome this. This submission is based on the foundation that
we, the hau kainga, have primary ahi kaa status in each hapu rohe
and therefore hold mana whenua and mana moana.
Our reasons for opposing this Act.
We oppose the Foreshore and Seabed Act in its entirety for the
following reasons:

Section 3 states that the object of the Act is “to preserve the public
foreshore and seabed in perpetuity as the common heritage of all
New Zealanders in a way that enables the protection by the Crown
of the public foreshore and seabed on behalf of all the people of
New Zealand, including the protection of the association of whānau,
hapū, and Iwi with areas of the public foreshore and seabed.

Section 4 (a) gives effect to the object of the Act, by “vesting the
full legal and beneficial ownership of the public foreshore and
seabed in the Crown”.

1. By vesting all foreshore and seabed in the Crown, the Act

extinguishes all existing Maori customary/property rights and
ownership relating to the foreshore and seabed, and this:

1.1 is totally unwarranted and unacceptable

confiscation,
1.2 is imposed on Maori without their consent,
1.3 is in clear breach of Article 2 of Te Tiriti o
Waitangi,
1.4 is contradictory to the increasing international
acknowledgment of the rights of indigenous
peoples,
1.5 will create harmful and unnecessary division in
the country,
1.6 denies Maori meaningful and appropriate roles of
Rangitiratanga and kaitiakitanga of our tikanga.

2. The Act removes all meaningful judicial routes for we Maori to

have our rights investigated and legally recognised and this is:

2.1 effectively an unfair reversal of the Court of Appeal

decision on the Act and as such represents an abuse of
Parliamentary power,
2.2 totally inconsistent with internationally recognised
principles of human rights,
2.3 at odds with the common law principles of access to the
Courts and due process of law,
2.4 in breach of Article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi,
2.5 seriously eroding Maori confidence in our supposedly
equal and bicultural society, and discourages
engagement in the legal system and its processes,

3. By referring to “public foreshore” the Act excludes areas that

are already privately owned, most of which are in non-Maori
hands, particularly in our rohe moana area of the Bay of
Islands. This means that our rights as Maori are taken away,
while the property rights of non-Maori are not.

3.1 The Act’s purpose clearly breaches Article Two of the

Treaty as well as the standard common law rules
about property rights etc. It also breaches the
rights we have always had according to tikanga. It is
an unjust raupatu.

3.2 By protecting non-Maori but not Maori rights the Act also
breaches international human rights norms such as the
Convention on the Elimination of All forms of
Racial Discrimination.

4.0 Section 14 states that “no part of the public foreshore and
seabed may be alienated or otherwise disposed of
(except) by a special Act of Parliament”

4.1 The Crown has said they needed to take the foreshore
because it was worried Maori would sell it.
However Section 14 clearly gives the Crown a right to
sell it through a “special Act of Parliament”.

4.2 Since the Foreshore and Seabed Act has been passed,
the government has auctioned off areas of the seabed along
the west coast from South Auckland to Whanganui,
under the Crown Minerals Act 1991, for mineral and
petroleum exploration. The first of these licenses was issued
on the 21 February 2005 which suggests that the sale was
actually being negotiated even before the Act was
passed. The sale was conducted in secrecy without any
consultation with mana whenua.

4.3 Maori experience of the large-scale asset sales of the

1980’s and 1990’s caused concern among Maori
that the Crown could quite easily do this again.

5.0 The manufactured concerns about the risk of decreased

public access and alienation/sale if Maori can gain title
were exploited for political ends. The Act contradicts the
governments and Crowns’ concerns as it does not assure
Maori or New Zealand that the Crown will retain assured
public access or ownership.

6.0 We agree with the Waitangi Tribunal that the Crown policy,
represented in this Act, is not necessary to protect the
interests of all New Zealanders when, in other areas such as Lake
Taupo and Okahu Bay in Auckland, ownership interests of Maori
have been recognised in a way that provides for everyone’s
interests.

7.0 We agree with the Waitangi Tribunal that recommended

that the Crown have a further ‘conversation’ with our
people about the legislation because many experts from
Iwi/hapu gave evidence to the Tribunal about the tikanga
pertaining to the foreshore and all agreed that the then proposed
legislation was
in breach.

8.0 We do not support the Crown claim to overall ownership of the

foreshore and seabed and suggest instead that rights to the
Foreshore and seabed are inherent in Maori. This model would
require the Crown to prove its claim, not Maori.

The Way Forward

9.0 We ask the Committee recommend that this Act be

abandoned and the Government enter into true
meaningful and dialogue with Maori to find an acceptable
and constructive solution.

10.0 We ask that the option of confirming public access be

legislated

11.0 We ask that the option of legislating to confirm that the

foreshore and seabed be managed equally by tangata
whenua, who have ownership of the whenua adjacent to the
foreshore and seabed, and the Crown, in our case out to
200km.

12. 0 We ask that mana whenua be recognised by the crown and

where tribal ownership of whenua adjacent to the foreshore
and seabed, have riparian rights in the same way that non-
Maori land owners have riparian rights.

13.0 We ask that any exploration/sale/lease of the foreshore and

seabed and the rights and outcomes of such be shared with
tangata whenua whose land is adjacent to the foreshore and
seabed.

14.0 We ask that the ‘Queen’s Chain’ imposed in Tai Tokerau be

removed as it contradicts riparian rights and separates the
foreshore from the land adjacent to that shore. Point 10.0
above will guarantee public access to the sea which the
 ‘Queen’s Chain’ was apparently set up to do. This ‘Queen’s
Chain’ is another raupatu.

We would appreciate receiving the findings of the committee

once the submissions have been processed and a decision has
been made. We would also appreciate any analysis of the
submissions that may be relevant to the committee’s final
decision that may affect us as tangata whenua ki Te Rawhiti.

Robert Hiriwanu Rewha Willoughby, Kaitakawaenga,

Te Kupenga o Ngati Kuta me Patukeha ki Te Rawhiti Hapu

Email contact: bob@terawhiti.co.nz

Postal Address: 835 Te Rawhiti Junction, Hikurangi RD4
Northland 0184

Email contact: Moka Puru hinepuru@xtra.co.nz

Postal Address: 393 West Coast Road Panguru RD2
Northland

QuickTimeªan da
decom pressor
a
ren
eede
dtose
eth ispictu
re .

Rakaumangamanga.
This photo shows part of Te Rawhiti’s eastern coastline