Ports breath sigh of relief

What began as an isolated fishing-right dispute between the Marlborough District Council and local Maori exploded when the courts suggested Maori might have ancestral claim to foreshore and seabed throughout the country.

Wary of the potential ramifications, the Government responded by hurrying through the new Act. The legislation essentially confirms Crown ownership of public areas while granting Maori some ongoing rights – these are not expected to interfere with normal port business.

Saunders Unsworth’s md and port companies’ advocate Barrie Saunders says the original bill would have only given 50-year reclamation leases and contained a retrospective aspect potentially affecting existing infrastructure titles at the Ports of Auckland, Port of Napier, PrimePort Timaru and Port Otago.

“That was absolutely hopeless as no-one was going to invest in a reclamation that they might lose, ” he says.

“The bill was changed so a perpetual right of renewal can be granted at the Minister of Conservation’s discretion. So it is not 100%, but you are not going to do the reclamation until you know you are going to get those perpetual rights.”

Many Maori feel they have been robbed by the legislation – as evidenced by the imbedding of an axe in the electoral office of Prime Minister Helen Clark the day after its passing. Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says the legislation is the “death of democracy through the tyranny of the majority. This bill is a discriminatory act treating private property rights as more important than customary property rights.”