WHAKAARO: He mahi huna, he mahi māminga, he takahitanga i te mana rangatiratanga o te iwi Māori e haere ake nei. Te Pire Takutai Moana, he pire e kaha tohe ana te Minita ō mua, ko Chris Finlayson.
This week, the Marine and Coastal Areas amendment legislation (MACA) came back to Parliament for its second reading, a Bill that Minister Paul Goldsmith wants to see in law by the end of October 2025.
To be clear: this Amendment Bill is the biggest raupatu of Māori rights of our generation.
These amendments take us back to the Foreshore and Seabed legislation of 2004. This legislation attempted to extinguish Māori customary rights to the foreshore and seabed and saw tens of thousands of whānau hīkoi from Te Rerenga Wairua to Parliament.
Hīkoi Takutai Moana
In 2004, the Green Party stood on the steps of Parliament in 2004 to welcome those on the hīkoi and voted against the Foreshore and Seabed Legislation. E tū tautoko ana anō Te Pāti Kākāriki ia te iwi Māori ki te whakahē i tēnei pire koretake rawa atu.
The middle ground of the current MACA Takutai Moana Legislation of 2011 was an agreement between Te Pāti Māori and the then National Government. It enabled Māori to go to court to affirm our customary rights and interests to the takutai moana in our rohe.
Despite the many challenges in funding, access to resources, and legal support, Māori claimants started to WIN in court. But the moment that a few Māori were winning in court – oh no, says the Kāwanatanga, we can’t have that – raise the bar!
It makes me wonder what problem the Government is trying to fix.
Māori didn’t ask to go to Court to have our mana moana recognised. An honourable Kāwanatanga would recognise our tino rangatiratanga without forcing iwi and hapū through this horrible MACA process.
Nā wai e teka mā tēnei Kāwanatanga e whakatau kei a wai te mana takutai moana ki roto i ngā rohe? He mana tuku iho, e kore e riro, e kore e riro, e kore e riro atu rā.
Te Taraipiunara o Waitangi
This week, we reflect on the 50th Anniversary of the Waitangi Tribunal and its important role as a standing commission of inquiry. The Waitangi Tribunal is a forum for our claims to be heard, our histories to be shared, and breaches of te Tiriti o Waitangi to begin to be addressed.
The Waitangi Tribunal was damning its evaluation of this legislation, stating that it was a clear breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an “illegitimate exercise of kāwanatanga.”
No changes to the legislation have been made to address the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal. He Kāwanatanga kore taringa, he Kāwanatanga huri tuara ki Te Rōpū Whakamana i Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The Coalition Government says it upholds individual property rights, yet as Māori, the rules are not the same. They believe they manage the rivers, lakes, oceans, biodiversity and more through property rights.
Yet this Government is legislating away the first property rights of Aotearoa: our Māori customary rights to the takutai moana in our own tribal rohe.
The Government isn’t going after the many thousands of kilometres of private beaches across the country that sit behind gated communities – they aren’t demanding these ultra-wealthy New Zealanders ‘open up’.
Even if Māori were to have customary rights recognised to the takutai moana, we would still have to maintain public access. Aotearoa, te iwi Māori isn’t te iwi apo. Instead we have a Kāwanatanga apo, e apo tonu nei!
This Kāwanatanga favours commercial interests over our Māori customary rights.
I reflect on my own people of Whangārei Harbour who spent many years preparing for hearings and went to the High Court for some 18 weeks to present evidence.
Our hapū and iwi have been waiting for the judge’s decision since 2024. The MACA amendment legislation has retrospective powers, which means our hearings and any decisions made would require our people to go back to Court. Are you serious? That’s how disrespectful this Government is to our people, who have committed to a Crown-designed process for MACA. Now for nothing.
Yesterday in the House, Ngātiwai Trust Board Chairman Aperahama Edwards was booted out of the House when he rose in frustration ki te whakautu ia Todd Stephenson, Mema Pāremata mō Act, me tōna kī atu ‘Ko wai hoki rātou’ koia te rikarika o te Rangatira nei ki ngā kauwhau e puta mai ana i te māngai o ēnei kuare.
Meanwhile, ki roto Te Tai Tokerau, me taku rohe o Whangārei ko te Aquaculture, sand mining, marina and port developments have been fast-tracked within our tribal rohe. These are activities that damage our environment by extractive or exploitative industries, which we are powerless to stop or control.
This legislation extinguishes and rescinds our rights by creating such a narrow and nigh-on-impossible bar for achievement of customary title that it renders the right meaningless.
The Green Party stood with Māori against the Foreshore and Seabed Legislation in 2004, and we will stand against the MACA Takutai Moana Legislation of 2025. Ka tihewa, mauri ora!
Hūhana Lyndon is a Green Party MP and the former chief executive of Ngātiwai Trust Board and Ngāti Hine Forestry Trust.
