Controversial Ad Campaign to Remind Kiwis Beaches Could be Privatised

The Coastal Coalition is sponsoring billboards around Auckland and Wellington highlighting new legislation being tabled in Parliament. Coastal Coalition

Iwi-Kiwi billboards springing up around Auckland and Wellington will remind Kiwis that legislation will soon be tabled in parliament that will radically change the status of New Zealand’s beaches, says the Coastal Coalition.

The government announced its intention last June to repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 and pass replacement legislation that would restore the right of Maori to access the High Court to seek customary title. It intends having the legislation in place by next December.

Large tracts of one of New Zealand’s most valuable public assets—beaches and territorial sea out to the 12 mile nautical limit—will be given to iwi, says the Coastal Coalition in a press release.

“The government is keeping New Zealanders in the dark about the extreme legislative changes they are planning,” says Dr Hugh Barr, Coalition spokesman.

The coalition, an umbrella group comprising various organisation and individuals, say that the foreshore and seabed is the common heritage of all New Zealanders.

“We believe it should remain in Crown ownership, not privatised to iwi, as [Prime Minister] John Key is proposing. Our coasts and beaches are New Zealanders’ greatest playgrounds for public use.”

Under the proposed legislation New Zealand families may in the future have to pay to use the beaches.

Iwi could also have the right to veto development or use of the foreshore by anyone else other than themselves, claims the Coalition.

Despite billions of dollars already invested by industry and communities, discussions are only taking place between Maori and the National Party.

“If the government wants to change it, it should be consulting equally with those who stand to lose a great deal - business, aquaculture, coastal communities, recreation groups, and local government,” said Dr Barr last June.

Giving New Zealand’s beaches and seabed to Maoris is “race-based privatization” says the New Zealand Centre for Political Research (NZCPR) on their website.

The legislation will assist the National government in creating a long-term relationship with the Maori Party while at the same time making it difficult for the Labour Party to form a coalition at the next election.

Had the National Party announced their intention to give the seabed and foreshore to Maori they would not have won the 2008 election, says the NZCPR.