About 30% of New Zealand's coastline is owned in private title, is excluded from the Foreshore and Seabed Act and has been ring-fenced from any replacement legislation.The Maori Party was born out of discontent over the 2004 Act.As part of its support agr
About 30% of New Zealand's coastline is owned in private title, is excluded from the Foreshore and Seabed Act and has been ring-fenced from any replacement legislation.
The Maori Party was born out of discontent over the 2004 Act.
As part of its support agreement with the Maori Party, National said it would review the act and replace it if a better option was found.
Yesterday Prime Minister John Key said the Maori Party would effectively have the right of veto for any possible change. If it did not accept any replacement legislation the 2004 act would not be repealed.
The government's preferred option is to remove the foreshore and seabed from Crown ownership and make it a public domain, which no one owns, while reasserting the right of Maori to seek customary but not freehold title through the courts.
Iwi Leaders Group chairman Mark Solomon has questioned why the 12,499 private titles to the foreshore, including some owned by Maori, would not be included in the public domain when iwi were forgoing their rights.
The private titles were not included in the public foreshore and seabed as defined in the 2004 Act and would not be included when that land turned into public domain, a spokesman for Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson told NZPA.
Those 12,499 titles cover 5866.3km of the total 19,883km (including Chatham and Pitt Islands) of New Zealand's coastline.
Many of the titles include areas of foreshore or seabed to manage erosion, a memorandum to then minister for land information John Tamihere from Land Information New Zealand said.
The foreshore includes the area of beach up to the average high tide mark -- the wet area -- while the seabed is defined by a 12 mile limit.
Above the foreshore there is a 20 metre area, known as the Queens Chain, which provides public access.
The 2003 memo also noted there were 33,712 parcels of land adjoining the foreshore.
Of those 37.64 percent were Crown owned, 31.42% were owned by territorial authorities, 20.05% general, 10.35% Maori and 0.54% unresolved.
The Crown land was largely used for national parks, railway and reserves. Land owned by territorial authorities was mainly used for esplanade reserves, recreation reserves and roading, the memo said.
A spokeswoman for Land Information New Zealand said searches of private titles would not find what the land was used for.
Council-owned land could be gazetted and used for a graveyard, as a port, a park or a road. Land owned by a person could be used for a bach or a horse paddock, the spokeswoman said.
