Foreshore bill delayed by opposition

Opposition parties outdistanced the Government in Parliament last night and the legislation that will replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act won't become law until next week.

Labour and ACT MPs delayed the committee stage of the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill by putting up hundreds of unsuccessful amendments -- voting on them kept Parliament sitting until after midnight.

Debates on individual clauses were dragged out and the bill won't complete its committee stage until today, with a third reading expected on Tuesday.

ACT MP Hilary Calvert was again leading the charge against it after a row over comments she made on Tuesday night which the Maori Party said yesterday were racist.

Ms Calvert was disparaging about the way the legislation had to take Maori rights into account and described tikanga -- Maori customs and traditions -- as "an Alice in Wonderland word" which could be defined in different ways.

"We might just as well ask iwi for a list of what they want and put through a legal transfer," she said.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said she expected ignorant attitudes from ACT "but when someone denigrates another culture than for me that's racist".

One of her MPs, Te Ururoa Flavell, issued a press statement last night accusing ACT of running an anti-Maori campaign and saying Ms Calvert had become "the mouthpiece for the redneck and racist rhetoric that the ACT Party is known for".

His office later said the statement had been recalled -- after emailing it to media offices.

The bill repeals the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act and restores to Maori the right to seek customary title to parts of the coastline through the High Court or by negotiation with the Government.

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson, who is in charge of the bill, has inserted a new clause which makes it explicitly clear that access to the beaches will be guaranteed and that no one can be charged.

That didn't satisfy Ms Calvert, who said it wouldn't change anything.

"Those people who threaten and cajole the public now will continue to do so when this bill becomes law," she said.

"ACT has heard of accounts of people who, while having picnics, taking wedding photos or just going for a walk, have been threatened or told to pay up -- and nothing in this clause will discourage this from happening in the future."

National, the Maori Party and United Future support the bill, giving the Government a slender majority, and all the other parties oppose it.

So does independent MP Hone Harawira, who quit the Maori Party last month mainly over his outspoken criticism of the legislation and his claims that the Government was passing anti-Maori laws.

"It is nothing but a legal fiction, a play on words to calm the fears of Maori people, but it is still a confiscation of Maori rights to the foreshore and seabed," he said.

"This bill ensures the Government will always have the final say in determining what Maori customary title will be... and so Maori people are asking why on earth the Maori Party is supporting it."

The Government had hoped to have it through its third reading by the end of the week but because bills can't go through more than one stage in a day it faces the rest of the committee stage today and the third reading on Tuesday.