The group representing NZ's 15 ports is pleased with progress on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill.PR guru Barrie Saunders fronted the ports' submission to the Maori Affairs Select Committee yesterday, backed by legal advisor Hugh Rennie QC
The group representing NZ’s 15 ports is pleased with progress on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill.
PR guru Barrie Saunders fronted the ports’ submission to the Maori Affairs Select Committee yesterday, backed by legal advisor Hugh Rennie QC, Ports of Napier head Garth Cowie, and Ports of Auckland property manager Ben Chrystall.
Mr Saunders kicked off with the ‘bigger picture’ for the ports’ submission, pointing out that an effective export sector requires efficient points
“It’s not a narrow self-interest, it’s integral to the entire economy," he said.
The government appears to have taken this message on board. Mr Saunders thanked Attorney General Chris Finlayson for his efforts to engage with ports, including giving the group the chance to sight several versions of the draft bill.
“We think the drafters of the bill have done a pretty good job of accommodating the interests of port companies,” Mr Saunders said today.
Ports have achieved their key ‘wish list’ item – namely, fee simple title for reclaimed land – and are now seeking to tidy up a few details.
Mr Saunders recommended that the vital role of ports and other infrastructure of national or regional significance be added to the purposes section of the bill.
This would avoid courts making inferences about the bill’s intent based on the exclusion of ports and infrastructure from this section.
National MP Paul Quinn pointed out that the principal purposes of the bill relate to customary rather than business interests. “If port companies are singled out, why wouldn’t I single out a marina or anything else?”
If customary interests were the only purposes recognised, it wouldn’t be an issue, Mr Saunders said – but ports and infrastructure have been left off a wider list.
“It’s because the purpose goes on to list a whole lot of other areas of other interest that we’ve brought it in,” he said.
In addition to recognising customary interests, the bill’s current purpose recognises and protects public rights to access, navigation and fishing.
The interests of ports are provided for in the accommodated activities section of the bill – a section that has met with ports’ general approval.
The bill, if passed into law, would replace Labour’s 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act and return Maori the right to seek customary title over parts of the coast through the courts or through negotiation with the government.
