Hon Christopher Finlayson

Hon JIM ANDERTON (Leader—Progressive) to the Attorney-General: Is it Government policy to grant customary title in the entire Northland coast from Mangonui up the cape, and down to the Hokianga Heads?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) : No. It is the Government’s policy to determine each application for customary title on its merits, assessing the facts of each case, and applying the tests that will be set out in the statute.

Hon Jim Anderton: Has the Minister seen Professor Margaret Mutu’s statement in the New Zealand Herald today, with regard to the coastline pictured in the New Zealand Herald, that “we own it”; if so, what has he done to show the rest of New Zealand that we all own it?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: No, I have not read the article.

Hon Jim Anderton: Will the Northland claimants be making their claim for title to the courts or to the Government?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: It is a bit early for that.

David Garrett: Would the granting of customary title over all or part of Ninety Mile Beach enable the Māori owners to prevent four-wheel driving and tour buses on what would then be Māori-owned foreshore and seabed?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: I would not have thought so.

Hon Jim Anderton: If the Minister cannot tell the House at this point in time who will be making the decision on any claim to ownership, how can he rule out in any way at all that the claimant might get title to the whole coastline?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: Well, no one will be making any claim as at this time, because the law has not been passed yet. When the law is passed, there will be an opportunity for interested parties—be they iwi or, in some cases, hapū—to enter into negotiations with the Crown or to exercise the court option that was taken away from them by the Government of which that member was a senior Cabinet Minister in 2004.

Hon Jim Anderton: As the Minister is blaming the previous Government for this, how will he resolve the new Treaty agreements that will be created when people form an expectation that they own the coastline, as stated in the New Zealand Herald today, because he refuses to rule out their title to it, while he is reassuring other New Zealanders that “title” in this case does not mean “title”?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: In my previous answer I did not blame the previous Government. I set out the facts of the situation. The facts are that when the law has been passed, we can then deal with negotiations and court applications if there are any, and they can be determined on their facts.

Hon Jim Anderton: I seek leave to table the definition of title in the Oxford Dictionary, which states that it is a right or claim to the ownership of property.

Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? [Interruption] Did I hear objection? There is no objection.

• Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.