Use your voice to stop the Government from enacting raupatu (confiscation) 

Iwi and hapū rights to their customary waters are part of tino rangatiratanga, and are core to the sovereignty tangata whenua never ceded. 

What is the Government trying to do? 

Through amending the Marine and Coastal Area (MACA) Act, the Government are wanting to reduce the rights of Māori to assert customary title over the marine and coastal (te takutai moana) area. MACA was originally created in 2011 to undo the harm caused by the infamous Foreshore and Seabed Act of 2004. These amendments will take Aotearoa backwards.  

Last month, the Waitangi Tribunal came out with a damning report which found that these proposed amendments are a clear breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This proposed legislation robs Māori of customary rights to the marine and coastal area without moral justification or evidential basis. It is a regression to raupatu.   

Make a submission using our guide to ensure Māori can assert their rights to their customary waters and marine coastal environment. 

Making a submission in your own words is ideal. The more unique submissions the committee receives, the stronger our position is.   

Set out your position

I strongly oppose the Marine and Coastal Area Amendment Bill. I request that the Select Committee recommends that it does not proceed through further stages.   

Then explain why you oppose it. We have listed several key areas in which it is a breach of Te Tiriti. We encourage you to also add your own reasons. 

• The Crown failed to consult meaningfully with Māori before proposing amendments, violating the principle of partnership.  

• The Crown breached the principle of tino rangatiratanga by overriding Māori rights without proper justification.  

• The Crown failed to protect Māori interests by proposing retrospective amendments that would disadvantage Māori applicants.  

• The policy development process was rushed, ideologically driven, dismissed advice from officials, failed to follow a transparent and evidence-based approach, and was inconsistent with good governance.  

Further information you can draw from in your submission  

The Crown failed to consult meaningfully with Māori in developing the proposal  

I do not support this Bill as the Crown failed to involve Māori meaningfully in decisions over their marine coastal areas. In the development of the proposals, the Crown disregarded repeated advice from its officials to engage with Māori, opting instead to consult with commercial fishing interests first, despite the significance of the marine and coastal area as a taonga to Māori. Claimants were only provided with only three weeks to respond – this is unacceptable. Partnership requires the Crown to work with Māori at the earliest stages of policy development, especially where Māori rights to taonga such as the takutai moana are concerned. 

The Crown breached the principle of tino rangatiratanga  

I do not support this Bill as it amounts to a significant breach of tino rangatiratanga, which guarantees Māori authority over their lands, taonga, and resources. Iwi and hapū rights to their customary waters are part of tino rangatiratanga, and are core to the sovereignty tangata whenua never ceded. These amendments diminish Māori control over the takutai moana, effectively prioritising public rights over Māori rights without justification.  

The Crown failed to protect Māori interests 

I do not support this Bill as it clearly fails to protect Māori interests under Te Tiriti. The amendments fail to safeguard Māori rights to the fullest extent practicable. Retrospective application of new rules would force many Māori groups that had already spent significant time and resources applying for customary marine title to undergo rehearings under more stringent requirements. This would place an unfair burden on Māori applicants. 

The Crown did not follow good governance and policy development failures 

I do not support this Bill as the development was rushed, ideologically driven, dismissed advice from officials, failed to follow a transparent and evidence-based approach, and was inconsistent with good governance. There is no clear justification for why these drastic amendments are required. 

Technical background 

The Government is making these changes to overturn a 2023 Court of Appeal judgement which clarified that an applicant for customary marine title only needs to show that their connection to the area in line with tikanga and that use of the area has been continuous since 1840.  

A significant disruption only matters if it affected the holding of the area according to tikanga, not their exclusive use and occupation of it. This was a landmark ruling in making progress towards recognising tikanga Māori in Aotearoa’s legal system 

After the foreshore and seabed Act in 2004, which was regarded as the largest act of confiscation in a generation the MACA Act 2011established the legal framework for recognising and asserting Māori customary interests in the marine and coastal areas, while also maintaining public access and the ownership of these areas by the Crown.  

Under this law Māori can seek recognition of customary marine title over specific parts of the coastal marine area. Customary marine title enables iwi and hapū to exercise some rights, including the ability to permit or restrict certain activities (things like marine farms or marine construction projects), protect wāhi tapu, or participate in local authority planning processes. This benefits all New Zealanders by preserving coastal environments for future generations and protecting biodiversity. Except for wāhi tapu, customary marine title in no way limits public access to the coastal marine area. 

The main things that this Bill does are: 

• Insert a declaratory statement that overturns the reasoning of the Court of Appeal and High Court in Re Edwards, and the reasoning of all High Court decisions since the High Court in Re Edwards, where they relate to the test for customary marine title. 

• Define the terms ‘exclusive use and occupation’ and ‘substantial interruption’. 

• Amend the ‘burden of proof’ to clarify that applicant groups are required to prove exclusive use and occupation from 1840 to the present day. 

• Amend the relationship between the framing sections of MACA (the preamble, purpose, and Treaty of Waitangi sections) and the provision of customary marine title. 

These changes will be applied retrospectively from July 25th 2024. This means any judgements made by the courts after this date will be overturned.