Government’s plan to restore a tougher test for Māori customary title claims in the foreshore and seabed w/ Te Mata Law’s Harry Clatworthy (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi and Ngāti Uenuku-Kōpako): 29th August, 2024

Earlier this year, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith in a private meeting with Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones and seafood industry representatives discussed potential changes to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011, which is a piece of legislation that replaced the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. 

The Takutai Moana Act allows Māori to apply for certain customary rights over the foreshore and seabed under customary marine title. 

The government intends to change section 58 of the Act which currently requires an applicant group to prove they have "exclusively used and occupied it from 1840 to the present day without substantial interruption". The proposed changes would change the section 58 test to reduce the 100% of coastline subject to customary marine title to 5%.

As a result, an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim into the government’s proposed changes to the Act had its hearings this week. 

This is the seventh urgent inquiry by the Tribunal into the coalition government’s policies. 

Producer Sofia spoke to lawyer at Te Mata Law, Harry Clatworthy (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, and Ngāti Uenuku-Kōpako), about these proposed changes as well as the historical context of foreshore and seabed ownership in Aotearoa.