Less emotion needed over foreshore and seabed – Attorney General (The New Zealand Herald)

02 Apr Less emotion needed over foreshore and seabed – Attorney General (The New Zealand Herald)

Explosive language around the foreshore and seabed issue should be avoided if there is to be a lasting solution to the problem, Attorney General Chris Finlayson says.  Earlier this week the Government said its preferred option to replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act was to declare it a public domain, which no one can own, while reasserting the right of Maori to seek customary but not freehold title through the courts.  The discussion document has been cautiously welcomed by many, but Maori Party MP Hone Harawira said he believed all the coastline should be vested in Maori customary title as the existing law essentially stole freehold title from Maoridom… go to article