Foreshore fight will not end when law passed, say iwi

17.11.2004 1.00pm

The fight over the foreshore and seabed won't end when the Government's amended legislation goes through this week, Ngati Tama spokesman John Mitchell said today.

Yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen officially released changes to the contentious Foreshore and Seabed Bill in a deal confirmed with New Zealand First. The bill, which passed its second reading this morning, will underline that the foreshore and seabed is owned by the Crown in perpetuity.

Dr Mitchell and other top of the south iwi leaders said today that the latest events were no surprise and the fight against the legislation could go on for years.

"This will effectively be a sore point for a very, very long time," Dr Mitchell said. "I am not angry. The best thing to do is to remain calm and address the issues as calmly as we can. There will be another day and we have to reverse this. This is not the first time we have faced something like this and it may be another generation who will be the ones who have to administer it."

Dr Cullen said he would be discussing the legislation with Marlborough iwi about their claims once the bill was passed and added that some of their concerns had been met through changes to the marine farming law and the Resource Management Act process.