MEDIA RELEASE

Seabed and Foreshore Legislation: The Largest confiscation in our time

8 April 2004

In the public gallery of Parliament this afternoon a group of young Pakeha and Tauiwi expressed their frustration at the government's decision to table a Bill which would vest the ownership of the seabed and foreshore of Aotearoa in Crown hands.

Dressed in black, their shirts spelt out in white that the proposed seabed and foreshore law was paramount to theft. Not only does the legislation deny Maori of their right to due legal process and the Waitangi Tribunal finding of a Treaty breach, it also ignores the consultation process where Iwi rejected the extinguishment of customary title.

A spokesperson for the group, Vanessa Cameron Lewis, said that the seabed and foreshore bill amounted to the largest confiscation of land in our time. "As young people, we refuse to be part of an ongoing legacy of land theft in Aotearoa".

ENDS
Contact:
Kate Lowe
0211196715

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