Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata—the foreshore and seabed edition!
Āe, we’re going there.
This wiki we’ve been DEEP in the rangahau/research trenches and you know what we found out?
A lot. So much, in fact, we realised we maaaaaaybe (definitely) didn’t know as much about the foreshore and seabed as we’d thought coming into this…
Judging by the numbers of head scratches, raised eyebrows, and confused looks we’ve received in convos with friends and whānau along the way, we have a sneaking suspicion there are others out there in the same poti/boat.
If that’s you e hoa, kāua e āwangawanga/don’t worry, today’s pānui/newsletter includes facts galore, behind-the-beehive-door kōrero, the nerdiest timeline we’ve ever put together, and more from the Māori creatorverse to help us all get up to speed together.
Whatever your opinion, anyone committed to adding more mōhiotanga/knowledge to their kete on this will always be welcome at our tēpu/table—though that doesn’t mean we won’t debate you when you’re here 😉. Nau mai, haere mai! Let’s kick things off as always with talk of the tāone.
- Toitū Te Reo Festival was a major success and massive FOMO source.
- New opps announced for rangatahi Māori to get into the screen industry, and DJs or producers to get on Lady Shaka’s list.
- Tania Rauna showed up to a select committee hearing dressed as a unicorn (for good reason).
- Save the date! An epic online kura reo for Māori in digi/tech industries is coming this October.
- The NZ Film Fest is wowing audiences with an all-class Māori film line-up. Toronto Film Fest have followed suit.
- In a roundabout way, Hobson’s Pledge are helping the public to understand that Māori aren’t trying to block them from beaches through customary marine titles.
Start here! Te Aniwa Hurihanganui has an absolute knack for covering kaupapa Māori with a factual, cool, and calm approach that sidesteps the turituri/noise and gets straight to the terotero/guts of an issue. This article is the 123, AEIOU…s intro to foreshore and seabed rights, including a tino mārama/very clear answer to that headline-grabbing, fear-inducing, public access issue.
Find it: on the 1 News website I Time: 5 mins I Cost: free I Credits: written by Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (Te Arawa, Rangitāne, Ngāti Porou).
Thinking about it, the foreshore and seabed hikoi—the peaceful movement of thousands across our motu/country during an extremely heated time—was a feat of pretty huge proportion. But how did those ‘haters and wreckers’ pull it off? Tāmati’s got the inside scoop and e tama did it whakautu/answer some big pātai/questions. OK it also raised more, but that’s a sign we’re learning, nē?.
Find it: on TVNZ+ I Time: 1hour I Cost: free with your account I Credits: Directed by Whatanui Flavell I Notes: contains good pockets of te reo Māori with English subtitles for some interviews.
Covering secret late-night hui, pressured phone calls, ally dramas, and floor crosses from the rollercoaster that was 2004, this pick has all the ingredients of a top-rating political drama. But the magic is in the quieter moments, wherein—whether you’re a fan or not—Dame Tariana Turia’s resolve to do the tika/right thing for her moko/grandchildren is next level inspiring (and oh so ‘wahine Māori’).
Find it: on Spotify I Time: 45 mins I Cost: free with your account I Credits: this series is hosted by Morgan Godfery (Te Pahipoto, Samoa) and produced by Radio New Zealand
Yesterday, my six year old irāmutu/nephew interrupted my rangahau/research. Thank ngā atua/the gods, because I suddenly realised I was so far down the rabbit hole—so caught up in reports and politics and theoretical debates—I was losing touch with what this kaupapa is really all about. He loved reading this pukapuka and going to put our feet in the sand, almost as much as I did.
Find it: on the Mohimohi Moana website I Time: a half hour I Cost: $3.80 for the ebook, $14.00 for the hard copy I Credits: written by Howard Reti (Ngāti Wai) I Notes: another goody for reo Māori learners, this pukapuka/book is bilingual!
Settle in e hoa mā, here’s the Ngāti Nerd timeline that’s going to take your foreshore and seabed understanding to a whole new level.
Like our kaiako reo/language teacher always tells us, horopaki/context is everything!
In his world that means cancelling the ‘old patchwork system’ and declaring himself the originator and ultimate source of all rights to land in the country. Winner takes all.
When Māori sign the treaty, the Crown believe they’ve secured sovereignty over them (that awkward translation issue is a whole separate kettle of ika/fish).
In line with their own law, that STILL means ‘the pre-existing rights of the Indigenous population remain’. It’s called ‘aboriginal’ or ‘customary title’. It basically never runs out, unless sold, and is why there’s that guarantee for Māori of full ownership of their lands, forests, and fisheries in the treaty.
The long and the short? Māori ‘own’ all of New Zealand and the Crown needs to buy it from them to get settlin’.
Their mahi is to check out Māori customary rights to land and offer conversions to full and exclusive freehold titles, Māori can then sell, lease or exchange with any Tom, Dick or Harry (before it was just to the Crown).
When Ngāti Maru apply for a claim to their foreshore and seabed, the Crown gives them fishing rights and organises payments from miners who will be using it (it includes a promising gold bed) but takes the normal full and exclusive rights for themselves.
More claims start rolling in and the Crown basically closes up shop in the area, saying they’ll figure a few things out and come back to Māori. They don’t.
When a northern iwi hit up the land court for foreshore and seabed rights around ninety mile beach, the (now called) Māori Land Court reckon they clearly meet requirements.
However the Court of Appeal tells them they’re not allowed to make foreshore decisions. They also announce that, now, every time Māori get any piece of land considered by the Māori Land Court, it automatically wipes their rights to their foreshore and seabed and makes it Crown property. Aaaaand this applies retrospectively.
Through the Territorial Sea Act the Crown claims full ownership of the foreshore and seabed and announce it’s free from any claims from anyone. Full stop. They hope.
Not convinced the current law is fair, eight Māori iwi approach the Māori Land Court to ask if, through customary title rights, they can have a foreshore and seabed claim considered.
It ends up with the High Court who rule that yes, contrary to the Territorial Sea Act, the Māori Land Court should be able to consider this.
The Labour government disagree and quickly bring in the Foreshore and Seabed Act which, again, says they’re the owners of the foreshore and seabed and bans the Land Court from considering the claim anyway.
When Māori react with protests and hīkoi, mainstream media portray them largely as ‘land-grabbing’ with very little historical and political context.
Labour stick to their guns, even when the Human Rights Commission tells them they’re in breach. In reaction to all this, Dame Tariana Turia walks and starts the Māori Party.
Alongside Māori Party, National replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act with the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011.
Now, no one ‘owns’ the seabed and Māori can apply for more select customary rights. When these rights are granted it’s uber clear that public access must be allowed, apart from to very specific sacred areas (of which there aren’t many below the hide tide line).
Some people think it’s the same thing redressed but most agree it’s a more fair set up.
In Stuff’s apology for racist reporting, they highlight their coverage of the Foreshore and Seabed Act as extremely one-sided and misinformed.
Here we go again… except now we’re all a little more clued up, nē?
*Our main references for this deepdive include The Treaty Debates podcast series by Radio New Zealand, The Treaty of Waitangi pukapuka by Claudia Orange, copies of every Act on the government website, this Stuff apology, and various iwi treaty claims documents. We’re no historians, but we’ve given it our best crack. Hit us up if you think we’ve messed up.
Phew, that was a beefy one! We hope this newsletter helped you to learn more about and deepen your connection with te ao Māori today. We hope you get to pop your toes in the moana some time this week.
Mā te wā!/See ya soon!
