International Socialists

The foreshore claims scare

Dougal McNeill

Recent months have been strange times in politics. You know something has to be seriously wrong when both National and ACT get hot and bothered about the rights of "ordinary New Zealanders"! Ever since the Court of Appeal’s June 19 judgment, granting the right of eight Iwi at the top of the South Island to have their claim to the Malborough seabed and foreshore heard, a sort of mass panic and campaign of deception has spread through politics.

The Labour government’s response to Ngati Apa and the other Iwis’ claims is pretty atrocious, to say the least. But to understand Labour’s response it is important to work out what the whole controversy around the foreshore is and isn’t about. We take a very brief look at some of the common arguments current in the media below.

"The government are acting to stop Mäori preventing the rest of us from going to the beach"
Whatever way you look at it, this just isn’t true. What Labour is doing is moving to make sure that, whatever the Mäori Land Court’s decision, the government won’t have to recognise the validity or substance of Mäori claims. "Citizens are free to explore what their legal rights are through the court system," Helen Clark said on June 23, but only after making it clear that Mäori ownership of the seabed and foreshore was out of the question. It’s fairly hard to see the point of "exploring what your rights are" when the government’s already told you the outcome won’t matter!

Labour’s behaviour – declaring foreshore ownership to be the Crown’s before a court has considered the various claims – is pretty dodgy from a liberal democratic or legal perspective, let alone a socialist one. Labour’s claim that "ownership of the foreshore and seabed traditionally lie with the Crown" just doesn’t wash, and Labour obviously isn’t confident enough to test its case in court. It is true that Mäori had their land stolen in wars of colonisation and conquest, but that doesn’t sound quite as nice as "traditional Crown ownership."

"But free access is the right of all New Zealanders"
Free access is, quite simply, a red herring – and a very silly one at that.

Firstly, there is no reason to assume that Mäori – if they gained control of the foreshore – would deny use and enjoyment of beaches to päkehä. After all, they haven’t for the last 163 years! There has never been any suggestion of mass exclusions by any Iwi or Hapu.

Secondly, it’s not as if working class päkehä have totally free access to the foreshore at the moment. The Department of Conservation closes environmentally significant areas, and port companies, wharf areas and other sites are regularly restricted.

Anyway, it was the National government of the late 90s, not Mäori, who tried to change "Queen’s Chain" rules to let the rich have sole access to their private playgrounds. National’s plans to let the local rich exclude the rest of us were far more threatening than anything recent claims have suggested, not that you’d guess this from Bill English and Nick Smith’s "outrage."

Thirdly, even if Mäori control of the foreshore means a few people can’t go swimming at their favourite spot, socialists see this as a small price to pay. New Zealand was established as a capitalist nation by the forcible theft of Mäori land – the struggle to fight this historical injustice is much more important than some imaginary "free access" we’re all supposed to have. Fishing and surfing are fun but, let’s face it, injustice and land theft are a bit more important.

"But Mäori control isn’t in the public interest"
The old "national interest" chestnut gets peddled out every time something doesn’t suit our bosses. As socialists we argue that there is no such thing as the "national interest." There are the interests of our rulers and there are the interests of the rest of us. It is our rulers’ interests that Clark, Cullen and Wilson are hurrying to make sure the Court of Appeal’s decision can’t upset or challenge.

As for the rest of us – Mäori, Asian, Pacific Island and päkehä workers – we have nothing to fear from claims to the foreshore. All workers should support Mäori land claims because every victory against oppression strengthens our side. We need to show our commitment to Mäori struggle and to side unconditionally with those who the government are moving to deny the right even to a hearing. From there we can argue the connections amongst the issues in Labour’s turn to the right: from the introduction of GE to the racist immigration laws and the new attacks on beneficiaries.

The foreshore and seabed claims will not go away, no matter what legal or legislative tricks Labour tries to keep up colonisation. So don’t believe the hype, look for inspiration from the great land struggles of the 1970s and be ready for the struggles to come.