Private land safe: Lange

Press, 22 July 1988, Page 1

Private land safe: Lange

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The Waitangi Tribunal has no power to make decisions about private land, according to the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. He rejected claims in recent days that the tribunal could make binding decisions that adversely affected the rights of owners of private land. The only power the Crown had surrendered to the Waitangi Tribunal was the power to make recommendations on Maori claims against Crown land. It had never surrendered to the tribunal the power to make binding decisions except about land involved under the StateOwned Enterprises Act, Mr Lange said. That did not have any form of threat to the security of tenure of any private citizen. The tribunal did not have that capacity.

“The Government has to make people understand the real position so that they do not get carried away by fear,” he said.

“People need have no fear that there is some extraordinary judicial machine which is going to have the power to take their home away.

“Fear is the foundation of racism and that is how the Government will approach race relations — to prevent fear,” Mr Lange said. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, said the public wanted greater certainty on race relations and that. uncertainty was leading to fear. “It is totally unacceptable that Maoris such as Mr Tipene O’Regan dan say on national television (the ‘Frontline’ programme last Sunday) that land could be taken from private citizens to satisfy Maori land claims,” he said. New Zealand needed the Government to tell it how it intended to proceed in the mess it had got itself into.

By

DAVID CLARKSON

Doubt caused by Maori fishing claims had virtually destroyed investor confidence in the fishing industry, said the acting president of the New Zealand Fishing Industry Association, Mr Peter Talley, yesterday.

The Government had a duty to address the issues responsibly to ensure that New Zealand resources were available to be used on a fair basis by all New Zealanders, he said. “To divide the country commercially on the basis of race would be an economic and social! disaster,” Mr Talley said. The fishing industry had the right to apply for a judicial review of a Waitangi Tribunal recommendation if it believed the tribunal had not decided a claim in accordance with proper legal principles. “There is a limit to what our financial resources can maange in courtroom battles,” he said.

“The industry is already in immediate danger of sinking from the weight of excessive resource rentals and fuel tax. The doubt caused by the Maori fishing claims has virtually destroyed investor confidence in the industry.” The tribunal should treat each Maori fishing claim on its own merits and avoid making general observations which might be seen to apply to other fishing claims. The tribunal should also not release its recommendations until all claims had been heard and the affected parties allowed to comment Mr Talley was critical of the lack of written evidence put before the tribunal on the Muriwhenua fishing claim in Northland concerning Maori fishing outside harbour limits. “All of the evidence was of an oral nature, clouded in mystery, fogged memories and myths,” he said.