Fishing industry group ‘misleading public’

Press, 16 August 1988, Page 5

Fishing industry group ‘misleading public’

By

JANE ENGLAND

Maori affairs reporter

The Fishing Industry Association and board have been accused of misleading their members and the public by legal counsel for the South Island Ngai Tahu tribe, Mr David Palmer.

Mr Palmer yesterday challenged the association’s submission to Parliament’s Maori Affairs select committee on the Treaty of Waitangi Amendment Bill now being considered by Parliament. The association has submitted that access to the Waitangi Tribunal should not be restricted to Maori claimants.

Mr Palmer said the submission was “just plain bloody nonsense.” The Crown, the association and the board already had access to the tribunal, he said. In the Ngai Tahu case the tribunal’s chairman, Judge Ashley McHugh, had ruled that the association and board could be represented at the hearings, call evi-

dence and make submissions. “The only restriction is that in the purely technical sense they cannot be parties to the case because the act provides that only the Crown and Maori may be parties. “That is a technicality only. The Fishing Industry Association and board have attended the hearings and have exercised

the same ngnts as rne Crown and the claimants. “The association is simply misleading itself and the public when it says it does not have access.” Mr Palmer said the association had not been represented initially at the Muriwhenua hearings “by reason of its own choice.” He said the association had failed to understand

the importance of the issues at Muriwhenua which have since sparked a public debate. The association and board relied on the Crown to oppose the Maori applicants and did not seek to take part in the proceedings until “very late in the piece” when the importance of the issue became clear. “That leave was granted by the tribunal.”