The foreshore and seabed (Marine and Coastal Area Bill) proposals have surely stirred up a hornets' nest.
Chris Finlayson refers to people who oppose his divisive proposals as ‘clowns' and ‘paranoids'. Name calling appears to be the modus operandi of supporters of the Bill. People who hold a different view from others are not devoid of intelligence and do have a democratic right to voice their opinions or objections to any proposal that will negatively affect the majority of citizens over time.
This Bill is trucking along the same track as claims to the Waitangi Tribunal. They cannot be challenged or refuted at law because 83% of New Zealanders simply have no legal redress when it comes to all things Maori. Nowhere else in the world is there a Tribunal (e.g. Waitangi Tribunal) that expressly denies a right of access based on ethnicity and/or cultural grounds. (abridged)
Maureen J Anderson, Pyes Pa.