Action Alert: Submission Guide on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill

The Green Party encourages you to have your say on the Foreshore and Seabed bill. You will need to write a submission and send 20 copies to the Clerk of the Fisheries and Other Sea Related Legislation Committee, Select Committee Office, Parliament Buildings, Wellington. You can also present your submission verbally to the select committee (this can have more impact) so clearly say so in your written submission.

The deadline for submissions is 12 July 2004. For more information on making submissions read Making a Submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee (pdf) on the Clerk of the House site. You can also read the Foreshore and Seabed Bill (pdf). If you want further help call the office on 04 470 6796 (you can call collect) or email green.party@parliament.govt.nz.

Making a submission

You have to address matters in the bill if you want to be taken seriously by the select committee! A committee can decide not to hear a submission it considers not relevant.

We suggest that you first state who you are (whether a private citizen or representative on behalf of an organisation), your general position on the bill and your reasons. Then make more detailed comments on the clauses that concern you. If you want changes to certain clauses, say so, and give your reasons. Feel free to suggest new wording of the clauses that you want changed. Be simple and direct. Outline the key points at the beginning and then restate your recommendations at the end of the submission.

The Foreshore and Seabed Bill The Green Party did not support the 1st reading of this bill and strongly opposes it. If you also oppose this bill please say that in your submission. However it will also be useful to comment on specific clauses in the bill. The Foreshore bill is quite detailed and this submission guide only touches on a few parts.

The bill is based on the government's four key principles of public access; regulation; certainty; and protection. The purpose of the bill is to provide for reasonable and appropriate public access across all areas of the public foreshore and seabed, to vest the public foreshore and seabed in the Crown, and to provide a legal framework for the recognition of customary rights. Some issues you might like to include in your submission are outlined below.

These are questions that we think are important to consider. Please include other issues that you think are important too!

Part 2 - clauses 11 & 12 Public foreshore and seabed vested in the Crown These clauses vest the public foreshore and seabed in the Crown as its absolute property. The foreshore and seabed can still be sold or transferred by an Act of Parliament, or under certain circumstances in the Resource Management Act.

How can we best protect New Zealand's foreshore and seabed from overseas/private sale? Through Crown ownership or some other way?

Part 2 clause 29 & Part 4 clause 58 Jurisdiction of the High Court Clauses 29 and 58 enable any New Zealander, on behalf of a group, to seek an application for a territorial customary rights order. The Green Party recognises Te Tiriti and M