2010, Building Community, Living Justly - Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Discriminatory public domain option is “no solution” say Catholic Bishops

New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops say the government’s preferred option for resolving ownership of the foreshore and seabed duplicates the discrimination of the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act.

A New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference (NZCBC) statement on the foreshore and seabed comments on the government proposal to place most foreshore and seabed in a new category called “public domain” land - but continuing to exempt 12,499 existing private property titles.  This would be discriminatory as it would continue to treat Māori customary property rights differently to other property rights, says the statement. Continue…