ACT Deputy Leader John Boscawen today called on Prime Minister John Key to stand by his promise in March 2010, that if there was not widespread support for the proposed Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill, the law that currently governs the foreshore and seabed would remain in place.
“During Question Time in Parliament today, I asked Attorney-General Chris Finlayson what evidence he had been able to show the Prime Minister of this ‘widespread support’ – and he could not point to any,” Mr Boscawen said.
“Mr Finlayson could not point to any evidence of widespread support for the simple reason that there is none. Rather, we have the complete opposite: widespread opposition throughout the country.
“The sheer fact of the matter is that this Bill is finished and should not be allowed to pass. The process surrounding it has been a complete farce, and almost every single submitter – Maori and non-Maori alike – has opposed the Bill in its current form.
“Now it has become even clearer that the Bill does not even pass the Prime Minister’s own criteria of ‘widespread support’ as outlined in March last year.
“I call on the Prime Minister to keep his word to New Zealand and scrap this Bill – rather than trying to rush this Bill into law now so as to put as much time as possible between its passing and the election,” Mr Boscawen said.
Tags: Foreshore and Seabed