‘Pull the legislation, and stop hurting Māori’: Former minister Chris Finlayson slams coastal law changes

Wednesday, 6 August 2025

In an exclusive interview, former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson urges the Government to ditch its plan to rewrite marine title law, warning it sends the message to Māori that “their rights are always under attack.”

Former National Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson has slammed the Government’s plan to make it harder for Māori to claim customary title to marine and coastal areas.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith confirmed on Tuesday Parliament would soon debate the final stages of a law change that will retrospectively remove some Māori rights to the seabed and foreshore.

The change would force around half-a-dozen claimants back to court, with the law change retrospectively undoing settled claims dating back to July 2024. That was when Goldsmith originally announced his intention to change the law.

This decision is expected to stir further protest from Māori and those concerned by the coalition Government’s policies regarding Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Former National Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson.

Speaking to ThreeNews on Wednesday, Finlayson said the move reflected a bad set of priorities.

“Well, I think that there’s some kind of agreement that has been entered into with New Zealand First to push it through, and it seems that the coalition agreement is more important than good race relations and the rule of law,” he said.

Finlayson said there were three points that made it clear the move was “stupid and foolish”.

“Well, it’s the first time in my memory that the Crown has actually moved to legislate when it won in the Supreme Court,” he said, referring to a judgement that appeared to align more closely with the Cabinet’s view about how the Marine and Coastal Areas Act should be applied.

“So there’s no need for the legislation, that’s the first point, and the process has been truncated and very unfortunate - that’s the second point,” he continued.

“The third point is that it does not seek to restore what Parliament legislated for in 2010, it’s changing the rules of engagement considerably.”

Finlayson said the Government should “pull the legislation, and stop hurting Māori”.

“I think [the change] basically says to Tangata whenua that whatever they got, whatever they get, can be changed at the whim of a future government,” he said.

Former minister Christopher Finlayson said the Government appeared to be placing the coalition agreement above “good race relations”.

“Their rights are always under attack, and I just feel desperately sorry that having made good advances with this legislation in 2010, it’s being undone by another government 15 years later.”

Finlayson added there was no basis to fears public access to beaches would be restricted under customary marine title.

“The 2011 legislation makes it very clear that public access is not going to be impeded by customary marine title, and sometimes areas will be, locked off,” he said.

“For example, a Rāhui may be imposed if someone drowns, but that sort of thing happens now, but concerns about public access, frankly is a lie.”

Customary marine title is not ownership. But it does mean that the holder of that title can have a say about resource management applications which impact that marine area.

A customary title also does not prohibit fishing or other recreational activity in the area.

Goldsmith, the treaty negotiations minister, said on Tuesday he still believed that courts had made it too easy for Māori to make claims to customary marine title.

As a result, he said the Government would change the law by October to make those claims harder.