Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Tom Bennion: Lawyer and former Waitangi Tribunal Registrar challenges Government's changes to seabed laws

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Tom Bennion: Lawyer and former Waitangi Tribunal Registrar challenges Government's changes to seabed laws · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The maccabill This is Mulori customary Title passes its third
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: reading in the House last night.
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  Speaker 2: The bill seeks to restore the clarity to the Marine
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: and Corsal Area Acts. It seeks to protect property rates
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: and pass through legal clarity. He should be ashamed of
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: the bill, and he should be ashamed of himself, and
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  Speaker 2: he thinks it's a big joke.
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  Speaker 3: This bill is not, as the Government insists, a tidy
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  Speaker 3: clarification of an old law. It is an incredibly blunt
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  Speaker 3: instrument that tears at the very foundations of justice, uppines
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  Speaker 3: our court processes, and undermines a hard fought relationship between
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  Speaker 3: Taiwi Maldy and the Crown.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Tom Bennion is a marti wrights lawyer, former Registrar for
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  Speaker 1: the White Thing He Tribunal. Joins me this morning, Tom,
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  Speaker 1: good morning, good morning, Good to have you on the show.
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  Speaker 1: Does this not just restore the original intent of the
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  Speaker 1: law than twenty eleven?
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  Speaker 4: No, doesn't net that's the act of self actually see
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  Speaker 4: is listen, please put aside the purpose of the twenty
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  Speaker 4: eleven Act when you're when you're interpreting this new edition,
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  Speaker 4: which is a sure giveaway.
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  Speaker 1: What exactly is changing that. You know, the general line
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  Speaker 1: is that there will be stronger proof required for you
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  Speaker 1: to prove that you had uninterrupted exclusive use of a
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  Speaker 1: foreshore sea bed since eighteen forty Is that basically it?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, the way it was worded before was listen,
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  Speaker 4: everybody go to court. Here's some words, argue it out.
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  Speaker 4: See under the purpose of the Act, et cetera. Where
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  Speaker 4: you think, you know these rights ended up, And this
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  Speaker 4: new one says no, we'll listen. That that was the
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  Speaker 4: Court of said interpreted it to say that you might
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  Speaker 4: get these customer rights along most of the coasts. Don't
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  Speaker 4: like that, so listen, we'll just change it to say basically, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: you've got to Basically it looks like I mean that
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  Speaker 4: the lawyers will argue it out, but it looks like
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  Speaker 4: they're trying to say, you're just about to have to
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  Speaker 4: stand there with a tire on the water's edge and
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  Speaker 4: tell everybody to bugger off since eighteen forty three to
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  Speaker 4: the current day, and if you didn't do that, you're
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  Speaker 4: not getting anything. That seems to be the test now.
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  Speaker 4: But it'll always argue whether that really is the case,
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  Speaker 4: and that we'll we'll we'll try cleverly to try and say,
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  Speaker 4: you know, Parliament still hasn't actually entirely said we're going
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  Speaker 4: to eradicate Mali wrights right up and down the coast.
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  Speaker 4: Because these guys are making these changes are too coy
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  Speaker 4: to say that out front, and we'll see, we'll see
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  Speaker 4: what we get to.
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  Speaker 1: Does this mean that people like you, lawyers are going
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  Speaker 1: to make a lot of money out of us?
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  Speaker 4: This is a lawyer's payday. Thank you very much to
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  Speaker 4: this government. They've turned a problem that was pretty much
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  Speaker 4: solved into I think not only will lawyers make money
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  Speaker 4: out of this now, but I think you've you've basically
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  Speaker 4: turned something that was essentially solved into a multi million
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  Speaker 4: dollar problem for probably hundreds of million dollars for a
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  Speaker 4: subsequent set of taxpayers. Well this will come back, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I do legal history. This will come back people.
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  Speaker 4: The last words of this act that was pasted us
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  Speaker 4: I'm looking at it now says a person is not
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  Speaker 4: entitled compensation of any kind on account of the operation
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  Speaker 4: of this amendment, which lets you know they're taking something
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  Speaker 4: away and that will cost some future taxpayers of New
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  Speaker 4: Zealand quite a lot of money.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate your time this morning, Tom bennyon Who's a
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  Speaker 1: mighty rights lawyer? Former registrar for the White Thing and Tribunal.
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  Speaker 4: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
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  Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks at B from five am weekdays,
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