Millions lost in fisheries claims

By Nicholas Bryant

Friday 7th July 2000

Powerful Maori lobbyists have hit out at Prime Minister Helen Clark this week over her claim there is no pressing urgency to appoint new commissioners to the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission.

Treaty Tribes Coalition chairman Harry Mikaere said as a representative of the Crown's treaty partner his group had an equal right to determine the urgency of finally settling the Maori fisheries claim.

But the government does not intend to resolve the protracted fisheries assets issue until next year at the earliest.

That is despite the release of an independent report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research estimating $1 million of Maori wealth is being destroyed every month by the delays.

"The report shows unless the assets are allocated to iwi immediately, up to $84 million of Maori wealth could be destroyed by 2006.

"But this is not an issue of interest only to Maori - the delays in allocation are holding back the New Zealand seafood industry and the economy as a whole," Mr Mikaere said.

The process is being held up by technical legal challenges of a few individuals, despite a five-year consultation process, an unprecedented mandate and legal rulings in support of the iwi-dominant Optimum Allocation Model.

Mr Mikaere told a gathering of Auckland businesspeople last week there was a double cost to the taxpayer as most of the legal challenges, like those handled by Wellington lawyer Donna Hall. Ms Hall's small but industrious law firm, Woodward Law, surged from 38th to ninth on the legal aid top earners list for the year to June 31, earning $453,845.

Mr Mikaere said it would maintain pressure on the government in its battle to end the waste. Disgraceful waste - page 21

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