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Kiwis have always appreciated our Queen’s Chain. We could not see it. We didn’t talk about it but, like how a doctor/patient relationship used to be, there was trust. It was always there. 66 feet or 20 meters was set aside, and the length was generally accepted. The term takes its name from Queen Victoria’s instruction of 1840 to reserve land for public ownership. The beaches, seabed and foreshore of the coastline and other water margins around New Zealand belonged to the people of the country. The area was accessible and available for all Kiwis to use. No one had to pay to walk or lie on the sand. No one had to pay for parking.
The unspoken right to this piece of land would be ours forever. Kiwis come back from an OE and slip immediately back to visiting our wonderful beaches and waterways. Immigrants are surprised at how safe and beautiful our natural outdoor resources are and how they are such a huge part of New Zealanders’ way of life. The Queen’s Chain is a wonderful heritage for our children and grandchildren, the next generation. Not visible, but a tangible reality; land you could actually walk on and sit on at any time.
The government and opposition over the years debated existing laws and rights to beach access and it has become a hot topic of contention for the 2023 election. Can Maori get title to the foreshore?
Without informing the public, the current Labour Government developed a secretive and racially divisive document, He Pua Pua. Some Maori did want the land. When this goal was uncovered Willie Jackson of the Maori caucus desperately tried to pacify New Zealanders, saying there is nothing to fear. National, the opposition party has avoided the topic. In fact, in 2011, at the bidding of their coalition Maori Party, they introduced the Marine and Coastal Area Act, to repeal Crown ownership and open up the foreshore and territorial sea for tribal claims. The current National Party is seriously compromised on this issue.
Many people are outraged when they realise the Queen’s Chain is up for grabs.
History surrounding this issue here – (https://www.herengaanuku.govt.nz/knowledge/rivers-lakes-and-coast/access-along-rivers-lakes-and-the-coast/
The Herenga Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, the government agency that protects, enhances, creates and sustains public access to the outdoors tries to explain what is happening. They write under their new name –
Herea te whenua ki te tangata, ki te whenua. Bind the people to the land and the land to the people… […]..
Herenga is a bond, obligation or tie. Nuku refers to Papatuanuku, the earth mother. She is the land in all her beauty, power, strength and inspiration. She sustains us.
6 March 23
It all sounds confusing. They say, ‘that more legal access to and along waterways is created for the public as more Crown land is sold or leased to private enterprise’ They also describe ‘the QC as an (20m) wide strip of public land along all water margins.’ Then Herenga a Nuku go on to seemingly shore up the notion that ‘the Queen’s Chain is more (an) aspirational concept than fact’.
Perhaps they are trying to prepare Kiwis. It’s gone. They contradict themselves. They also add, that the QC access is a ‘myth’: see here.
What is the future of the Queen’s Chain?
Peter Williams recently interviewed Winston Peters on Reality Check Radio. In the interview, Peters said there are 600 claimants, mainly Maori, lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal, for the ownership of parts of the New Zealand coastline. It is obvious they want Archives NZ, who hold records for all Crown Land, to erase Crown ownership and transfer this strip of land to iwi ownership. Simply take away the rights of Kiwis without any discussion or law change. Winning private claims could prevent non-Maori from having their usual easy access to our beautiful coast.
Watch the interview here (at 22 minutes) for comments.
The Maori Land Court, Waitangi Tribunal was asked whether what Winston said was true. Yes, or no? They acknowledged receipt of the email immediately.
But so far, there has been no response to the question.
The tribal ownership of New Zealand’s entire coast is up for grabs. According to Dr Muriel Newman, at this stage, only New Zealand First is pledging a solution: to repeal the Marine and Coastal Area Act and restore Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed.
Before it’s too late.
NB: The question was asked, is the Crown’s Queen chain now called the Kings Chain?
When Queen Elizabeth died, many people asked how our daily life would change. Stuff noted that Queen’s Counsel would need to become King’s Counsel, coins with pictures of the Queen would slowly be replaced and passports would bear the name of the new King. But one thing that won’t change is the Queen’s Chain.
Stuff 12/09/2022
