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MEDIA RELEASE – 9 August 2025

Ngāti Kahungunu slams the government’s decision to push on with Marine legislation

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Ngāti Kahungunu, who have the country’s second largest coastline from Paritū, north of the Māhia peninsula to Tūrakirae on the southern Wairarapa coast, have slammed the government's decision to push on with new legislation to make it harder for Māori to get customary marine title.   

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Ngāti Kahungunu Chair, Bayden Barber, speaking from the World Expo in Osaka Japan says, “We are a moana iwi.  Our people have lived along our coast for centuries.  Our ancestors had names like Tiakitai, Te Hapuku and Te Moananui because of the intimate relationship they had with the ocean.  I am appalled by the Ministers’ decision to push on with changes to the Takutai Moana legislation that make it harder for us to get customary title.  Again, we see this government undermining the rights of Māori.” 

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Earlier in the week, the Minister for Treaty Negotiations Paul Goldsmith, said that the government intended to pass the Marine and Coastal Area (MACA) Bill by the end of October, effectively ignoring a Supreme Court ruling saying that Māori do have customary marine and coastal rights and that these changes were not consistent with the intent of the Takutai Moana Bill passed in 2010. 

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Barber adds, “The legislation, as it currently stands, still sets a high bar for Māori to prove customary title, but at least we can test it through the Courts.  These intended amendments to the Bill will make it near impossible for us win in court.” 

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He continues, “I have spoken to a few of the iwi leaders who are here in Osaka as part of the Te Aratini kaupapa. We need to send a strong collective message to this government that this behaviour is unacceptable.  It saddens me that we are still fighting the same fight 21 years on from the hīkoi for the Foreshore and Seabed.” 

Ngāti Kahungunu has a population of 95,741, making it the third-largest iwi in Aotearoa, with 96 marae and over 400 hapū.  

 

Contact: Bayden Barber, Chair Ngāti Kahungunu bayden@kahungunu.iwi.nz

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