Foreshore and seabed information   |   No raupatu in our time!

Alert! Foreshore and Seabed Bill this week
16 to 19 November 2004

  • Where the Bill is at

  • Protest details for Thursday, 18 November, and Friday, 19 November

  • Media releases

  • Media reports

  • Statements and speeches

  • More information on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill


    • Where the Bill is at

    Update: afternoon, Thursday 18 November - the Foreshore and Seabed Bill was passed by parliament today. Shame, shame, shame on those who supported it.

    Update: 10am, Thursday 18 November - the third reading of the Bill is most likely to start at 11am today, the reading/debate will take two hours and it is anticipated that the confiscation legislation will have passed by 1pm when they break for lunch. Shame on them.

    Update: 11-30pm, Wednesday 17 November - the Committee stage continues, they have not yet passed the confiscation legisation. Parliament will resume at 9am tomorrow, and continue until they have the third reading and pass the Bill, or until midnight ... whichever comes first.

    Update: 8pm, Tuesday 16 November - the second reading of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill began tonight. The Bill will next go to Committee stage - that is when the government's changes, which will be presented in a Supplementary Order Paper, and changes from other political parties will be debated.

    Parliament will go into urgency on Wednesday, and sit from 9am to midnight to continue the debate; the same on Thursday; and if the confiscation legislation has not by then passed its third reading, they will do the same on Friday.

    It is looking most likely at this stage that the third reading will be some time on Thursday, although it is possible it will be on Wednesday night. As soon as any of these details are confirmed, we will add an update above.


    Protest details for Thursday, 18 November

    National, Tamaki, Tairawhiti, Wellington and Christchurch
    [please scan down the page for details in your area]

    If you would like details of your protest against the Bill added to this page, please email them to     Peace Movement Aotearoa as soon as possible.


  • National - RAUPATU ACTION, Thursday, 18 November, at 12 noon

    • RAUPATU ACTION is a national effort promoted by flaxroots organisations to oppose the foreshore and seabed legislation currently being passed in Parliament. While the attention is on Wellington and the act of theft occurring there, flaxroots groups are making a stand in their local communities demonstrating they will not be silenced.

    All RAUPATU protests are synchronised for the same time with the same message.

    Place: Outside your local MPs office or a prominent public area

    Message: this is raupatu! Ka whawhai tonu matou

    As iwi are unable to be at Parliament we encourage you to gather your tamariki, kura, iwi office, maori party, marae committee, wananga, shearing gang, workmates, kapa haka, kohanga reo, the whanau whanui and remind the politicians they can hide in Wellington but the fight will continue at home.

    Take a kai, guitar, whistles, placards, putatara even a bit of sand and turn your local MPs office into your own foreshore for a couple of hours. Because it’s your foreshore and you own it, why not have a beach party?

    The Government will pass this legislation before the week is out but these protests demonstrate the fight continues.


  • Tamaki, Thursday, 18 November, 12 noon to 1-30pm

    • There is a call for national solidarity opposing the illegal, immoral actions of this Labour government ...

    Tamaki will be at the office of Helen Clark, 65 Sandringham Road, Mt Eden.

    Please make sure you bring your whistles, banners, flags, waiata etc to ensure that the message is made very clear and effective ... we are only there for a short time.

    Contact email


  • Tairawhiti whanui, Thursday, 18 November, 12 midday to 1pm

    • Come and join us and make some noise to oppose the Foreshore and Seabed Bill being passed this week in Parliament. If you missed out on the hikoi this is your big opportunity. Don't let this injustice happen without making a noise about it.

    Where: Outside Janet Mackey’s offices (Gladstone Road down from the Gisborne Herald) and Parekura Horomia’s offices (opp Warehouse, Trades Hall)

    When: Thursday 18 November 2004 12:00 midday – 1:00pm (Great way to spend your lunch hour at a peaceful demonstration)

    Bring: drums, whistles, waiata, guitar and don’t forget your banners ( the ones you took on the hikoi)

    Contact: tel Gordon 027 495 1834


  • Wellington, Thursday 18 November, from 12-30pm

    • Come to parliament to protest at the last readings of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill

    We will not be silenced - we won't let the Bill pass without comment!

    The Bill is unfair, unjust and unnecessary. It breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, overrides common law, and violates national human rights legislation as well as international human rights conventions and standards.

    Maori, and non-Maori, have rejected the Bill in:

    • hui, meetings and letters to MPs and government ministers

    • Hikoi I & II
    • submissions on the policy

    • submissions to the Select Committee

    • complaints to the United Nations

    But still the government is going ahead with this discriminatory law. Come and tell them what you think about the Bill.

    For further information contact Takutai Moana Poneke Collective, contact tel 025 321 123


  • Christchurch, Thursday 18 November, from 12 midday to 1-30pm

    • We will not be silenced - we won't let the Foreshore and Seabed Bill pass without comment!

    Come and join us and make some noise to oppose the Foreshore and Seabed Bill being passed this week in Parliament.

    Where: Tim Barnett and Mahara Okeroa’s Labour office, Worcester St (behind Cathedral) Christchurch

    Bring: drums, whistles, banners- we’re going to make some noise!

    The Bill is unfair, unjust and unnecessary. It breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, fails to allow for common law, and violates national human rights legislation as well as international human rights conventions and standards.

    Maori, and non-Maori, have rejected the Bill in:

    • hui, meetings and letters to MPs and government ministers

    • Hikoi I & II
    • submissions on the policy

    • submissions to the Select Committee

    • complaints to the United Nations

    But still the government is going ahead with this discriminatory law. Come and make some noise so they know that we won't forget human rights breaches and we will not be silent as they take place!

    For further information contact Takutai Moana Otautahi Collective, Torrance tel (021) 216 0830 or email.


    Protest details for Friday, 19 November

  • Hastings from 7am to 9am, Napier from 9am to 11am

    • On May 5th 2004 Ngati Kahungunu and 40,000 others took to the streets of Wellington to Hikoi against the Labour Government Foreshore and Seabed bill. On Friday 19th November 2004 we will be representing our iwi, hapu, whanau, tamariki, and mokopuna of today and tomorrow to show our opposition to the racist, immoral and nationally divisive legislation that the Labour party and NZ First are driving through parliament.

    7am to 9am - Parekura Horomia’s Hasting electorate office, 944 Heretaunga Street, Hastings.

    9am to 11am - Russell Fairbrother’s Office, 208 Hastings Street, Napier. Look for similar action in townships across Kahungunu. For further information tune in to Radio Kahungunu or contact the iwi office 0800 KAHUNGUNGU (0800 524-864)

    Nau Mai Haere Mai! Free Sausage Sizzle and Hot Drinks

    "Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth." George Orwell - 1984

    Orwell's words are a haunting reminder of what may happen with the passage of the immoral and unlawful Foreshore and Seabed Bill this week.

    Our tangata whenua status and the associated rights and obligations are being attacked as we speak and complicit in these acts of shame are a number of Maori Members of Parliament who have forsaken their people in favour of their own self interest and are supporting the unilateral confiscation of our lands. They like many of their colleagues wish Maori to erase the memories of our past and substitute them with a promise of a future where we have no special place in this country; no turangawaewae; no whakapapa that is able to be recalled to time, place and people.

    Let them be reassured, we will not forget, we will not be erased, their lies will be exposed for the untruths they are and that the tangata whenua of this land will remain inextricably linked from land to sky from sky to land.

    Ka whawhai tonu tatou Ake Ake Ake

    Na Annette Sykes

    'Race', 'Privilege', and 'The Treaty'   |   Peace Movement Aotearoa