Selling the foreshore?

There has been some scaremongering that the government's foreshore policy will allow the government to sell the foreshore. Well, yes - but so did the status quo. The provisions in sections 11 and 12 of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill (the Land Act 1948 does not apply; alienation only by special Act of Parliament or under the provisions of the RMA dealing with reclaimed land) are identical in substance to those in the Foreshore and Seabed Endowment Revesting Act 1991. Those provisions exist because there are reasons why the crown might sometimes want to alienate - setting up a new port, for example - and so it needs the ability to do so.

Furthermore, this is about as strong a protection as we can get in a Westminster system. After all, if Parliament passed a stronger provision forever barring alienation, a later Parliament could always repeal it, or pass a law saying "except for this bit". We don't really do "higher law" in this country - about the only part of our constitutional framework protected in any way is part of the Electoral Act, and even then such protection is not very strong (the provision saying "these bits can only be repealed by a two-thirds majority" is not itself protected...). The Constitution Act, the Human Rights Act, all can be gutted by a simple Parliamentary majority. It is up to us, the voters, to ensure that it does not happen.

The same goes for the foreshore. We must keep an eye on Parliament to ensure that any attempts at alienation are justified. We must meet any unjustified attempt at alienation with lobbying and protests. If we fail to do this, we will have no-one but ourselves to blame.