"An illegitimate exercise of kāwanatanga"

That was the Waitangi Tribunal's assessment of the National regime's plans to gut the Marine and Coastal Area Act and steal the foreshore and seabed for its greedy fishing-industry donors. It found that the regime had violated te Tiriti of Waitangi by failing to consult iwi and hapu, and failed to identify any actual policy problem requiring the changes, and warned that continuing would "significantly endanger the Māori–Crown relationship".

So of course racist National are doing it anyway:

The government is forging ahead with plans to change the law governing New Zealand's foreshore and seabed, despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that appeared to undercut the rationale for the change.

The proposed legislation stems from a clause in National's coalition deal with NZ First, which promised to revisit the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act.

That commitment was driven by fears that a 2023 Court of Appeal decision could have made it significantly easier for Māori groups to win recognition of customary rights over parts of the coastline.

[...]

On Tuesday, Goldsmith confirmed to RNZ that Cabinet had agreed to press ahead with the law change regardless and to pass it before October.

Let's be clear: the underlying motive here is racism, pure and simple. Māori were having their rights over the foreshore upheld by the courts, and the white supremacist government did not like that. Neither did their donors and cronies in the aquaculture and commercial fishing industries, who did not want to pay iwi and hapu rent for the coastal space they want to use, or face an iwi veto over that use (because apparently property owners shouldn't get to decide what happens on their property if they're brown). So, they're overturning the law, and forcing the courts to revisit and overturn their decisions (rather than letting settled decisions stand as usual).

I do not expect Māori to take this lying down. We've already seen one hikoi which outnumbered the entire NZ police force five to one; I expect there'll be another. And it won't just be Māori. Modern Aotearoa recognises that Te Tiriti is the foundation of our constitution. It gives the government its right to exist. If the regime wants to rip that up, they will effectively be ripping up their own legitimacy and undermining their own foundations. And that seems like a very stupid and dangerous thing to do.

One thing is clear: if we are allowed to have a free and fair election next year - something the regime has also put in doubt - then this government must go. Whatever it does must be reversed by the next, with the courts required to revisit (again) any decisions they have been forced to revisit in the meantime. Racism and corruption cannot be permitted to stand.