National M\u0101ori Urban Authority chairwoman Lady Tureiti Moxon said that was an over-reach of Government, which had the power to make laws but it was for the courts to interpret them.<\/p>\n
RNZ approached the minister for comment and he said the Government had already demonstrated its willingness to overturn court decisions \u201cif required\u201d, citing the Marine and Coastal Area Act.<\/p>\n
The Government is forging ahead with plans to change the law governing New Zealand\u2019s foreshore and seabed, despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that appeared to undercut the rationale for the change.<\/p>\n
Goldsmith told RNZ tikanga M\u0101ori was increasingly addressed in the courts and legislation, representing a \u201cunique strand in New Zealand\u2019s legal landscape, alongside countries we compare ourselves with internationally\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said having law that recognised \u201cwho we are as a nation\u201d and reflecting \u201cour unique circumstances\u201d was a good thing, but the implications of that legal development should also be considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cA core foundation of our success as a nation is predictability in the law,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be a successful modern economy, we need to attract investment to this country domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch serious, long-term investment requires predictability and certainty in our institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
National M\u0101ori Urban Authority chairwoman Lady Tureiti Moxon says the Government is creating laws to \u201csuit itself\u201d. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Goldsmith said, if New Zealand\u2019s legal system included more and more \u201cunique features\u201d, there was a risk it could \u201cjeopardise predictability and deter investment\u201d.<\/p>\n
LawNews reported the minister said clear, predictable rule of law was a fundamental in New Zealand society and helped make the country attractive to offshore investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they look at the law, and can\u2019t be clear what it means or what the outcome will be\u2026 then it\u2019s obvious what will happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll take their money elsewhere and that\u2019s a problem for New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the audience on Wednesday \u201cthere\u2019ll be more in this space\u201d, when discussing the issue of Parliament addressing judgments that may require legislative action.<\/p>\n
He told RNZ he wouldn\u2019t comment on any specific case but pointed out the Government could clarify the original intent of legislation, if the courts \u201care interpreting it differently and setting precedents\u201d.<\/p>\n
Moxon said this Government was creating laws to \u201csuit itself\u201d. She said the country was founded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to say \u201cwe\u2019ll take it or leave it\u201d was disrespectful to the relationship between iwi and the Crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because they don\u2019t like something or a decision that\u2019s been made by the courts, they\u2019re empowering themselves to be able to just change it at will.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the Government was essentially saying, \u201cwe\u2019re in charge, so we can do what we want, when we want, how we want and don\u2019t never mind anybody else for that matter\u201d, and that wasn\u2019t conducive to mutual respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a blatant disregard of tikanga and the place of tikanga in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson told RNZ the minister wasn\u2019t clarifying the marine and coastal area legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s introducing a new test and he\u2019s changing the burden of proof,\u201d Finlayson said. \u201cFar from clarifying anything, he\u2019s creating more uncertainty and interfering with what I think of as the legitimate litigation rights of iwi.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the wider discussion of \u201cunique\u201d features in the legal system costing the country investment, Finlayson said Goldsmith was being \u201ca bit melodramatic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should hardly think that some would-be investor in New Zealand is going to be put off investing because of some Treaty clause in a piece of legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He agreed some vague references to Treaty obligations existed in many laws and legislators should work to make sure the Treaty principle is \u201caccurately and succinctly identified\u201d in a bill when it comes from Parliament.<\/p>\n
He said courts hadn\u2019t been \u201call that radical\u201d on interpretation of what the relevant Treaty principles were.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of them simply amount to good faith and consulting iwi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courts aren\u2019t sort of wild-eyed, Castro-type revolutionaries. They\u2019re trying to grapple with, sometimes, the very sloppy handiwork of Parliament and make some sense of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the development of the legal system and the inclusion of tikanga, Finlayson said: \u201cYou can\u2019t stop the tide coming in, you can\u2019t stop things moving on \u2013 and we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have this unique arrangement \u2013 unique in the true sense of the word \u2013 in the Treaty relationship that we have with tangata whenua and I think we\u2019re doing pretty well, but there will always be people who are negative and unpleasant, and don\u2019t like the future and dream of a world that never was, and complain about any change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National M\u0101ori Urban Authority chairwoman Lady Tureiti Moxon said that was an over-reach of Government, which had the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1349,71,40623,266,40627,6148,40626,6722,2720,111,43,139,69,17357,38639,28875,40625,40624,61,8218],"class_list":["post-46281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-court","tag-from","tag-goldsmith","tag-government","tag-hanly","tag-justice","tag-lillian","tag-minister","tag-mori","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paul","tag-prepared","tag-remove","tag-rulings","tag-tikanga","tag-to","tag-warns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}