What was the Foreshore and Seabed Hīkoi?
In 2004, Māori from all over the country joined together to protest against legislation that placed the seabed and foreshore in public ownership.
The seabed is land completely underwater up to 12 nautical miles from the shore, and the foreshore is land regularly covered by the tide.
In April, a hīkoi (march) began in Northland that protested against the Crown's proposed ratification. The march picked up support along the way with protests throughout the country. On May 5, the hīkoi arrived at Parliament's grounds to press its case.
The debate was around whether Māori have a rightful claim to ownership of part or all of the land related to statements around historical possession and the Treaty of Waitangi. The government organised several hui (meetings) to discuss how Māori felt about the proposed Act but the proposed legislation remained unchanged.
What was the result of the march?
On November 18, 2004, the Labour-Alliance government passed the highly controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act, which declared that the land was owned by the Crown. Māori could apply for "guardianship" of certain areas but this was not the outcome they had hoped for.
The law was enacted in November 2004 but, due to widespread objection from Māori and condemnation from the Waitangi Tribunal and Human Rights Commission, the act was repealed and replaced with Te Takutai Moana Act in 2011. This resulted in the marine and coastal area being vested in no one, rather than the Crown.
This highly contentious protest altered New Zealand politics forever.
It resulted in Te Pāti Māori forming which went on to win four seats in the 2005 election. Former Labour MP Dame Tariana Turia left the Labour Party as she opposed the Act and was involved in forming Te Pāti Māori and became a co-leader alongside Sir Pita Sharples.
How is this relevant today?
Earlier this week, people took to the streets to make their feelings known about plans to end co-governance. A familiar protest to the foreshore and seabed hīkoi.
Te Pāti Māori social media accounts called on both tangata whenua (people of the land – Māori) and tangata tiriti (people of the Treaty – non-Māori) to make a stand.
It asked that the marches be peaceful, respectful, mokopuna-friendly and held in wairua pai (good spirits or positive vibes).
Aotearoa Hou was the election slogan Te Pāti Māori campaigned on, which the party summed up as meaning “hope and future, peace and dignity”.
“[Today is] about bringing our people together, this is about an Aotearoa Hou, and what we’re doing now is we’re heading off to Parliament, we’re going to make sure our voices are heard over there,” Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said.
“We stand in solidarity together - this is about Aotearoa, this is not just about Māori, this is about tangata whenua, this is about tangata tiriti, and we’re going to make our voices loud and clear.”
Waititi said they chose December 5 for the activation as it’s the day the new Parliament was being sworn in.
“We have to swear an oath to King Charles today; I find it very difficult to do that. But I want to swear an oath to our people, I want to swear an oath to our mokopuna, and I want to swear an oath to our tomorrow.
“It doesn’t matter if the Government listens or not - our people are activated, our people are ready, and our people will continue to fight as we’ve done for 183 years.”
From the Archive is a weekly video series on 1News.co.nz, exploring TVNZ’s vast archive of news content spanning decades.
TVNZ's cameras were at the hīkoi to capture this moment in 2003 and 2004.
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