If no one owns the Foreshore and Seabed, then the question that needs to be asked is ‘Who now has final say over what happens on the Foreshore and Seabed?’
If it isn’t to be Maori, then in effect the Foreshore and Seabed is still ‘owned’ by the Crown.
The true test of whether the ‘repeal’ is real will be if, for example, the tidal turbines proposed for the Kaipara harbour which local iwi Te Uri o Hau don’t want, still go ahead.
If the two hundred tidal turbines each the size of a small apartment building are plonked on the Kaipara harbour seabed, then in effect Crest Energy will be granted a property right around the footprint of those turbines.
Why should they be allowed a property right to parts of the Foreshore and Seabed, while local Maori miss out?