Solomon on the beach

Ngai Tahu are putting their waewae down and eye-balling National over the Seabed and Foreshore, Takutai Moana (call it what you will) bill.
This comment by KevinH, lifted from the often redder-than-your-average-necked Kiwiblog, expresses nicely the thoughts of Maori that I've been talking to lately:

"Maori believe that they did not cede the foreshore and seabed to the Crown in the Treaty and have retained continuous ownership of what is part of their estates.

The belief is that the Crown is stealing this asset from Maori, a raupatu or confiscation.

If you examine the Treaty in detail you will find that Maori are correct and the Crown wrong. That is why this government and previous govt’s have not declared this to the nation.

Whatever the outcome of the latest select committee hearings Maori will not back down on pursuing legal ownership of the Foreshore and seabed."