Foreshore & Seabed Act

The SST reveals that there may be the numbers in Parliament to repeal the Foreshore & Seabed Act. Basically there are 60 votes in favour of repeal, and 58 votes against with United Future holding the balance.

United Future voted against the Act, so one might expect them to vote to repeal it. However they also voted against the Electoral Integrity Act yet are now saying they will vote for that.

The other possibility is that a Labour Maori MP could vote to repeal it.

The issue is not quite as simple as appears though. While National favours repealing it, I suspect they would want it replaced with something to guarantee access. If they could come to an agreement with the Maori Party on access though, there might be grounds for a way forward.

Wouldn’t that be a great sign of MMP in action, if they managed it.