This Member's bill would amend the Public Works Act 1981 to prevent Māori freehold and Māori customary land from being compulsorily acquired for public works.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
This Bill amends the Public Works Act 1981, the law that lets the Crown and local authorities compulsorily acquire - that is, forcibly take - private land needed for public works such as roads, schools or infrastructure. Under the current Act, that power extends to Māori land, including Māori freehold and customary land. The Bill would prohibit the compulsory acquisition of Māori land, meaning such land could only be obtained by agreement with its owners rather than taken against their will. Its purpose is to prevent any further loss of the relatively small amount of Māori land that remains, and it frames this as part of honouring the guarantee in Article Two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi that Māori retain their lands. Māori landowners, the Crown and councils planning public works would all be affected by the change.
This is a member's bill introduced by Green Party MP Huhana Lyndon, reviving a similar bill first put forward in 2016 by former Green MP Catherine Delahunty. Supporters argue that compulsory acquisition has historically stripped Māori of ancestral land, that it continues to threaten remaining whenua Māori today, and that the Crown's Treaty duty of active protection means such land should never be taken by force; they also see it as a step toward returning land already taken. Opponents worry that carving Māori land out of the compulsory-acquisition regime could complicate or delay important public works and infrastructure where such land lies in the path, and that treating categories of land differently raises practical and fairness questions.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.