Tēnā koe,
We write in respect to the Wai 3400: Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act Coalition Changes Urgent Inquiry. As you’ll be aware, last week, from 26 to 28 August 2024, we attended the hearing. Two out of three days were spent by claimant counsel cross-examining the sole Crown witness, Mrs Tui Marsh, in respect of her and her team’s involvement in the Minister’s goal to amend section 58. We then closed off the hearing with a generic closing statement from claimant counsel highlighting the key points for the claimants in this inquiry – which is attached for your perusal.
Closing submissions were due on 30 August 2024 for all parties, with reply submissions due on 2 September 2024 for all parties. Due to the limited time we had to prepare submissions, we regret not being able to discuss these with you in great detail. However, we filed submissions in line with what we have discussed with you previously, and also pushed back against the Crown’s characterisation of the issues. The joint closing submissions and joint reply submissions for your claim and others are attached. For completeness, we have also attached the Crown closing submissions and their reply memorandum.
We are now in the Tribunal’s hands as they enter the report writing phase. We were advised by Crown counsel at the hearing that Cabinet will be meeting on 16 September 2024 to discuss the possible introduction of the draft Bill, so the Tribunal Panel will be moving at pace to have the report out in time for Cabinet to consider Tribunal findings and recommendations prior to any decision being made. We will keep you updated as soon as we have further information to hand.