And then they confiscated the ocean

The National government's answer to Elvis Teddy winning his court case regarding his "I'm doing a bit of fishing" protest against Petrobras off the East Cape last year has been to put in some amendments to the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill so that such protests beyond the 12 nautical mile territorial limits are now to be controlled by the military who will have the power to arrest. No longer will fishing rights come above mineral exploitation - the surveyors and drillers will be protected by NZ law and NZ defence forces and NZ Police. This is the corollary of passing other laws expanding oil and mineral rights. You cannot effect the confiscation if there is no corresponding tresspass - this amendment (put in after the submission process so there will be no formal public response) is the tresspass. This is outrageous, typically outrageous.   This measure is a backlash to the court case, and is designed for essentially domestic protests (Greenpeace is strongly represented in NZ and co-ordinates with locals so should be counted as local). But NZ has potential overlaps with Fiji and Tonga to the north. This legislation may bring us into conflict if NZ permits in the overlap. Bring it on?