Labour leader Phil Goff is warning New Zealanders about the significance of the Government's negotiations with the Maori Party over the foreshore and seabed law.
Labour's controversial legislation is being reviewed as part of National's support arrangement with the Maori Party.
Mr Goff says the debate has been reopened for political reasons and it's time the Government spelt out what the changes might be.
"The public will want to know," he said in a speech in Palmerston North on Thursday, "because the National Party position was the current law went too far in one direction, the Maori Party position too far in the other direction, so what sort of deal are they working?"
Senior cabinet minister Gerry Brownlee says the issue has not yet been settled, and that's why it's still around.
ETS deal labelled 'cynical and shabby'
Mr Goff is also accusing Prime Minister John Key of doing cynical and shabby deals with the Maori Party in order to secure its support for changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
He says that by reopening Treaty settlements made in the 1990s the scheme favours some large Maori corporates over other forestry companies.
The Government has put the concept of full and final settlements at risk, he says, and if grievances can never be settled they can never be healed.
Mr Goff says New Zealand can be either a respectful, forward-looking country or one stuck in short-term deals that set New Zealander against another.
Goff just trying to be noticed - Brownlee
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples describes Mr Goff's comments as "desperate" and Mr Brownlee calls the speech a "masterpiece of confusion and hypocrisy."
Mr Brownlee says Mr Goff has decided there are several parades in town, and he is waving a flag at each of them to see whether anyone notices him.
