A marine sanctuary will go ahead in the Kermadec Islands regardless of iwi opposition, Prime Minister John Key says.

Legislation which will establish New Zealand’s largest ocean sanctuary 1000km northeast of the North Island will be introduced in Parliament tomorrow.

Mr Key told reporters this afternoon that “everyone is excluded” from the 620,000sq km sanctuary, including Maori whose Treaty settlements granted them fishing quota rights within the proposed boundaries of the reserve.

Iwi had not taken up these rights and the migratory species found at the Kermadecs could be caught elsewhere, he said.

The relevant Treaty settlements would not be re-negotiated because “Parliament has the sovereign right to do what it likes”.

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