DEBATE IN HOUSE Opposition Attacked About Omega

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31727, 10 July 1968, Page 26

DEBATE IN HOUSE Opposition Attacked About Omega

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 9. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) was attacked in Parliament today for opposing the construction of an Omega navigation station in New Zealand but at the same time calling for the most modern navigation equipment to be installed for the protection of ships and their crews in New Zealand waters.

Speaking during the resumed Address-in-Reply debate, Mr C. C. A. McLachlan (Nat., Selwyn) said he entirely agreed with Mr Kirk that New Zealand should have the most modem navigation equipment available, particularly in view of the Wahine disaster. But because of this he coqld not understand Mr Kirk’s opposition to the possibility of an Omega station being built in New Zealand.

“I understand that these are the most modern navigational aids available at the present time,” he said. In a wide-ranging speech, Mr McLachlan replied to the 12 points under which the Opposition claims the Government has forfeited the confidence of the House and the country. “The first duty of a government is to plan for the defence and security of its people so that their way of life and form of government can be preserved,” he said.

“We can claim that this Government has done that. It has honoured its obligations to our allies and has obtained the protection of the only Power that can protect us—the United States of America," he said. Mr McLachlan said that In 1961 the Government made a decision that New Zealand should expand and develop, and in line with this many far-sighted decisions were taken.

“Not Guilty” Farm production, manufactured products and exports had improved dramatically and in nearly all of this the Labour Party had opposed the Government.

“This debate has given the country the opportunity to see that the Government is not guilty of any of the twelve points,” he said. Education was the key to Maori success, said the Labour member for Western Maori (Mrs I. Ratana). “Far too many Maori youths leave school early and finish up with unskilled jobs,” she said. She advocated an extension of the Maori pre-school plan which she said helped parents to gain a better understanding of the needs of their children.

Too many Maoris were not aware that educational qualifications were needed for better jobs, she said. Mr J. R. Harrison (Nat., Hawke’s Bay), referring to the present industrial situation, urged New Zealanders to realise that the “present rumblings” of the Federation of Labour did not reflect the desires of the majority of wage-earners. "Power Game”

He claimed that the present "mutterings” from the federation were part of a “power game” going on within the organisation. Mr Harrison said that Mr Kirk had called for a fundamental change in the Arbitration Court. "No Opposition speaker has given the House any indication what the Labour Party has in mind,” he said. Mr Harrison said he hoped the wage-earner would count the cost of strike action before allowing himself to be used as a “pawn” by the F.O.L. “I also hope the wives of wage-earners will count the cost of strike action and use their influence to prevent any precipitate action by their menfolk,” he said.

Mr Harrison challenged the Labour Party to say whether it supported the National Development Conference. Difficult Times “The Labour Party has been ominously silent on whether they would support the conference if they were invited to if," he said. The Opposition had given no help to the Government cr the country in the present difficult times and, apart from the member for Western Maori, had put forward only destructive criticism of Government policies. “If they consider that they warrant the confidence of the people of this country they should start thinking again and set their own house in order,” he said. Mr F. M. Coleman (Lab., Petone) said: “If present trends, both economical and political, are carried through to their logical conclusion we are now mid-way through the last term of this Government. “During the last few months people have taken a hammering and a battering from the Government because of the way it has handled the country,” he said.