Bill On Fire Council Meetings Rejected

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31740, 25 July 1968, Page 22

Bill On Fire Council Meetings Rejected

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 24. If the meetings of one statutory body were to be open to the public there would be wide ramifications which would have to be studied carefully, the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Seath) said in Parliament today.

He was speaking during the second reading debate of the Public Bodies Amendment Bill, which seeks to make public the meetings of the Fire Service Council—a statutory body. The bill was introduced as a private member’s measure by the senior Opposition Whip, Mr H. L. J. May (Porirua). It calls on the Government to amend the Public Bodies Meetings Act to incorporate meetings of the Fire Service Council.

Mr May said that when there were problems of fire safety there could never be too much publicity. Mr Seath said the bill called for greater awareness by the public of the value and extent of the work of the Fire Service Council. He said much of the council’s work was administrative and such matters should be discussed, as they were at present, in an informal atmosphere and a closed session. The Bill raised the broader issue of whether statutory bodies should be brought under the act. Mr Seath said the council was a widely representative body containing all parties interested in fire control problems. There were sufficient local fire boards throughout the country whose meetings the press could attend. Mr J. Mathison (Lab., Avon) said he thought the Fire Service Council would welcome the opportunity of being able to express its opinion and get wide publicity on certain measures it hoped the public would adopt. Mr May’s bill failed to secure a second reading on a voice vote and consequently lapses.