Labour continues attack on Budget

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32637, 19 June 1971, Page 2

Labour continues attack on Budget

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, June 18.

Mr T. J. Young (Lab., Hutt) today called for the resignation of the Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) for what he called “a constitutional breach of the rights of the House.”

Resuming the Budget debate, Mr Young said Mr Muldoon had overspent the amount authorised by Parliament. A margin was allowed for in the Estimates to give flexibility, but the report of the Controller and AuditorGeneral had shown that that margin had been exceeded.

The only correct way in which this could be rectified was for the authorising legislation to be introduced, he said, and the House should call forthwith for the Minister’s resignation. The Minister of Customs (Mr Adams-Schneider) said that Mr Young’s speech was "arrant nonsense” and was completely irrelevant to most of the issues of today. Mr Muldoon was not usurping power. Finance impinged on to almost every Other Cabinet portfolio and this Government worked as t a team. Mr Adams-Schneider said the Budget was planned so , as to consolidate the econ-' omic gains of the last six months; it had received only token resistance from the Opposition.

“Inefficiency” J Mr J. Mathison (Lab., < Avon) said the Budget 1 demonstrated clearly how inefficient the Government had < been in the last 10 years, ‘ and in particular in the last 1 five years. All it did, he said, was ex- :

press the hope that things would get a little better. The public had been told that it was to be a farmers’ Budget, but it was instead in the interests of “those who farm the farmers.” Mr Mathison said that while he welcomed the increased income limits for capitalisation of family benefit, he was disappointed that there had been no increase in the income limit for eligibility for State housing.

Many people whose incomes exceeded this limit but were unable to buy new homes were being forced to pay exorbitant prices and exorbitant rents, he said, often for accommodation that was not of a satisfactory standard.

Railway costs The Minister of Railways (Mr Gordon) said he was as reluctant as anyone to put up railway charges. The railways, however, should be run efficiently and in a businesslike fashion.

“The railways face a most critical situation," he said. “Never since 1952 have they been a charge on the people.” Although there had been a 127 per cent drop in staff

numbers last year, there had been a 2.3 per cent increase in tonnage handled. The wage bill rose 21 per cent and wages accounted for 61.4 per cent of railways running costs.

Referring to a suggestion made earlier in the debate by Mr W. W. Freer (Lab., Mount Albert), Mr Gordon said: “There is only one recourse to be adopted if the member for Mount Albert’s views reflect Labour Party thinking, and that is for the taxpayer to subsidise the railways. “That is not on," he said. Container plans On containers, Mr Gordon said that the development of the Auckland and Wellington ports was money well spent and by no means wasted effort The Opposition should not challenge the present position which New Zealand found herself in on containers. Mr Gordon said he had some confidential information about future proposals which he would pass on to the Opposition if asked. “But I will not stand up in public and disclose all the secret and confidential facts available to me.” The Government should have done more research into containers and there would not be the present debacle, said Mr E. E. Isbey (Lab., Grey Lynn). The Minister of Transport was still taking the advice of the Conference Lines, although they had let New Zealand down time after time. *

In the 10 years from 1959 to 1969, cargo through New Zealand ports had more than doubled by conventional means and conventional handling. Mr Isbey suggested that ships of the "scandia” type would be better. These embraced every type of handling—pallets, unit loading, containers and conventional loading, and could work in ports irrespective of the port facilities. Urban spread , Mrs E. I. Tombleson (Nat, Gisborne) said that if the Opposition stopped making inflammatory speeches round the country, this would do much to calm industrial unrest

Mrs Tombleson said she was disappointed that the Budget contained nothing to promote decentralisation and regional development There was a growing danger of New Zealand being controlled and run from Auckland, which had a quarter of the country’s population. Continued urban growth threatened to bog down urban transport systems, education and administrative services, and the cost of such breakdowns would have to be carried by the whole community.