GOVT RUNNING ‘A PUBLICITY RACKET’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 1

GOVT RUNNING ‘A PUBLICITY RACKET’

fNew Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, September 28. The Government was running “a publicity racket,” the Opposition claimed today.

Launching the attack during debate on publicity estimates, Sir Basil Arthur (Timaru) said that statements from Ministers and departments had increased 50 per cent in the last year.

Mr A. J. Faulkner (Lab., Roskill) ; said that the Publicity Department was putting out an average of 10 statements a day—except Sundays, “and they are all designed to praise the Government.” Another 9000 items were clipped by the department from publications every week —amounting to 500 items a Minister.

“You can’t get into the department for scissors—and if you do get in you need ear muffs to keep out the noise of snipping,” he said. Even the press was heartily sick of Ministerial hand-outs, Mr Faulkner said. “The situation has been hidden for too long, it’s time it was revealed for what it is,” he said.

Another Opposition member, Mr W. W. Freer (Mount Albert) brandishing a large handful of papers prepared by the Publicity Department on the Clutha Valley electric development issue in four weeks, said the statements had not made the public any better informed on the subject. Five pages of the department’s publicity was devoted to an engineer connected with the Clutha Valiev protect, Mr Freer said. It did not say much about the development hut was trying to get through to the people of Clutha that the engineer was a beautv-lover. Mr Freer read excerpts which described the engineer

as being interested in colour photography and sometimes conducting his local church choir. He was an art-lover and a frequenter of Rugby matches on cold Saturdays. The Minister in charge of Publicity (Mr Gair) said the Opposition’s claims were “absurd allegations.” There had been a fall in the number of departmental handouts from Ministers-although departmental statements had increased. This was because the Publicity Department was extending its service to other Government departments. Mr Freer said that to go on with this type of publicity was stretching the responsibility of the department too far.

He asked how closely the Mipister supervised the department and whether he “supported this nonsense.” Mr J. M. Rose (Nat., Otago Central) said it was obvious from the comments that the

Opposition, if they were in power, would not support officers of a department. He said he had only seen the article on the engineer in one newspaper with a very limited circulation.