Govt may have torrid time at conference

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 14

Govt may have torrid time at conference

I 111 Our Own Reporter) W ELLING I ON. Ihe Government may have quite a torrid time during the discussion of remits at the annual conference of the Labour Party 7 in the Wellington Town Hall from J lay 12 to Mav 16.

Justice, education, social welfare, and industry are the major topics tackled in 187 remits that will be considered at the conference. As expected, the hot issues of abortion, homosexuality, and drugs are prominent among the 20 justice remits, but the Security Intelligence Service also comes in for its share of attention.

Among other remits in the justice section are one that recommends the lifting of legal restraints on group marriage, and another asking for an investigation of the police force. On drugs, the party is asked to support the legalisation of the growing of cannabis by persons over the age of 20. provided it is for their private use anti there is no material gain for the supplier. ABORTION I AW A strongly worded remit from an Auckland youth branch condemns what it sees as the Parliamentary Labour Party's failure to adopt, introduce, or sponsor legislation to clarify the law on abortion and homosexuality.

The same branch wants the proposed age of consent for. homosexuals — 21 — in the Crimes Amendment Bill to be lowered to 16. on par with; that for heterosexuals. “In view of the failure of; past policies to suppress l prostitution, a policy 7 of con-i trol should be introduced,; including licensing and the setting aside of red-light districts” says another Auck-' land youth branch. This branch also says it! recognises the right of every-! one to die with dignity, and' approves voluntary euthan-i asia, providing sufficient legal' and medical safeguards are: ‘made available. A call for the abolition of; the Security Intelligence Ser-; ;vice is made in a remit which; i adds that any necessary

(security work can be done by | the police. While one remit urges the Government to uphold the present laws on abortion, another advocates a law (change which would make I abortion more freely available as a back-up sen ice to contraceptive and family planning services. SOCIAL. WELFARE Social welfare remits ‘ cover a yvider range, ith calls for social security benefits to be available to working wives in the same way as they are available to any person, for an increase in the ‘family benefit, and for free (travel for elderly 7 pensioners and social security ‘beneficiaries on all public : transport.

An mdustna! rcAtim'.s remit strongly urges the Government to establish t commission to reorganise tradi unions into tndustria unions, while another wants a body set up to investigate the amalgamation of trade unions. Manv of the education remits are mundane, but one stands out because it want* the word "secular" removed from the definition of State education to allow the dis. cussion or study of compara- ■ tive religions and philosophical approaches to life. Another wants a course o’ Polynesian studies to be developed as part of the continuing education of schoolteachers in areas where there are large number of Polynesian children