THE WEEK IN THE HOUSE Too much debate about trivia

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33869, 14 June 1975, Page 3

THE WEEK IN THE HOUSE Too much debate about trivia

By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY

■ WELLINGTON, June 13. The completion of the Budget debate and the > withdrawal of the Coast- - al Moratorium and Management Bill of Mr M. K. ’ Moore (Lab., Eden) ; were highlights of a Parliamentary week which still had in it too much procedural argu- ' ment and pointless de- ’ bate about trivia. Members on both sides . greeted with relief the deci- ’ sion to terminate the Budget ■ debate on Wednesday even- . ing. i Many felt that this formal , debate had been largely des- ; troyed a week previously by I the introduction of an ele- , ment of personal attack.; ,|This detracted from dis-’ "cussion of the Budget docu-i ment, without adding to the; atmosphere anything which; , was not already there in! ! superabundance. " ; PERSONAL ATTACKS On the Opposition side, much detailed criticism of ; Budget measures went unre-i corded. On the Government ! ,■ side, the disposition to at-j ! tack the person, pronounce-

i ments, and policies of the i Leader of the Opposition ; (Mr Muldoon) may well have had an effect opposite to that intended. The president of the National Party (Mr G. A. Chapman) recently predicted a United States Presidentialstyle election between the political leaders, Mr Rowling and Mr Muldoon. A more recent evaluation would be that the contest, by an accident of Government hostility, might be between Mr Muldoon on the one hand and a group of divided Ministers and members on the other. In the two set debates just ended, the Government has had an embarrassment of riches. There was no official enthusiasm for extending the Address-in-Reply debate, and still less for prolonging the Budget slanging-match. NO MAORI VOICE Opposition members have been quick to note that four Ministers (Mrs TirikateneSullivan and Messrs May. Connelly, and Bailey) did not speak in either debate. It was noted that there was no 1 Maori voice in the Budget debate, and that only one of the four women members; (Mrs D. C. Jelicich, Labour.!

■ Hamilton West) had her sat i in this Internationa Women’s Year. The decision to withdraw Mr Moore’s Coastal Morato- ■ ,rium and Management Bill I also gave the Opposition a .. chance for gleeful attack. One would have thought ■ that the measure could have ■ been withheld earlier, and i less publicly, if . considered ■ alien to the party’s interests. As it was, the- return to the 'house of the Lands and Agriculture Committee’s report on the bill gave the 'subject a double exposure (on Wednesday and Thursday). POINTS FOR COURAGE The Government must be 'given full points for courage in returning this measure to the House. National Governments have been known to let unpopular measures | wither in the obscurity of a ' select committee file, rather than expose them to the ceremonial of public execution. After the fate of the Counties Amendment Bill, i Opposition spokesmen have implanted the thought that perhaps Labour does have a , long-range design on the i nationalisation of coastal, I lake, and river lands.

/i A curious off-the-scene 1 ! performance was that of Mr V. S. Young’s controversial ?l Crimes Amendment Bill, - with its equally divisive 1 amendment by Dr G. A. i Wall (Lab., Porirua). Tucked . away at the end of the t Order Paper early in the » week, it shot up to i place on Wednesday only to i drop back to thirty-second . place on Thursday’s Order ; Paper. i Plainly, the “conscience- • vote" second-reading debate : on this bill almost began : when the Budget debate - finished on Wednesday evening. There has been no dis-j j closure on what happened to| 'prevent this. si It might be that this) measure has had its day. >1 Members were not happy, ■.about their exposure during lithe “conscience-vote” stagesi • •of the Hospitals Amendment t Bill, and would not enjoy a “repetition of what, to them, i is an even more delicate •Isubject. Open voting on the bill and its amendment, with ij the publication of voting . lists, might have some un“foreseen effects. , LEGISLATION MOVES Perhaps the most importjant factor in the week is the lone that does not show. The

legislation is beginning to move again through its various stages in its march towards the Statute Book. This process will be in:ensified next week, which will be almost entirely demoted to legislation — unless Mr Rowling chooses :o bring on -the promised ;econd-reading debate on the Crimes Amendment Bill. This is still a possibility, alhough a receding one.