National avoiding promises it cannot keep

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33917, 9 August 1975, Page 3

National avoiding promises it cannot keep

(From CEDRIC M ENT IPL AY)

WELLINGTON, August 8. J Having selected all--87 candidates for this year’s General Election, the National Party has been forced to warn its younger, less experienced candidates not to become involved in discussion of matters on which party policy has not yet been announced.

This was done, according to some young candidates, at | closed briefing sessions held jin conjunction with the party’s conference and rally ; recently. Some candidates! 'are unhappy about the re-j [Striction, and one (Miss! Marilyn Waring, candidate | for the National-held seat of I Raglan) has spoken in publlic about it.

Miss Waring announced; that the forum in which she! was taking part in Te Awa-j mutu would probably be the! 1 last of its kind in which she I could appear. This was be- ■ cause forum-type questions were of a free-swinging ; nature, likely to refer to any 1 point of politics. This one jhad opened up the housing situation — on which Nat-; lional so far has no announced policy. National’s reason for ask-i ling candidates to avoid dis-' : cussing unannounced policy I is said to be to prevent National candidates from making unsupported promises. The Party leader (Mr. R. D. ! Muldoon) has said that i Labour is foundering on the mass of promises made in jits 1972 manifesto, and has declared that National will make only those promises it is prepared to keep. Eight points He has also said that in I its first three years, a Nati ional government would be most deeply concerned in rej pairing economic and finanicial damage and getting the! ! country running again. He does not expect a bulky 1 manifesto, and thus has perjsonally checked and verified each policy statement pre-; pared by a planning group or by a party spokesman. Eight special announce-’ ments have been made by I

IMr Muldoon. They have; 1 been issued under the head-; ling “A National Party policy; I statement.” and have usually' carried the name of ai spokesman, with sometimes ■ the notation “following a i meeting of the Dominion policy committee.” These, on examination, are I variable in bulk, coverage and quality. The two on land acquisition and tertiary bursaries are each a small part ’ of a large .portfolio, designed : to cover matters under con- 1 temporary discussion. The ! manufacturing paper is a ‘ solid document of seven 1 foolscap pages, covering the main range of policy. The powerful pieces of j policy, which are likely to j 1 : leave their mark on the husi tings, comprise the human ! rights idea (which covers, the protection of human privacy), the superannuation -scheme, the big paper on industrial relations (which Icovers 13 foolscap pages),! land the well-argued piece on ‘controlled immigration. In addition, National Party; I candidates are kept well up to date with sheets giving news background, excerpts; from speeches and other details. A National Party candidate, however, could not count himself or herself as well briefed as the Labour' opposite number, who is equipped with a bright red quarto booklet of 68 printed pages, with a foreword by j the Prime Minister (Mr, Rowling) and up-to-date policy pronouncements laid out under 19 main headings. National cannot match this, and appears to be reluctant to try. It is doubtful, even at this stage, whether National will bring out anything so pretentious as to be , called a “manifesto.” Mr Muldoon has spoken widely and effectively on financial and economic matters, but a policy paper on what a National government would do is not yet among I the policy statements. One can realise why not. A disclosure of planning now would be a revelation to the “enemy” — and it would! (also be binding if Mr Mul-i , doon found himself in command after election day. He has mentioned many; (times that the New Zealand!

dollar is overvalued-. He has also spoken extensively on the theme that the Labour Government has been the author of New Zealand’s troubles by permitting overimporting. Grey areas Areas not so far touched in the National Party’s policy statements include education, housing, international affairs, defence, law and order, local government, broadcasting, energy resources, transport, tourism j and sport. Many of these could be ; sketched-in lightly . by a] seasoned campaigner with background knowledge of the National Party, its aims., and history. But as Mr Muldoon said in one of his speeches at the National Party conference in Wellington a fortnight ago, the'l

(modern National Party is i very different from the ' party as it was 20 or more (years ago. The political forum, such as the one at Te Awamutu at which Miss Waring found herself involved in a discussion with the Labour candidate (Mr. W. Pickering) * on housing, is a worth-while new type of political activity. Any candidate becoming involved in a forum without a complete knowledge of party policy is in for trouble. To advise National Party . candidates to steer clear of such involvements (or, for I that matter, to stay out of i radio talk-back shows) until I party policy is fully deter- : mined, is wise counsel. But 1 it could be restrictive to a ■ crippling degree if a full policy statement is long de- I layed. I