Mr Faulkner seen as rival for Labour leadership

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 1

Mr Faulkner seen as rival for Labour leadership

(By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY)

WELLINGTON. May IL The overwhelming success of Mr A. J. Faulkner in the ballot for the presidency of the Labour Party should determine the tranquil course of the remaining two days of the sixtieth annual conference of the Labour Party.

It might also clear the arena for another confrontation. There is just a possibility that resurgent Labour will ask for one leader in Parliament and outside.

This would produce a bitter debate in Labour caucus, forced to choose between Mr Faulkner and the unexpectedly fiery and direct Mr Rowling, as revealed in his Monday-night speech. Few Labour members of Parliament will admit the possibility of this. They emphasise that Mr Faulkner, as Minister of Labour in Mr Rowling’s Cabinet, was a loyal team member, and emphasise that party solidarity at present is more important than personal ambition. The tip is that Mr Faulkner will become Deputy Leader of the Opposition. When the vote on the presidency was taken, Mr Faulkner gained 689 votes, Mr J. G. O’Brien 210. Mr E. E. Isbey 134, and Mr W. E. Woods 55. Mr Woods might have gained more had he (been better known outside Canterbury. Mr Isbey, a selfconfessed late starter, had never given himself much of a chance. Mr O’Brien later convincingly retained the senior vicepresidency, getting 585 votes, compared with 344 for Mrs

Dorothy Jelicich (the former M.P. for Hamilton West) and 185 for Mr A. W. Begg (the former M.P. for Awarua). The presidential result can have come only as a crushing blow to Mr O’Brien who, however, managed to bide bis disappointment in saluting the qualities of Mr Faulkner. His final quip that “if the Labour Party needs the old Socialists again, we will still be around,” spoke for itself. It spelt a setback to Mr O’Brien’s hopes of maintaining the old Labour movement principles, as distinct from the heavily pragmatic approach of today. At least as senior vicepresident he still retains an important place in Labour Party decision making. In past years, much of Mr O’Brien’s voting strength at party conferences has come from unions. The presence of Mr Isbey, a former trade unionist, complicated the issue further. As it. turned out, the matter can never have been in doubt in the minds of delegates, who would have remembered Mr O’Brien’s difficulty in handling the conference from the top table last year and his involvement in

the controversial S.I.S. arguments last year. Thanking delegates, Mr Faulkner said that everybody present knew what had to be done in the Labour movement. And with dedicated volunteers working for a cause above just dollars and cents, Labour’s opponents “will know they have been mauled in 1978/’ Mr O’Brien said: “People up hill and down dale in New Zealand have said that O’Brien is too controversial and wants to drag us back to the days of Harry Holland and Peter Fraser, and that may be true, but it means I have found difficulty in working with the younger group inside the Labour movement. The new president endorses basic Labour Party philosophy — the community must care for those in need. Aged 54, he has been an M.P. since 1957. Formerly a credit manager, he was a Spitfire pilot during World War II and has been associated with the I,about Party since the late 19305. Mr M. H. Moore, of Auckland, has been re-elected junior vice-president of the party; he gained 793 votes. A Wellington company director, Mr Michael Hirshfield, gained 40, Mrs Margaret Shields, Labour candidate for

Karori in 1975, 161. and Mr Ted Thompson, of Auckland, 32. The party elected one representative from each of 14 regions to the council.

They are: Messrs C. Chiles. D. Isbey, G. Braybrooke, .1. D. Hond, H. J. Uttinger, J. T. Thew, J. Gallagher, M. Hancock, E. J. Keating, G. W. Amos, W. R. Cameron, D. Butcher, I. T. Quigley, and A. W. Begg. Five members were elected to the party executive from 48 nominations. They are: The former Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr J. A. Walding, Mrs M. K. Shields (Wellington), Mr S. J. Rodger, the former chairman of the Combined State Service Organisations, Mr G. C. Ditchfield, the secretary of the Printers’ Union, and Mr D. A. Shand, a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington. A youth representative. Ms Vickie Buck, of Christchurch, and a Maori representative. Mr P. B. Rewiti (Eastern Maori), were both returned, but Mrs D. Gibbons (Rotorua) lost her place as one of the two women’s representatives to the Wellington liberal, Ms Judith Aitken. The other women’s representative, Mrs C. Purdue, was easily returned.

Ms M. Ogden (Auckland) won the newly-created position of Polynesian representative on the council. (Other conference stories, Page 2).