Late sittings criticised

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 2

Late sittings criticised

PA Wellington Die atmosphere in Parliament was now “very bad,” although it tended to improve when the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) was not present, said the president ot the Labour Party (Mr A. J. Faulkner) last evening. “Parliament is being run in a way that I take exception to,” Mr Faulkner aaid. “It is very bad to put through a bill in all its stages in one night.

“This passing ot legislation in the dead of the night is dangerous. It is only one step from having no Parliament at all.”

Mr Faulkner, addressing about 100 people at the first meeting of the Brooklyn-Kingston branch of the Labour Party, said that when New Zealand’s two-chamber system was abolished in favour of the present unicameral Parliament, it had been agreed that in most cases there should be pauses between the various stages of passing bills, so that the public could absorb what was happening.

This form of passing legislation was in the best traditions of Parliamentary democracy.

“These secret meetings in the middle of the night, and without the periods

between, are not good for New Zealand,” Mr Faulkner said. “It is not good law that you get in this way.”

Reviewing the past few months of the National Government, Mr Faulkner said that under Labour, New Zealand had enjoyed fine relations with the Third World, especially Asian nations. But along had come “the racial issue” related to the Olympic Games, and the Government’s handling of it.

“The damage that has been done is incredible,” Mr Faulkner said. “This false image of being strong, loud, and bald is

really incredible. It will take years to restore the trust of the Third World in New Zealand. Only the re-election of a Labour Government will do it quickly.”

The member of Parliament for Island Bay (Mr J. G. O’Brien) did not attend the meeting, saying in a telegram that his recovery had “not been as spectacular as Labour’s recovery since last year’s defeat.”

Mr O’Brien returned to Wellington this week after a Christchurch magistrate had found there was insufficient evidence to commit him for trial in the Supreme Court on two counts.