H.A.R.T. alleges N.Z. under threat of suspension

Press, 15 September 1976, Page 17

H.A.R.T. alleges N.Z. under threat of suspension

PA Hamilton New Zealand has been told that its foreign and sports policies have generated so much anger internationally that it

faces possible suspension from the British Commonwealth, according to Mr Trevor Richards, national chairman of the organisation, Halt All Racist Tours.

He says the warning was given to the Government by the Commonwealth Secre-tary-General (Mr Sonny Ramphal) during bis New Zealand visit earlier this year. But the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) has said that, to his knowledge, Mr Richards’s claims are “totally incorrect.” Mr Richards said in Hamilton that the information had been disclosed to H.A.R.T. by unimpeachable sources “inside Government.”

Tanzania had already questioned whether it would be represented at the next Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meeting being held in London next year to coincide with the Queen’s silver jubilee. “The question of suspension has already been raised within the Commonwealth and that is a serious matter in itself,” Mr Richards said. “Whether it is implemented will depend on the Government’s policies in the future."

The southern Africa issue had created rifts in the Government, he claimed.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys) had quickly confirmed on enter-

ing office that New Zealand would stand by the decisions of the Kingston Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference last year to help Mozambique as part of the “battle against racism” in southern Africa. “But in London Mr Muldoon had second thoughts and started sneering at Mozambique, while at home the Minister of Health (Mr Gill) spoke of ‘kith and kin.’ “H.A.R.T. has now learned that so angry were Commonwealth countries that the Secretary-General made it clear to the Government during his recent visit that unless we honoured our promises, we faced possible suspension from the Commonwealth.”

Mr Richards said the trade implication of the Government’s policies were confusing. But H.A.R.T.’s sources had revealed that the overseas loan arranged by the Government this year from an official, undisclosed “Middle East” source had not come from an Arab State.

Although the Government had cited the loan as evidence that cordial relations with Arab countries were continuing, it had been made by a Middle East subsidiary of the multi-national oil company, Royal Dutch Shell. (Mr Muldoon announced on July 12 that a 5NZ274M loan had been raised from a Middle East source, but in accordance with the wishes of the lender neither the source nor the conditions of I

the loan could be disclosed.)

The Middle East desk in the Department of Trade and Industry was inactive, and the Trade Commissioner in Bagdad was almost in Coventry, said Mr Richards “He's just sitting there with just about nothing to do.” Mr Muldoon said that the claims by Mr Richards about possible suspension from the Commonwealth were “certainly not true to his knowledge.” The statement attributed to Mr Ramphal was contrary to the line pursued by him during his visit to New Zealand and “when I talked to him in London.”

Of the statement by Mr Richards that the New Zealand Trade Commission in Bagdad had been sent to Coventry, Mr Muldoon said: “This is a most extraordinary statement this fellow’s made.” He added that to his knowledge it was incorrest.

Asked if there had been any friction between the New Zealand Trade Commissioner and other trade representatives in Bagdad, the Prime Minister said he believed an Iraqui trade mission was on its way to New Zealand “at this moment.”