Values conference ends in criticism

Press, 29 August 1977, Page 6

Values conference ends in criticism

PA Dunedin National, Labour, and Social Credit were all criticised by the leader of the Values Party (Mr Tony Kunowski) in his address to delegates at the party’s fifth conference, which ended in Dunedin yesterday.

Taking the ‘"Muldoon* economic miracle” to . task, he said that the New Zealand economy wa-, just as' weak, probably more so, as. when the Government had; assumed office. The external deficit had! been halved but at a time of! record export prices, which” had now peaked and fori which the Government could j take little credit. The internal deficit had; been reduced but at the ex- ] pense of a fair distribution ] of the economic burden. ]; As a result of National’s I “experiments” with the I; economy, the home-mortgage! market had virtually dried |i up, many forced mortgage! sales had followed, and thej housing industry was now;, close to collapse. ’ Government charges had • increased during the price- j freeze, inflation had con-i tinued unabated to a record i ( level in the June quarter,: and workers had suffered < minimal wage increases in j ( the face of many public- '< company profits declared at j ■ “in excess of 80 per cent.” “In spite of all its short- , comings in terms of econ-j omic policy, the aspect of j this Administration that I most despise is its willing- , ness to use individuals, the < trade-union movement, and , the weaker groups in our j society as scapegoats for the ( country’s economic and ; social ills,” said Mr Ku- < nowski. h Repressive trade-union I legislation, “deceit and i double talk" on the over- ( stayer issue, the attack on t solo mothers, and other ; social issues were criticised < by Mr Kunow'ski. 1 faced with a repressive and dangerously author- , itarian Government, what ; had the Opposition parties 1 been doing, he asked. 1 The Labour Party had’; affirmed its belief in the I i principles of democratic. i socialism which, according' to the interpretation of the; ( leader of the party (Mr h Rowling), sounded much like ; the original aims and objects i of the National Party. Internally, “backstabbing , over the Moyle affair, the ensuing mad scramble for the Mangere seat, and the| latest disgusting exhibition; of opportunism and personal; ambition in the game of mu-

sical seats being played out] in Auckland” showed the 'party to be dedicated to the' advancement of the careers [ of its own politicians. Externally, the Labour] Party had nothing valid to (offer to rectify the present] depressing state erf New| Zealand society. i Social Credit had decided ) to spend hundreds of thouI sands of dollars to feed its (leader’s super-ego, said Mr 'Kunowski. “If they want to send; (good money after funny (money then all I can say is] [good luck to them,” he said, ; “Never in our brief his-1 Itory has the political and] i economic situation been so, .favourable for the advancement and acceptance of the," Values Party’s core philo-! sophy and beliefs.” There was a greater need! in the party to impose self- [ discipline and a strong com-1 mitment to see Values sue-; ceed. The party’s over-riding* concern was to survive the' collapse of industrial society! with dignity and with the ' party's basic human and democratic rights not only in-]' tact but considerably en-i hanced. Earlier, the conference voted to defer 13 remits on co-operatives, which are a central issue in Values policv. Delegates felt that they did not understand the party’s view of ownership or even if the party had a! view. As ownership and control were important concepts in discussing land and goods, the party decided to defer the remits until it was decided what was meant by these terms. The same difficulty also saw what had teen billed as a major land-policy debate founder. The move was taken in spite of the fact that months had been spent in a special working group [drafting the remits. * Ironically, a remit passed [earlier in the day affirmed; the party’s aim to make it possible for workers top share “ownership” in the ] enterprise they worked in i Although the remit referred; to ownership of property] and implied control it was | [passed without suffering the] ; fate of the land and co-oper-1 |ative remits. The 13 co-operative i

remits were not. the only ones to be deferred for lack of understanding or poor wording. One calling for toilets to* be compost-making was I deferred for “more appropriate wording.” At times, some remits ap-| peared to contradict others. In the news-media and advertising remits, the party made it clear that the news media’s “political independence” must be guaranteed. But a further remit advocated legislation “to require all media to provide space or time for the expression of poitical views by persons or groups.” Another remit called for Government departments and the news media to “collaborate on a sustained campaign for a more desirable social-economic system.” It did not help that the conference was faced with 560 remits to discuss and the frustration at the work-] load came to a head. One delegate asked the] conference to defer all! remits yet to be discussed* and instead debate a better form of making policy. This; was rejected by a further' motion acknowledging; “widespread dissatisfaction”! at the frustration and inefficiency of the remit system. . The motion asked for an alternative system of policymaking and suggested that “position papers” be prepared and presented to the conference on various issues. This would ensure that future conferences were not held up with what the Coromandel delegate, Mr Peter Cumming, described as “far too many ill-prepared remits.” In spite of frequent outbursts of frustration, the party got through many of the remits and its 1978 manifesto should be a more complete one than the previous manifesto. Mr Kunowski said the fact that the co-operative remits had been deferred showed a maturity of judgment. A basic fault of the partyhad been a failure to face up to basic issues, such as the concept of ownership, and the decision showed that it was now prepared to “get down to it.”