Labour leaders make plans in case of early General Election

Press, 28 November 1977, Page 1

Labour leaders make plans in case of early General Election

By

PHILIP WORTHINGTON

The Labour Party is working towards the possibility of an early General Election — a possibility hinted at by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) at a party rally in Christchurch yesterday. The rally was one of a series Mr Rowling is attending throughout New Zealand in a drive by the party’s administration to ensure that an early election will not catch it flatfooted.

Mr Rowling’s reference was an oblique one when, towards the end of his address, he said: “When elected — at the end of next year or sooner — the fourth Labour Government will embark on a crash programme for the survival of New Zealand." He did not elaborate on the aside, but his speech was notable in that he referred only to “the next election” or “next year” and departed from the more normal device of pinning down November as a target date for the party faithful to work towards.

Other members of Parliament or already-selected Parliamentary candidates at the rally would not be drawn on the issue, but one party official was prepared to confirm — anonymously — that Labour acknowledges “a pretty strong possibility” that the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) might call a snap election early next year.

A factor cited by the official as lending weight to the snap election theory was the expected better humour of the elec-

torate in the short term, part of which might be attributed to last month’s mini-budget provisions — including this week’s $25 extra pay-out on the family benefit and the 5 per cent cut in personal income tax from February 1. Another was Labour’s belief that by later in the year this good will will have evaporated under the influence of a worsening economy and rising unemployment. Mr Rowling himself referred to the history of “parallels” in elections in New Zealand and Australia, where a snap election will be held next month. Earlier Mr Rowling told the crowd — about 450 packed into the Kendal Avenue School hall and another 100 or so heard his address in the school grounds over loudspeakers — that it was time to "join again the campaign for Christian democracy and Christian socialism.” “Bitterness, intolerance, self-interest, and confrontation are all too tragically features of New Zealand today,” he said. Among the “crash programmes” that he said Labour would implement was one on financial and interest control, and another to rebuild New Zealand’s industrial base. “Because of the present quite tragic collapse, this will have to involve very substantial Government support and direction. We make no apology for that,” he said. A crash programme was needed also to put the building industry back on its feet and to put the

heart back into the housing industry. He promised a complete overhaul of the taxation system, particularly the tax provisions on overtime and shift work so that “families get the benefit of any extra effort.” Revision of interest controls was needed "to protect our people from the rip-off merchants in the financial areas,” he said. Reserve Bank money would be used “to put the country on its feet again-” To a round of applause, Mr Rowling said: “As Michael Joseph Savage used it, we will use it.” Mr Rowling said Labour’s election policy and campaign would not be one of handouts. “There won’t be any political lolly-scramble under the fourth Labour administration, regardless of what our opponents might produce. “Our priorities will be to get people to work, not to offer them an easy life. That priority will not be achieved by lashing out at unpopular minorities. We will not bash the unions, we will not bash the solo mothers, we will not write off anyone who hasn’t got a job as a ‘bludger’. “It is very true that when times are bad and when people are desperately trying to hold their families together, there is a tendency to strike out at other people and to try to find scapegoats. “It is a human tendency, but it is not helped by the deliberate incitement of some politicians who should know better,” Mr Rowling said.

"Sure we have some bludgers here in New Zealand—but as many of them are right at the top of the social heap as there are at the bottom. The answer to bludgers is to get them to work and give them something to build for.

“There are two kinds of political parties in New Zealand: the builders and the bashers. I am proud to lead the party that is the party of builders. I am proud to stand for action, not reaction; for incentives to work, not incentives to bludge.

“Bert Walker bashes the solo parents because he thinks there are a few votes in it. He is wrong.” Mr Rowling said it was not enough to give solo parents a handout, put them in a State house, and forget about them.

“We must make sure that their kids grow up understanding that they have a responsibility to the rest of New Zealand. And we must make sure that whole towns do not become ghettos for the unemployed—especially the unemployed young. “The latest figures releaaed on Friday show a quite horrifying picture. People either on the dole or on special work show an increase of 2000 just over the last fortnight—and the high schools have not come out yet. It is the start of the deluge. Next year there will be 30,000 to 40,000 people out of work,” Mr Rowling said. Mr Rowling referred to the number of emigrants from New Zealand; these, he said, represented a SIOOOM gift by New Zealand to the rest of the world in skilled humanity. "Nothing could be a more damning indictment of this Administration than that exodus,” he said. He referred, too, to the Security Intelligence Service Amendment Bill and said: “We will get rid of that.”

To questions from the floor, Mr Rowling said it was now too late to reintroduce Labour's superannuation plan, and that Labour’s immigration policy in respect of Pacific Islanders would not result in a marked change in the number of Islanders admitted to New Zealand.

“In terms of humanity, of a moral and humane attitude towards handling the policy, there will be a very 7 great change. But I certainly would not think there would be a very marked change in numbers,” he said.