Air merger outside power of Minister?

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 4

Air merger outside power of Minister?

The Opposition associate spokesman on transport, Mr F. L. Rogers, has called into question the legality of the merger of the National Airways Corporation and Air New Zealand. • According to Mr Rogers, there is “considerable doubt” whether the Minister of Civil Aviation has the power to proceed with a merger. “The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) was shown to be wrong in 1976 when ne instructed employers to disregard the enacted will of Parliament and cease payments into the superannuation fund,” he said. “Now, in a similar fashion, we appear to hive a Minister of the Crown | claiming to invoke section! 18 of the N.A.C. Act in an; attempt to negate that act. “This is against the ex-{ press requirement in section 13 of the same act, which charges the corporation with I the provision of air services! | in this country, and which; , can only be revoked with ! the consent of Parliament, I and not by Ministerial dec- ” said Mr Rogers. He was referring to the , {New Zealand National Air- ( I wavs Act, 1945, which set up N.AC.. { Section 18 requires the,; i directors of N.A.C. to “have

regard to any representations that may be made by the Minister (of Civil Aviation) in respect of any functions or business of the corporation” and further requires them to “give effect to any decision of the Government in relation thereto conveyed to the directors in writing by the Minister.” Some difficulty arises in that the Acts Interpretation Act defines Parliament (as the assembled House of Representatives), but does not specify whether “Government” is to be taken as meaning the ruling party. The other section to which {Mr Rogers referred, section {l3, outlines the general {functions and duties of iN.A.C. Under this the corporation { “may do all 'that is neces- ' sary or convenient to be ! done” for the establishment, : maintenance, and operation {of air services for the transj port of passengers and {goods by air within New I Zealand. There is also one major provision. This is that the running of the air seri vices must be done “with full regard to safety, effn ciency, and economy of operation.” Efficiency and economy of operation have been given as the reasons for the merger.