Woman M.P.’s views on abortion, taxation

Press, 22 May 1978, Page 16

Woman M.P.’s views on abortion, taxation

Comment from the Capital

By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY

For the first time in New Zealand’s political history four women will contest a Parliamentary seat. That seat is Lyttelton, at present held narrowly by Miss Colleen Elizabeth Dewe (Nat.), whose paper majority after the recent boundary changes is said to be as little as 300.

Miss Dewe is not aghast at the prospect of having to fight three other women for the seat which she has occupied since November, 1875. “I think this is a tremendous compliment to me,” she told me. “When the Labour Party made its nomination I knew why. I am extremely well-known in the electorate. I have been able to help people, and I believe a lot of people have confidence in my ability and interest.”

She commented lightheartedly on the apparent assumption by the other three parties that “you can’t put up a male candidate against a woman,” Miss Dewe said that people were realising that more women were needed in Parliament, that women had a practical approach to problems rather than a theoretical one, and that “being clear-thinking and clear-sighted, they cut through the verbiage.” She explained that it was realised in Parliament that a select committee with a woman on it. was a far more effective committee than one without. There was no doubt that the abortion debate had added momentum to the view that Parliament needed more women members, if only to get a more balanced view on that issue. “Women have been accused of thinking emotionally, through the heart rather than the head. I believe women think very clearly. While not ignoring the emotional impact of what is being done, they take into account the social impact as well as the rational approach. This is their value, I am sure.” She does not believe in “tokenism,” that women

should be guaranteed a specific percentage of com-mittee-places simply because of their sex. “The more knowledge and qualification you have in certain spheres, the more background and maturity, the more competent you are to cope with situations. I envy the lawyers in this game, because of their tremendous fund of knowledge of law and its practical operation. “I don’t think you should be here just because you are a woman,” Miss Dewe said. “I would hate to think that the voters of New Zealand were prepared to vote women in jus.t to have women there. They have to be sure to choose the right women for the right reasons.”

She regards as ridiculous and “tokenism of the worst sort” the advanced feminist view that women should be equally represented on all corhinittees, boards and other bodies. Miss Dewe believes that the priorities of this Parliamentary ■ session will be basically to set the guidelines for the General Election campaign. “The legislative programme is not big, but the Address-in-Reply, Budget, and appropriations debates will be used to set the guidelines for what will be the issues for the rest of the year.”

Asked where the abortion issue fitted into this, Miss Dewe said fervently: “This is the worry of my life. In my opinion it will never be resolved.”

Miss Dewe expressed some doubt as to the possibility of assessing what people really wanted. “If you did have a simple referendum on whether or not the existing law should be retained, the result could well be near to a tie. So what would the Government do? Nothing?” The result of a referendum, she suggested, would have to be decisive before the mes-

sage could be accepted. This would need an understanding of the precise issues which a large percentage of the public might not have. She prefers evolution to revolution as an agent of change: “But it is a much more painful process, and the pain lasts longer. To do the right thing for the right reasons for everybody . . . I wish it had never come up.” Miss Dewe believes that the groundswell of opinion cannot be ignored. But it is also necessary to determine how widespread it is, rather than vocal. There is no way of determining this without having a referendum, or rather a house-to-house investigation of people. She would favour a referendum, so long as every person who voted understood what the law was now, and what it was before.

The abortion issue, Miss Dewe believes, has fixed people in camps from which they will not emerge. There was also a feeling that people were “sick of it,” and did not want to know. She puts the main damage as starting with the amendment put forward by Dr G. A. Wall (Lab., Pofirua), which became the Hospitals Amendment Act, 1975. “If that had not come in, and gone through the House, we would not have this on our hands today,” Miss Dewe told me. “That was the thing which triggered off the whole emotional, no-win debate. Gerry Wall has much to answer for, including his amendment in the last one.” Miss Dewe has real concern about the secondary effects of the apparently insoluble abortion clamour. “The .thing that worries me is that the abortion issue is going to run through the whole year and become an issue in the General Election campaign, to the detriment of the true political

issues, which should be the main points of argument during that time.”

She is concerned at the way people have tended to blame the Government and the Prime Minister for what has happened over the abortion issue. “They talk about the Government being at fault, because it was the Government’s legislation. Actually there was no other way it could be introduced, “but you cannot explain this to people who are not aware of what happens in Parliamentary procedure.” On taxation adjustments, which are being tipped as part of the Budget message, Miss Dewe said that the Government had been heading that way since 1976, with the , young family rebate. Before that there was mention of a possible “restructuring” of taxation. “I love that word ‘restructure’ ”, Miss Dewe commented. “It was used earlier by Mr Tizard, as Labour’s Minister of Finance. Unless you specifically define what you are going to do, it can mean something either way. It doesn’t necessarily mean reduction, merely a change in the basis of taxation.

“So when you have Messrs Tizard and Rowling going round the country saying ‘we must restructure the taxation,’ you don’t really know whether it is going down or up. One thing is clear. Labour certainly has a capital-gains tax in mind, it is their policy. And I do believe that in doing this they’ve put an albatross around their necks.” (Both Mr Tizard and Mr Rowling have denied that the Labour Party intends to introduce a capital-gains tax).

Miss Dewe is not one for overseas trips. In 1977 she went to Japan as a guest of the Japanese Government and last year she was appointed by the Government

to be New Zealand representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. “This is more travelling than I like doing,” she confided. “It is very interesting and rewarding, educational, informative — but I am not a happy traveller. When I have spare time I would sooner spend it in my electorate, or in my garden, or doing the things I have so little time to do.” She has had to cut back on her work on select committees. “There is just not enough time to cope with all the demands of my electorate work, as well as the House and all the committees I was put on originally.”

So she has stayed with fishing, transport and ,economics.

Miss Dewe sees as her most worrying problem the future of the town of Lyttelton itself. “This is sincere. It is not politicking,” she stressed. “To me the problem with Lyttelton is one of attitudes. There seems to be no concerted endeavour to change the thinking that Lyttelton is a dying town. Lyttelton people must involve themselves in the development of their own town, their own port, their own shipping. We must sit up and fight for our own, without acceptance of what other interests might imply.”