Govt denies special work favouritism

Press, 16 August 1978, Page 6

Govt denies special work favouritism

PA Wellington A demal that there was any favouritism in the allocation of special work for the, unemployed was made by the Minister of Justice (Mr Thom- 1 son) in Parliament yesterday . Mr Thomson, who stood in for the Minister of Labour <Mr Gordon) during the de-i bate on the Labour Depart-1 ment estimates, said that; money was not allocated on' a district basis but was provided according to jobs available. He was replying to Sir Basil Arthur (Lab., Timarui who had complained about the “selective nature” of special work. Sir Basil said that only 200 out of 1000 unemployed had been given special work in Timaru, whereas more than 1000 special jobs had been found for 1200 unemployed in Dunedin and Oamaru where the Government held three marginal scats. Mr Thomson said that the figure Sir Basil had given was not just for Timaru city but covered the area from

the Ragitata River to the Waitaki River. This was an area with a good deal of seasonal employment and some of those registered as unemployed already had good incomes from the freezing season. Dunedin did not have the

same degree of season em-i ployment as South Canter-; bury, he said. Mr B. S. G. Lambert (Nat.,l Western Hutt) accused Labour members of trying to get the maximum political benefit from unemployment. To Labour jeers, he said many of the 47,000 unemployed and on special work would not be employable in normal times. “A lot of these people do not want to be employed.” he said. But Mr R. L. Bailey (Lab.. Heretaunga) said this was “darned nonsense.” Mr Thomson said that Mr Gordon, who had returned'

from Auckland during the debate, had been told there of a second chef’s job at $15,000 a year “going begging.” The same employer could not get part-time waitresses at $4.70 an hour, he said. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling), said that unemployment was one of the most crippling problems facing New Zealand and was causing a great deal of anguish among families. The official figures were only the "tip of the iceberg.” Mr Rowling said. The actual situation was much worse. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) had described unemployment as “manageable.” ( “That rather suggests to ;me that the Government has 'deliberately created the situlation,” Mr Rowling said. He asked Mr Gordon what he proposed to do at the end of the school year, when manv pupils who had stayed on, expecting employment to improve, joined the workforce. Mr Gordon denied that the Government had created unemployment deliberately.

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