Mr Moyle seeking Labour’s top post

Press, 6 February 1979, Page 3

Mr Moyle seeking Labour’s top post

'PA Wellington A former Minister of Agriculture, Mr C. J. Moyle, will be a candidate for the presidency of the Labour Party at its annual conference in May. He is one of six candidates for the post after the announced retirement of the president (Mr A. J. Faulkner).

Mr Moyle, who worked as the party’s policy co-ordina-tor after his resignation as a member of Parliament after the “Moyle affair”, was unsuccessful in his bid to make a comeback as Labour candidate for Whangarei in the last General Election, Other candidates for the presidency named yesterday by the party’s general secretary (Mr J. F. Wybrow) are the senior vice-president (Mr J. A. Walding), who is the member of Parliament again for Palmerston North, an Auckland City Councillor, Mr J. Anderton, who stood against Mr Faulkner last year, two trade-union officials, Messrs S. McCaffley and A. O'Neill, and Mr W. Woods, the only South Islander, who is making his third bid for the post.

It is the first time that Mr Moyle has stood for the presidency. Mr Wybrcrw said that his nomination brought “a new dimension” to the ballot.

Voting would be on a preferential basis and could go to a third count before a winner was found with the necessary majority.

Mr Moyle has also been nominated for the senior vice-president’s position, for whch there are nine candidates. Among them is the member of Parliament for Mangere (Mr D. R. Lange), who is a member of the party's executive. Other candidates are the former member of Parliament for Awarua, Mr A. W. Begg, the retired member for St Albans, Mr R. P. B. Drayton, and the former member for Oamaru, Mr W. R. Laney. Besides Mr Moyle, three other candidates for the president’s job, Messrs Anderton, McCaffley, and

Woods, have also been nominated for the senior vicepresidency.

The present senior vicepresident (Mr Walding) is standing only for the president’s position. A Victoria University lecturer, Dr A. Levett, who was candidate for Wairarapa in the last election,, is the ninth contender for the senior vice-presideney. There are . seven women in the race for the. junior vicepresidency being vacated by Mr M. K. Moore, the new member for Papanui. A record 18 candidates, three times as many as

when the office was created in 1975, have been nominated for the position. They include seven General Election candidates: Mr Begg, Dr Levett, Mrs Audie Cooke-Pennefather (Tamaki), Mrs Colleen Hicks (East Coast Bays), Dr A. Hinchcliffe (Eden), Mr G. Leckey (North Shore), a Wellington city councillor, Mrs Helen Ritchie (Ohariu), Mrs Elsa Smith (Pakuranga), and Mr D. McKenzie (Rangiora). Other women candidates are an Auckland University lecturer, Miss Helen Clark, a member of the party’s executive, Mrs Molly Clark, who is a Christchurch city councillor, and Mrs Pam Cornelius, of Timaru, a member of the party’s council.

The 43 candidates for the five positions on the party executive include the five

sitting members: Mr Anderton. Miss Helen Clark, Mr Duggan, Mr Lange, and Mr McCaffley. Other contenders include a former party president, Dr A. M. Finlay, who retired last year as the member of Parliament for Henderson, a former Mayor of Christchurch, Mr N. G. Pickering, who stood for Wellington Central in the last election, Mr Moyle, Mr Drayton, and a former member of Parliament for Invercargill, Mr J* B. Munro.