‘Politicians admitted’

Press, 16 May 1979, Page 3

‘Politicians admitted’

PA’ Wellington A move to stop Labour members of Parliament or candidates from running for office in the party was heavily defeated at the conference yestereay. A move to make the president’s job a full-time paid post was also defeated. But delegates agreed that the president should receive an honorarium. The conference was debating amendments to the party constitution. The move to stop members of Parliament running for office had been endorsed by regional conferences cf the party. But it was heavily defeated in a voice vote yesterday. The member of Parliament for St Albans (Mr D. F. Caygill) told delegates that

it would be “crazy” to stop members of Parliament and candidates from holding party office. "Bill Rowling was an outstanding president,”- he said. “Norman Kirk was an outstanding president. But both of those would have been disbarred from office under this proposal.” Mr Caygill’s call to the conference to reject the move was greeted by loud applause. A proposal to extend the national council membership by including two industrial representatives as of right was carried on a card vote, 558-418. The two representatives will be elected at each annual conference. The council at present comprises two women's representatives and one representative from each of the youth, Maori, and Polynesian sections.

The industrial representatives proposal was at first lost on the voices, but was then forced to a card vote by the trade-union delegates. Membership of the policy council was also enlarged to include representative from the industrial affiliates and a representative of the Polynesian section.

Mr D. Duggan (New Plymouth South) told delegates it was important that trade unions were-represented on the council because only’ 15 per cent of the trade-union movement was at present affiliated to the Labour Party. “If a Labour Government is going to regain the Treasury' benches, it needs a

larger share of the tradeunion movement,” Mr Duggan said. A move to bind Labour members of Parliament to decisions made at the party’s annual conferences failed. Several delegates indicated that they were not happy with the present situation in which members and the party’s policy council must only “have regard’* to conference decisions. An Auckland delegate, Miss Glenda Fryer, proposed an amendment to tha party constitution which would have made if mandatory for members of Parliament to follow conference declarations unless they had permission in writing from *he national council to depart from them. The retiring president (Mr Faulkner) opposed the amendment, saying that members had enough to do without having to write letters to the national council. Few decisions were made that did not confirm either to the spirit or the letter of conference resolutions, he said. ‘‘Either we are trustworthy or we are not,” Mr Faulkner said. It had also been a longestablished principle that members could exercise a free vote on matters of conscience.

The amendment was lost on the voices and the conference adopted a remit that “No policy shall be introduced into election policy which has not had conference endorsement in principle or the full endorsement of the policy council.”