M.P. explains comments on ‘illiterates’

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 6

M.P. explains comments on ‘illiterates’

PA Wellington The Government member for Kapiti, Mr B. E. Brill, yesterday made a personal explanation to Parliament of his comments about illiterate and low intelligence voters, made in the House on Wednesday evening. He was reported by Radio New Zealand to have attacked Labour voters and said to have called them "the weak and feebleminded, the illiterate, and the drunkards.” But Mr Brill said outside the House that he actually had said that voters in these categories were claimed by Labour to be its supporters. He said the Labour Party had claimed to have been disadvantaged by the disallowance of votes that had not been cast properly in the General Election and that persons who did not cast tneir votes properly and did not understand the political system, supported Labour.

Opposition members also said that those who were illiterate and could not read supported Labour, Mr Brill said.

“It is not very surprising, because if they cannot read they would not know why they should not be supporting the Labour Party. ‘The Labour Party says that others would be unable to cast a valid vote because they are simole-minded and unable to understand the simple instructions on the ballot papers. “Others unable to cast their vote on polling day, as happened with a number of cases in the Kapiti electorate, were drunk when thev went to the ballot,” Mr Brill said. “Now all of these people, the illiterate, the drunk, and the simple-minded, the feeble-minded, the lowest and meanest intelligence in

the country, are claimed by the Labour Party as being its supporters,” he said. On Thursday the president of the Labour Party (Mr J. P. Anderton), said the assertion by Mr Brill that voters were “simple-minded, of lower intelligence and illiterate” was a calculated insult to hundreds of thousands of New Zealand voters. Even the new National Party member for Hunua, Mr W. R. Peters had found he could not cope with the intricacies of the voting system, Mr Anderton said. Mr Peters’s vote was declared invalid in the Hunua electorate beacuse he was still on a Maori roll. But, Mr Anderton said, the 'Labour Party had “not given [up its fight for electoral justice on behalf of those who [find the present electoral system and its method of I administration mysterious [and daunting.”

The Labour Party was looking at the possibility of further legal action on the fundamental principles surrounding the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.