‘Growth’ Budget first in ‘new look’ series

Press, 2 July 1979, Page 16

‘Growth’ Budget first in ‘new look’ series

By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY

As the Budget debate develops and taxpayers have a better opportunity to examine this very complex document, it becomes clear that Mr Muldoon’s tenth budget was by no means the production of a “one-man band.”

Previous Budget documents have contained a high level of pragmatism — of spot reaction to external influences — with the result that little has been left in the way of long-term policy. The 1979 Budget, tentative as it sounded at first hearing, and lacking just a little of the drive and swing of previous productions by Mr Muldoon, nevertheless looked like the beginning of a new series.

This Budget will be developed and expanded in those of 1980 and 1981. By the time the next General Election comes into view the new planning pattern should be fully understood by the electorate, which holds the ultimate authority for its development. A fact which becomes apparent only if one looks for it is that this Budget bore the print of many

minds. Anyone who brands it “Muldoon’s Budget” and goes on attacking it as if all that is needed is to defeat the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, must be guilty of over-simplification. Months ago, when the president of the National Party (Mr G. A. Chapman) spoke of the need for the party to return to basic principles, including the encouragement of private enterprise, individual ownership, and individual effort, many misread this as a sign of disagreement between Mr Chapman and Mr Muldoon.

What was largely Jost at the time was that Mr Chapman was talking about a restructuring process in the National Party which actually began in 1971 when, largely by Mr Chapman’s effort, young candidates of promise and achievement had been recruited into the ranks of National Party candidates. Later Mr Chapman mentioned to me the names of five of the young men then recruited as candidates. They were Messrs D. F. Quigley, J. K. McLay, W. E. Cooper, B. E. Brill and D. 1.. Kydd. The first three names are now members of Mr Muldoon’s Cabinet. Mr Brill, whose name had to be held

means that we can expect a number of each-way adjustments to the exchange-rate — a habit which will take some getting used to. Fingertip controls bring a queasy feeling if they are over-used. The establishment of a central bureau on regulations has also been welcomed by potential investors. It is designed to sweep away the mass of regulations in favour of a chartered course, and will greatly reduce approval time. The requirement, as in other aspects, if for efficient public servants with a private enterprise view of timesaving. Our politician-planners are at the stage where they appreciate the value of the old Monetary and Economic Council, which for years preached the need for growth policies to empty pulpits. Now the Planning Council is doing the same — but the audience is significantly larger, and experience is growing.

Much of what is aimed at can come true only if the costs of Government departments and instrumentalities rise more slowly than export receipts. In the private sector we have a similar situation, in that the successful product is one which is needed at a price well above what it costs to produce.