What the M.P.s were saying Confidence, or lack of it, chief line on Budget

Press, 2 July 1979, Page 2

What the M.P.s were saying Confidence, or lack of it, chief line on Budget

From Cedric Mentiplay Confidence, or the lack of it, in the Government and its policies has been the main theme during the first week of the Budget debate. Mr M. A. Connelly (Lab., Yaldhurst) opened his Budget speech with an assessment that small provisions made for the family man would quickly be eroded by sharp increases in the cost of living, high interest rates on mortgages and “ruinously high” charges for electricity. On the Government’s statements about the importance of exporters, Mr Connelly asked: “If the Government considers exporters to bfe so important, why was it not until its fourth Budget that something was done fo help them?” A Mr Connelly said New Zealand had enjoyed its greatest stability and its greatest sustained prosperity when it had a fixed exchange rate. “The Government altered that, and we have had nothing but trouble ever since.”

Government policies had driven 50,000 people out of work and 80,000 people • overseas, said Mr Connelly. In spite of the Government’s claims that four Budgets had helped the farmers, the chairman of the Dairy Board (Mr A. L. Friis) had said that dairy farmers were bitterly disappointed by the decisions in the latest Budget, and that the extension of the supplementary minimum price scheme was a futility. Arapawa goals Mrs M. D. Batchelor (Lab., Avon) managed, by r. series of questions, to extort the last word about the vexed question of the Arapawa Island goats from the Minister of Lands (Mr V. S. Young). Mrs Batcheltr asked whether it was true that an' Old English buck had been sold to a goat breeder for “several hundred dollars.”

Mr Young said that the Arapawa Wildlife Trust had registered some of the captured goats with the New Zealand Goat Breeders* Association. A high monetary value had been placed on selected specimens. The recent control work had reduced goat numbers to a level, where “the unique, vegetation of the scenic reserve now has the chance to recover.”

Mr Young forecast a close monitoring system, plus the addition of some fencing. He.

added: “My department will put no restriction on persons wishing to capture goats, but it must be understood that goats will not be permitted to increase to the former damaging level.” It seems, however, that the Arapawa goats are not a pure breed of the Old English milk goat. Mr Young said that there was an “invasion” of Angora goats in 1910. More about ethanol

The Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) said that there was a strong possibility of

an ethanol production . unit being established in the South Island when replying to a question from Mr R, L. G. Talbot (Nat., Ashburton). “A. report by the Energy Research and Development Committee on all aspects of energy farming, will be re-, leased shortly, and I expect a seminar to be arranged to consider options open for the production of ethanol from the biomass, including fodder beet,” said Mr Birch. Mr A. J. Faulkner (Lab., Roskill): When will we be. able to make a decision on the production of ethanol! from fodder- beet, sugar beet or pine trees? : Mr Birch:. It is. prudent to await the release of the report a-nd its evaluation by the seminar.

Dr I. J. Shearer (Nat., Hamilton East): Was there recently a prototype of:the process rm display: at a field day in Waikato? Mr Birch: I understand there Was a model of an ethanol. production unit bn display. Sir Basil Arthur (Lab., Timaru): Has the Minister re-

ceived any representations supporting the proposal from the member for Ashburton? Is he aware that the same member opposed the suggestion of an investigation when it was put forward by the South Canterbury Regional Development Council? Mr Talbot: That is a lie and the member knows it. When the Speaker intervened, Mr Talbot withdrew his remark and apologised. Mr Birch: I have received a considerable number of representations from . the member for Ashburton. I know he is a keen supporter of the production of ethanol from energy farming. Caution on fuels Chided by Mr F. M. Colman (Lab., Pencarfow) that on taking office the Government should have proceeded to deal with the oil situation on the lines planned by the Labour Government, Mr D. L. Kidd (Nat., Marlborough) said: “So far it has been ignored in this debate that the information available 1 3| years ago was not such that any responsible' Government would have committed hundreds of millions of dollars.

We are a little more prudent when making that kind of decision.” It would have been a tragedy and a scandal to have adopted a technology which could have been made obsolete, inadequate or redundant within a year or two. “In other partly of the world the commerciallyusable products, such as condensate for t'he manufacture of liquefied petroleum gas, are extracted, and the gas is flared off,” said Mr Kidd. “Every day oilfields in the Middle East burn off the type of gas that we want to conserve from the Maui field. Such flare-offs must not happen in New Zealand, except in strategic emergencies.” During the past 3} years New Zealand had devoted an intensive effort to acquiring technology, most of which had been gained from a knowledge and information base of almost zero. “The fact that we have reached the present stage is a credit to past and present Ministers of Energy, the Liquid Fuels Trust Board, and the Energy Research and Development Committee,” said Mr Kidd.