Changes in election system suggested

Press, 19 July 1979, Page 11

Changes in election system suggested

PA Tauranga The administration of all elections should be removed from executive government and placed in the hands of an independent statutory body, says the leader of the Social Credit League, (Mr Beetham). Addressing league members from the Bay of Plenty and Waikato in Tauranga, he said the regulation-making power of the executive government in relation to public elections and polls should be eliminated. Many people had expressed concern about the present electoral system, but little had been put forward to overcome administrative problems. Mr Beetham proposed alterations to the present electoral system.

He also accused the , Federation of Labour of j being irresponsible when it suggested the present economic system should be changed but offered no alternative. He said the F.O.L. was right in saying that an alternative had to be found to an economy which could not provide a minimum living wage. “But the federation is obliged to state clearly what alternative it has in ■mind when it suggests that the present economic system might not deserve to survive,” said Mr Beetham. “It is irresponsible for such a powerful organisation to imply that its actions might wreck the present system, without also stating what alternative it has in mind,” he said.