Labour ‘should forget about 1981 election’

Press, 28 August 1979, Page 22

Labour ‘should forget about 1981 election’

The Labour Party should forget about winning the 1981 and even the 1984 General Elections and concentrate on producing social change, said a Christchurch Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Jim Consedine. on Saturday

He was speaking to about’ 15 women at the South Is-i land Labour Women's con-] ference in Christchurch. AI spokeswoman, Mrs M. i Shaughnessy', said 40 people: had registered, but badj weather made the attendance: “very disappointing.” I Father Consedine said the Labour Party was little dif-i ferent from the National: Party. If it came into office in 1981 it would inherit a “corrupt and structurally violent economic and social isystem,” and would have no option but to administer it as National did. “You can rest assured that promises are being made to big business that a Labour Government will leave them alone. The new party president and the Leader of the Opposition are doing the' rounds of the board rooms, drumming up financial support for Labour’s next General Election campaign.” It was the Labour Party that introduced legislation making unlawful assembly a crime, and Labour had begun dawn raids on overstayers, Father Consedine said. The Labour Party had deregistered more unions in its 1972-1975 term than had i the succeeding National ; Government.

Because the Labour Party was the only party naive enough to claim it could change the present system, it had to give up its quest for political power, and become a genuine movement for social change, he said. The democratic socialism espoused by Labour was really a blend of state and corporate capitalism; it was still government in the hands of bureaucrats and multinationals. In the next decade New Zealand would move either towards Fascism or a genuine people’s government, he said. National was happy to move in a Fascist direction, undermining the trade unions and controlling the media. A people’s government would encourage alternative life and work styles, give Maoris and Polynesians a “special place of dignity” and remove discrimination of minorities, and sexism. It would create a means of exchange based on need, not greed. In a time o, economic and social disintegration, as at present, people either swung Left — seeking basic struc-

tural changes in society — or Right, out of fear and uncertainty, wanting a firm hand on the helm, Father Consedine said. The President of the Labour Party (Mr J. P. Anderton) has described the attack on the party by Father Consedine as ill-informed and strangely selective. "It is totally untrue that in our appeals for financial support from business houses, promises are being made to big business that a Labour Government wilt leave them alone,” he said. “I am not sure what Father Consedine means by his phrase, ‘Leave then: alone,’ but I can assure him there are no promises whatever made or implied it: accepting donations from public or private companies.” The appeals had bee: made on the basis that ord:

nary working people in the party had carried the financial burden for too long and that business had an important role to play in helping to preserve the democratic form of Government Mr Anderton said Father Consedine conveniently forgot to mention that as soon as the Immigration Division and the police started dawn raids on houses they were stopped by the Labour Government. That contrasted with the arrests of overstayers on the streets of Auckland on the orders of the National Government, which National Ministers denied were happening and which were stopped only by widespread aress and public protest. “I can assure Father Consedine that whether he personally likes it or not, we vill be there in 1981,” Mr Xnderton said.