What the M.P.s were saying A sameness in debates

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 2

What the M.P.s were saying A sameness in debates

By CEDRIC MENTIPLAY Members had a variety of subjects on which to state their views, but a sameness of attack and defence told its own story of staleness; creeping into a session that has had to compete with too many important outside issues. The problem of landslips: seems to grow no nearer to; solution, though the attempt by Mr B. P. MacDonell; (Labour. Dunedin Central) iol raise the case again h'Bs placed another private; member’s bill at the tail of th? Order Paper. ; .Mr D. L. Kidd (National.; Marlborough) had something worth while to say when he tried to get the bill’s introductory debate back on the rails, after politicking, forays by previous speakers. “This is one debate wherej members should try to con-! tribute constructively,” Mr I Kidd said. The first point to look at when considering any bill in this field was that" if the problem was as simple as it was self-evident, then it would have been solved long ago. “No matter where a person is, he is as likely as anyone else to have' his house burn down. If he lives on the flat, away from the edge of the sea. and away from a stream, then the pos- 1 sibility of having' hi? land collapse from under him is so minimal as not to be 1 taken into consideration. This is an indication of the complexity of the problem! with which the member fori Dunedin Central is trying to • grapple,”, Mr Kidd said. He congratulated Mr MacDonell. expressed sympathy ' with thd victims of land- : slips and proceeded to speak : on the bill which is unlikely ; to proceed beyond the ( second-reading stage. : I Taxing the dole ' t Mrs Mary Batchelor j (Labour. Avon) mentioned that during the debate on < the genera! strike no Gov- t ernment member had men- < tinned either industrial rela- t tions or the unemployment i problem, lhe real and irn- t portant issues facing the t country. t “Apparently the Govern- c nient’s only industrial rela- c tions policy is to tax the . dole,” Mrs Batchelor said. “The people decided to strike, not because they could afford to do so. not! because they wanted to strike, but because they had; no option. , i “They had seen the Govjernment’s interference in the! wages of freezing workers in Ithe previous year, and its|f I interference in the drivers’! r I wage negotiations, recently, 1 1 ;and had wondered whether s ithey would be the next to ! suffer. The workers were in 1 la cleft stick. They wanted to * 'earn, but the Government’s I I actions had forced them to f ;strike. Unfortunately. be- t jeause of the economic situ- t ation, some were unable to £ strike,” she said. f Sir Basil Arthur (Lab., Ti- n maru) lodged a strong objec- a tion to what he called t

underspending, anting dis--f mission of the Health De- > partment's estimates. t "H has been said that a 1 man is responsible for his t own health requirements and ; that of his family," Sir Basil; qsaid. “It is the duty of the State to provide back-up; (services. A person with a ; salary could proilvide his own health services,; 'but a person on the basic) irate, or a single-income fam-’ lily, could not afford health >.services. < “The National Party’s 1975; (manifesto said that the; (enjoyment of the highest at-j (tamable, standard of health; J was one of the fundamental i (rights of every human being; (without the distinction of j (race, religion, political be-i I lief, economic, or social con(ditions. For three years the) (health services have been! (run down,” Sir Basil said. I “The present Minister of I Health has picked up where ( the former Minister failed to honour the manifesto promise. The Government’s failure is demonstrated by the fact that it could not maintain adequate hospital services.” (herseas concern Mr M. A. Connelly (Lab., Yaldhurst) was attending an interparliamentary confer-1 ence at Caracas, Venezuela.! He took as his theme the; “intolerable” position of the ( developing countries. ( “They are already seri-; ously affected by monopoly i I oil-pricing, as now revealed; Iby the recent G.A.T.T. decisions, and allied activities,” he said. “It is a waste of time advoca t i n g disarmament, strategic arms limitation, the application of human rights, and the like unless these objects are promoted in association with a fully-sup-ported international economic order which gives the developing countries the opportunities they need.” Mr Connelly said that the greatest need was to close the gap between living standards. “Otherwise many of the developing countries will remain economically poor and politically unstable, though they may have within themselves the ingredients of their own development.”