Warning of Govt ‘attack’ on rights of individuals

Press, 9 October 1979, Page 1

Warning of Govt ‘attack’ on rights of individuals

PA Hamilton The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Rowling, last evening predieted that basic human rights in New Zealand would come under ’’unprecedented attack/* over the next two years.

He calleu on New Zealanders of all political persuasions to “stand up and fight back" before rights and freedoms that had been built up over generations were whittled away by the present National Government.

Speaking at a public rally in the Founders’ Theatre at Hamilton. Mr Rowling said the spirit of a nation was not measured solely in the things that could be held in the hand — jobs, incomes, homes, and education.

“We could achieve all those things, and it would mean nothing if at the same time we turn our backs on things like freedom of speech, freedom of belief, respect for the law, and the integrity of government.” he said.

Describing the Government as a “frightened and desperate little cabal.” Mr Rowling said the criticism of Corso, and the new National Development Bill, were examples of the type of attack that would be mounted on the rights of the individual in an effort to “hang on to’’ political power.

“If there is one action that marks this little duster it would be their knife job on Corso,” Mr Rowling said.

"What has Corso done?” asked Mr Rowling. “Talked about poverty. Talked and fought for the rights of mankind, where they may be found. So they are branded as Left-wing extremists, so dangerous that they have to be tramped out of sight. They are branded as political',” he said.

“What is political about poverty or starvation? What is political about the right of freedom of speech and belief?” asked Mr Rowling. “What is political about the long line of people and organisations who have been attacked because they dared to stand up and express a point of view?” Mr Rowling said that no government had to agree with everybody. But no government had the right to try to use the law and its position to “pummel people into submission.” He challenged the Waikato National members of Parliament, who, he said,

liked to talk a lot about rights and freedom, on what they had to sav when this type of action was taken by their Government.

In particular, he wanted to know what their position was last Friday, when the legislation had been introduced, “legislation which allowed one man to set aside 28 statutes; legislation which allowed the courts to be brushed aside.”

Mr Rowling said that in the period of intense development New Zealand faced, a Labour Government would spearhead development, “as Labour governments have always done in the past.”

However, he said there was no way that a Labour Government was going to turn its back on 100 years of law and democracy in the way the National Development Bill did. He warned that if people did not stand up and fight back against the legislation now, they could well wake up one morning to find a nuclear power station or worse in their backyard, and be told they could “like it or lump it.”