'Incompetent’ Minister should resign, Opposition says

Press, 12 October 1979, Page 4

'Incompetent’ Minister should resign, Opposition says

PA Wellington The Opposition last evening called on the Minister of Transport (Mr McLachlan) to resign for alleged incompetence after the fatal crash of an Air New Zealand Friendship aircraft at Auckland on February 17 this year. Mr D. R. Lange (Lab., Mangere), speaking during the Estimates debate on ] transport, accused Mr Mc- ) Lachlan of being “punchidrunk” and “incompetent.” ! Mr Lange’s “punch-drunk” accusation was ruled out of order by the Chairman of Committees (Mr J. F. Luxton) and the remark was subsequently withdrawn. Mr Lange then said the Minister was “reeling from the burden of having to hold on to a political job he cannot cope with. “At the time of the crash the Minister was completely incompetent and because of this he ought to go,” Mr Lange said. The Friendship crashed into Manukau Harbour as it was approaching Auckland Airport. The pilot and engineer were killed. Mr Lange. said Mr McLachlan's No. 1 attorney was the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon). “The Minister is a hotchpotch of contradictions and incompetence and yet the Prime Minister still comes to his rescue. “The Opposition takes no pleasure at all in seeing a Minister virtually unable to defend himself. The. Minister simply should go,” Mr Lange said. (Mr McLachlan returned to Parliament, on Tuesday after almost a month away because of illness.) Referring to specific areas of alleged Ministerial incompetence, Mr Lange said there was “a $150,000 fire-fighting machine at Mangere Airport with two of its valves bunged up.” »»

i Mr Lange said Mr McLachlan professed concern - about a future aircraft disf aster. > “But the seeds of concern - are sitting idle in my elecf torate now,” he said. Mr N. J. Kirk (Lab., Syden- * ham) accused Mr McLaughlan of misleading the House > when replying to a Minis- i ’> terial question on May 24, 1 when he said there were no ' Evidence available to suggest ’ the need for an inquiry into airport crash services ’ around the country. Mr Kirk ’ asserted that the Minister had ’ on May 14 discussed with ; Cabinet a draft report of an ’ inquiry by the chief inspector of air accidents, Mr R. ; Chippendale. 1 The Minister of Police (Mr * Gill) labelled Mr Kirk “petulant” and “childish.” j Mr GiH said Mr McLaugh- , lan had handled events since f the accident with patience, ■ restraint, and judgment. Mr Kirk was simply attempting 1 to frighten the travelling t public. I Mr McLachlan said of Mr * Kirk; “I warn him he is walking down the plank and ■ he is about to fall off the ’ end.” Mr McLachlan denied Opposition claims that he had done nothing in the eight ’ months since the Mangere ! crash. The Government had 1 done everything that was legally required and had even 1 set up a Commission of In- ! quiry and said to it: “You . tell us what we need around . our international airports,” he said. , Mr MacLachlan assured . Parliament that the findings ] of the commission would be made public. . Sir Basil Arthur (Lab-Tim- . aru) held up a piece of wood . that he said Mr Kirk had ; discovered last month was : being used as a handbrake ; for a crash fire vehicle at Mangere Airport.

“The travelling public of i New Zealand must be as- • sured that there will not be a repetition of that accident,” ' Sir Basil said. The Acting’ Prime Minister (Mr Taiboys) reacted an- • grily to Mr Kirk’s assertions ■ that he found serious defic- ■ iencies in Auckland Airport’s ’ rescue services as late as last month. The vehicle which the Op- . position said was hand-bra-ked with a piece of wood was a 1959 Bedford that was used to test fire hydrants, Mr I Taiboys said. Mr Kirk and other mem- : bers of the Opposition who I were attempting to say that, this was about to cause an accident were being “utter- • ly irresponsible,” Mr Talboys said. He had never seen a more determined effort to mislead the House and blacken a Minister. He asked Mr Kirk if • he had represented himself as a pilot when he visited Auckland Airport a month ago. “There were those who , said he did,” Mr Taiboys said. Mr Kirk* denied the suggestion. Mr Taiboys said the Opposition was trying to conjure up in the minds of the public that there was something wrong with airport rescue services and that this caused the accident. The accident was a result • of pilot error, Mr Taiboys I said. Opposition speakers assured Mr McLachlan they were not blaming him for the accident, but the Minister said he had lived for the last few months with statements inferring “just that.” “I live with my own conscience and they can live with theirs,” Mr McLachlan said. Mr E. E. Isbey (Lab., Papatoetoe) said the Labour Party in no way accused

“this somewhat hapless ■ Minister of being responsible for the Mangere crash.” But, he said, a Minister should take responsibility for what happened in his portfolio. However, Mr McLachlan was responsible for “the most inept, the most clumsy, the most inaccurate, and the most inane statements about the state of preparedness in I regard to the crash and the; circumstances of that partic-| ular crash. “The reason the Labour Party is making a fuss about this is that we don’t want any more crashes anywhere in the country and we want to make sure airports have a high degree of preparedness," Mr Isbey said. The Deputy Minister of Finance (Mr Templeton) criticised the approach taken by the Opposition. He said Mr Kirk was doing “nothing but misleading the House and the country. He has been engaged in this exercise far too long. “Why is the Labour Party allowing the member for Sydenham to nose around and make such allegations?” he said. Mr Kirk had gone to Mangere and claimed that he was a pilot, but this was not so, Mr Templeton told Parliament. The allegation was reject|ed by Mr Kirk. | The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) said his colleague had made it clear he was a member of Parliament before going to the airport and had said only that he had had some flying experience. Mr Rowling said the Labour Party would continue its criticism of Mr McLachlan’s handling of the crash “Until this House and the country gets the kind of answers they deserve.”