Petition opens today

Press, 22 April 1980, Page 6

Petition opens today

The strength of South Is-1 landers’ antipathy to central government will be tested! .from today'when the South! [island Movement launches.a!, 'petition calling for a refer-! iendum on the island’s future. | The petition will be available for people to sign in 'Cathedral Square from today . [until . Thursday, and next: i week, from Wednesday to! Friday.. It will remain open;: until about August, whenii the movement will assess its I strength. The movement was confident of obtaining the i 200,060 signature's which the Minister of Internal Affairs il

I (Mr Highet) last year chai- : lenged it to gain for such a i ’petition, said the moveiment’s leader (Mr Steven! [Andrews). !; I The petition called for a|referendum to give South . Is- : land electors a choice ofl< either having management of i their own internal affairs byh a democratically elected h | “self-government” within a[i I New Zealand Federal Parlia- ( ;ment; or keeping the system 1 'of central government for < both Islands. 1 The federal government, ] which would have a written . constitution based on the ' West German model, would 1 have equal representation t

from the North and South Islands, he suggested. North Islanders might also be interested in the petition, ■as they suffered as much as |the South Island from “too 'much central government [control,” Mr Andrews said. ; The membership of the [movement had grown . rap- ! idly recently, and it could [now number 2000 financial supporters in the South Island, 500 of them in Christchurch, he said. It had branches at Invercargill, Dunedin, Oamaru and Christchurch, and meetings would be held throughout the South Island soon.