Govt policy 'cynical'

Press, 6 May 1980, Page 6

Govt policy ' cynical'

Large slices of New Zealand’s population had been “written off” by the Government’s cynical economic policies, said the Deputy Leader Of the Opposition (Mr Lange) in Christchurch last evening. “A vindication of the Government’s economic policies” had become one of the usual quarterly expressions to explain the changes that had come over the country in the last three years, he said.

Mr Lange addressed more than 400 people at an Aranui

meeting organised by the Avon Electorate Committee. Mr Lange said the Minister of Justice (Mr McLay) was a person of “lofty ideas,” but had made no changes in deficient areas such as a legal aid system and the small claims tribunals. In the interests of economy, the legal system had been “knocked from the grass roots up” The confidence of people in the justice system was going and they were not being given the mean-3 to use the system.

The Government’s failure

was evident in the continued deterioration of law and order and the family situation, Mr Lange said. " Regional development was fundamental to the survival of New Zealand, but under this Government it had become a cost-accounting exercise that would cause New Zealand to collap-3e. Power was one way of unlocking the potential of the South Island and under a Labour government, South Island power charges would be a reflection of the costs, Mr Lange said.