What the M.P.s were saying Airport Authority ‘milked by Govt’

Press, 9 June 1980, Page 2

What the M.P.s were saying Airport Authority ‘milked by Govt’

Parliamentary reporter

The reward given the Christchurch Airport Authority for efficient management was to be “milked” by the Government, said the Labour member for Yaldhurst.(Mr M. A. Connelly) in the House last week.

The Government was penalising the authority’s initiative, enterprise, and sound management by transferring $570,000 to the Government’s coffers and oppos* ing runway extensions. Cabinet Ministers and other Government members had talked glibly of the need for Christchurch and the South Island to “stand on their own feet and help themselves” but when they sought aid the Government scythed their enterprise down, Mr Connelly said. “Can you imagine the Government cutting back the Auckland domestic airport dues by more than half, or allowing Mosgiel to go to the wall and into receivership in Helensville, Hunua, Mount Eden, or Hamilton, putting the jobs of 1200 people at risk in those marginal seats?” The Minister of Tourism (Mr Cooper) had said no positive proof had been given that tourism was disadvantaged by the length of the runway, but this showed how limited the Minister’s view was, Mr Connelly said. “As Minister of Regional Development, Mr Cooper should know that valuable natural and economic resources and development potential will remain untapped and under-utilised if basic transport and other essential services are under-devel-oped.”

The South Island abounded in resources, - Mr Connelly said. It wanted to know, too, why Christchurch people were not consulted before the Government made its decision.

Policy ‘wrong’ The policy of zero population growth was “wrong, foolhardy, idle, and irresponsible,” said the Labour member for Nelson (Mr M. F. Courtney). France and West Germany were greatly concerned about their zero growth, and the Government should study its effects before it was too late. The last four years were the first time New Zealand had had a net migration outflow.

If the Government did not form a policy, other countries would form it for New Zealand, Mr Courtney said. “New Zealand will not be allowed to remain underpopulated when many nations are bursting at the seams with hungry people and refugees.” The loss of skilled workers took entrepreneurial skills that created jobs in New Zealand; it did not leave behind more jobs for the unemployed. Fewer people meant under-used facilities and higher costs. Declines in consumption led to drops in production and higher prices for goods. Extra people did not put excessive demands on jobs, housing and services; they produced wealth for the nation, Mr Courtney said. If export was New Zealand’s

lifeblood, a sound home market base was a prerequisite, but New Zealand’s shrinking population was slowly strangling the local market.

Unnecessary laws The Trespass Bill was a good example of the unnecessary laws the Government was prone to pass said Mr G. W. R. Palmer (Labour, Christchurch Central).

The bill turned an innocent wanderer in the back country into a prospective criminal by dropping the section that said he had to trespass wilfully, Mr Palmer said.

Mr D. L. Kidd (National, Marlborough) said the bill did not penalise anyone innocently wandering on to private property. It penalised only those who, after being warned to leave, refused to do so, whether they were on the land wilfully or innocently.

‘Occasional handout’

The Government was making little or no use of section 28 in the Town and Country Planning Act which empowered it to pay united or regional councils for development undertaken by them in accordance with the regional planning scheme, said Mr D. F. Caygill (Labour, St Albans). Speaking in the address and reply debate, Mr Caygill said that although the act was a Government one, the section had been used only for the “occasional handout to regional councils just getting off the ground.”