Low poll but Labour holds northern seats

Press, 9 June 1980, Page 1

Low poll but Labour holds northern seats

PA Auckland Labour Party candidates won the Oneliunga and Northern Maori by-elections decisively on Saturday.

The newly elected member of Parliament f Onehunga, Mr F. M. Gerbic, left for Canada last evening for a week-long industrial relations study. His Northern Maori colleague, Dr B. C. Gregory, was in Kaitaia celebrating with friends and relatives. Mr Gerbic, the Auckland industrial conciliator, retained Labour’s 42-year hold of the Onehunga seat with a majority of 1137 votes over his National Party opponent, Mrs Sue Wood.

The Social Credit candidate in the Onehunga contest, Mr T. K. Park, is likely to lose his $lOO deposit because the 1491 votes he received are less than the required 25 per cent of Mr Gerbic’s total support.

The Onehunga returning officer (Mr R. J. Peterken) said yesterday that about 1300 special votes were still to be checked. In Canada, Mr Gerbic will join other members of a joint committee set up to consider industrial matters at the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company. Mr Gerbic is chairman of the committee.

He would return to Auckland on June 16, Mr Gerbic said. He said he had been told he would probably be sworn in as member for Onehunga the next day. Asked why he had not mentioned his pending overseas trip during the latter stages of the byelection campaign, Mr Gerbic said he did not want “a song and dance” after his election about his being an industrial conciliator.

He received 47.42 per cent of the votes cast in what was a fairly low poll. “Clearly, there is a swing to Labour there and against the Government. If a General Election had been held yesterday, the Labour Party would have become the Government with a good working majority.” One of the first to shake

Mr Gerbic’s hand and give him a hug was his main rival, Mrs Wood, who ac j cepted an invitation from Mr Gerbic to join him at the Labo:r Party headquarters.

Standing on a chair beside Mr Gerbic, Mrs Wood told the .cheerful Labour crowd, “I just wanted to come round to wish Fred (Mr Gerbic) al] the very best and to wish you all the very best. You fought a good campaign. Fred is my M.P. now.” The by-election result in Onehunga was encouraging for the National Party in spite of a disappointing turnout of voters, said the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) yesterday. Mr Muldoon learned of the Onehunga and Northern Maori results while in London during a 90-minute stopover en route from Switzerland to San Francisco.

“There is nothing in either result that I find disturbing,” he said.

“I would not think Labour would have anything to be pleased about. Mat Rata’s showing must give them cause for concern.”

A greater turnout in Onehunga would have helped the National candidate, Mrs Wood- Mr Muldoon said. Mr Muldoon left London within an hour of the arrival of the GovernorGeneral (Sir Keith Holyoake), who will be installed as a Knight of the Garter. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) said the most significant aspect of the two by-elections was the bursting of the Social Credit bubble. Social Credit not only had to struggle to maintain its 1978 percentage in Onehunga, where it had made claims of a huge increase in support, but had slumped from 14.4 per cent of the 1978 vote to 8.6 per cent in Northern Maori, Mr Rowling said.