Mosgiel ‘waste’ attacked

Press, 29 July 1980, Page 6

Mosgiel ‘waste’ attacked

PA Dunedin Industry should not be restructured until plans for alternative development and employment were complete, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) said last evening.

He was speaking in Mosgiel at a meeting organised by the Clutha Labour Electorate Committee. .

Independent experts were predicting that unemployment in New Zealand could reach 300,000 in the next two years, given the Government’s policy, Mr Rowling said.

There must be no industrial restructuring, such as had occurred in the textile industry, until plans for alternative development and employment were complete and were understood by those whose lives were going to be affected, he said.

“The waste and confusion of the Mosgiel situation should never have been tolerated by a progressive Government.”

r The economy must accept change to restore a pattern of real internal growth, but the jobs and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people and the fate of whole communities should not be sacrifiiced to that end. he said. “The key difference be- ■ tween a Labour Government ■ and the National Government will be that Labour I will . build all its economic i policy on a return to full employment throughout the country and resources mto | new areas.” I Mr Rowling said there i were three crucial points i that must underlie economic i strategy' over the next 101 years.— * — There had to be a clear. statement of the kind of social goals economic development was designed to achieve, in particular concerning employment and regional development;

— There, had to be a total concentration on- lifting in-

! vestment, from the Govemjment and the private sector, to restore a pattern of real i growth: and, i — There had to be a clearly defined, long-term, re--1 structuring policy that took clear account of the social and human factors which balanced new developments, and any loss of employment through change, and which took account of the need for a much higher level of selfsufniency. Mr Rowling emphasised the urgency of the problem of youth unemployment New Zealand was writing a social disaster for itself if it stood back and allowed thousands of people aged under 20 to drift on to the dole.

A Labour Government was not going to pay people, especially young people, to do nothing, he said. They would be found worth-while work, or offered training opportunities in line with the economics changing needs.