Evidence Act amendment

Press, 5 August 1980, Page 16

Evidence Act amendment

Sir, — Why does the New Zealand Government persist in protecting multinationals from public scrutiny? The most recent case has produced the Evidence Amendment Act (1980). This act gives the Attorriey-General freedom to protect any commercial enterprise in New Zealand from any internationally based inquiry into any of its practices with no concommitant responsibility to establish publicly that this protection is not injurious to any other private or public New Zealand interest. Can one man be -expected to know, for example, the intricate technological and accounting practices that influence ocean freight rates between New Zealand and the United States, much less the principles of economically efficient pricing to be used to decide whether existing freight 7 rates are discriminatory, monopolistic, and/or detrimental to New Zealand economic interests? The cry of political sovereignty rings hollow to an evidence amendment act which can only entrench the political power of multinationals operating in New Zealand. — Yours, etc., JOHN FOUNTAIN, Senior lecturer in economics, University of Canterbury. ■ August 2, 1980.