Labour opponents flayed

Press, 12 May 1981, Page 3

Labour opponents flayed

PA Wellington The Government and Social Credit came under a scorching attack by the president of the Labour Party (Mr J. P. Anderton) during the first session of the party’s annual conference at the "Wellington Town Hall yesterday morning. Mr Anderton accused the Government of “playing fast and loose with Parliament in a fashion which had brought Parliamentary democracy into disrepute,” and termed Social Credit “the twentiethcentury version of the Flat Earth Society.” . Labour, he said, had the task of preparing New Zealand for the future — restoring morale, spirit, hope, and confidence.

“New Zealand is looking for direction, for national goals, and for' unity of purpose in a way it hasn’t done since the Depression,” Mr Anderton said.

“The Labour Party has the tradition, idealism, and the leadership to lift politics — the affairs of the people — to its rightful place as the highest level of service a citizen can offer one’s country.” Mr Anderton said that Parliament had become a political tool that the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) wielded at his pleasure. He and his Parliamentary colleagues were to be roundly condemned for undermining the basis of New Zealand’s democratic system. Labour’s cause was to renew the commitment of the

party to economic and social justice, to a fair and lasting prosperity that could put all New Zealanders back to work.

“It has never been, nor will it ever be, part of a Labour-Government’s policy to use unemployment, high interest rates, and human misery as false weapons against inflation,” Mr Anderton said.

“We are here to pledge that employment opportunities for all who seek them will be the first priority of our economic policy. It must be a cornerstone of Labour policy and philosophy that there will be reasonable security for all who are at work and jobs for those who have none.

“Without such a programme there can be no social justice, no individual dignity, no civilised community. These are not simplistic pledges, they are the heart and soul of Labour’s tradition.”

Mr Anderton said that people were tired of platitudes and irrelevant side-issues. Principles, policies, and the future direction New Zealand was to take should be the issues of the Election campaign, not personalities, individual denigration, or witchhunts against political or social minorities.

Referring to the criticism of his active support for the incumbent (Mr Rowling) during the leadership struggle in December last year Mr Anderton said: “Normally it would not be the role of the

president to take any partisan position on the leadership question which, when dealt with in the appropriate time-frame, is the responsibility of the Parliamentary caucus.” “But in this case it was being dealt with out of that time-frame, and in my view against the wishes and the best interests of the overwhelming majority of party members.” Mr Anderton said that the National Party had introduced the most draconian anti-democratic legislation in the Western world, including the National Development Act. “We have a Government with an attitude towards pol-

itical responsibility and accountability that resembles a junk yard,” he said. Turning to Social Credit, Mr Anderton quoted the former Labour Prime Minister. Sir Walter Nash — “If Social Credit works, no-one else will have to.” The truth w T as, Mr Anderton said, that Social Credit was the twentieth-century version of the Flat Earth Society. “To make matters worse, Social Credit's leader, Mr Beetham, claims that Social Credit can be compared to the Labour Party in 1935 — without much Parliamentary experience, but ready to govern. Mickey Savage would turn in his grave.”