Lytttelton ferry wanted

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 3

Lytttelton ferry wanted

The Labour Party conference yesterday called for the re-instatement of the Well-ington-Christchurch rail ferry service.

Among remits passed yesterday it sought a study of the possibility of introducing a Wellington-Nelson service, and restoring the WellingtonLyttelton link. Delegates also sought the earliest possible electrification of the railway between Picton and Invercargiill, and upgrading of tunnels on the line. Earlier, the Shadow Minister of Energy, (Mr R. J. Tizard) told the conference

that a Labour government would expediate electrification of the railway North of Christchurch. It asked for a study of the advantages of a deep water port or jetty on the West Coast, in preference to a mooring buoy. This would encourage use of existing rail networks. The Conference sought the recall of the New Zealand Ambassador to Washington (Mr T. F. Gill) and his replacement by a member of

the diplomatic corps. Considering international affairs remits, it resoundingly defeated a remit seeking withdrawal of the Federation of Labour’s trade

ban on Chile. Delegates who said that the ban was unjust in that countries committing

similar repressions were not being subjected to trade bans, were answered by trade union delegates to the conference who said that

bans were implemented only in response to trade union requests inside repressed countries. Where bans were not called for, none were imposed. Delegates asked the Government to immediately withdraw recognition of the “despised and genocidal Pol Pot regime who still speak for Kampuchea in international forums and in United Nations.

It opposed a remit seeking stronger ties between developing Black African states adjoining South Africa, but wanted all diplomatic representation and investment in South Africa terminated. The conference agreed to give aid to the Sandinista Government in Nicaragua, and asked the New Zealand Government to ask the United States Government not to interfere further in the civil war in El Salvador.

A remit seeking allocation of 2 per cent of the Gross National Product to aid by 1985 was defeated. Labour policy was to give only 1 per cent.

The conference stopped short of dismantling all New Zealand’s defence arrange-

ments, but voted overwhelmingly for withdrawal of troops from Singapore and an end to Rimpac naval exercises.

New Zealand forces in Singapore were having a “great holiday” the Labour candidate for Napier, Mr G. Brayerbrook, told cheering delegates.

“I don’t see why the taxpayer should pay for them to do it. They are of no value whatsoever. The savings we would make on their withdrawal would more than pay for the creation of jobs for all of our unemployed.” In a short sharp debate on A.N.Z.U.S. and New Zealand’s military alliances, a move to dismantle them failed. But the conference voted for an investigation into the implications of New Zealand's declaring itself an arms-free state, and actively promoting an “arms-free world.”

It fell mid-way between the view of one delegate that the United States was “for all its faults, still the greatest democracy in the world” and New Zealand’s best friend in A.N.Z.U.S., and the view that “New Zealand is a mouse that should not go round roaring. like a lion,” and that its best defence policy was friendly relations and non-aggression. A remit that all military alliances be dismantled was amended to support dismantling of all nuclear military alliances on a unilateral basis, and withdrawal of permission for harbour and air bash facilities for the nuclear forces of all foreign powers. Delegates asked the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) to tell the newly elected French president (Francois Mitterand) that New Zealand would expect an end to French nuclear testing in French Pacific territories.

It also opposed the introduction of Nuclear energy in New Zealand until a solution was found to “the problem of disposing of nuclear waste and rendering it harmless in perpetuity,” A means-tested Labour superannuation scheme was sought by delegates discussing social welfare remits at the Labour Party conference in Wellington yesterday. Delegates wanted superannuation abated progressively when beneficiaries were in receipt of “substantial extra income.” But they sought removal of abatement of social security benefits, preferring instead a negative tax scheme that would encourage beneficiaries to seek work.