Bastion protesters leave in silence

Press, 16 March 1982, Page 6

Bastion protesters leave in silence

PA Auckland A handful of protesters yeterday packed up and walked silently off Bastion Point, after an afternoon of negotiation with Auckland City Council parks and recreation officers. The protesters had set up a big steel-framed tent on City Council reserve land, overlooking the 1.7 hectares of Housing Corporation land at the centre of the dispute. Two council officers were joined early in the afternoon by the director of parks and ■recreation, Mr Graham Bradbourne, carrying the council’s book of by-laws. Mr Bradbourne spent a blustery 2% hours sitting on the windswept land, patiently waiting for a decision by the protesters on whether to stay or leave. After discussion among the protesters, they eventually packed up and walked off over Bastion Point about 4. p.m. While the council is firmly against the reoccupation of the land, it will make another attempt this week to

persuade the Government to reconsider its plan to sell the Housing Corporatiion land to private developers. The Mayor of Auckland, Mr Colin Kay, will meet the Minister of Housing (Mr Quigley) in Wellington on Thursday to consider a council proposition. The council has offered to develop the land for low-cost housing either in partnership with the corporation or oh its own, using' low-interest Government loan money. The police handling of the week-end's protest at Bastion Point was yesterday praised by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) and Social Credit’s Deputy Leader, Mr G. T. Knapp. The police had acted with “very considerable discretion,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Knapp also had praise for the protesters — both had kept “a responsible, controlled air to their actions," he said. Mr Muldoon said: “It was made clear that if these people trespassed they would be arrested — and that is what happened."

Bastion Point demonstrators plan a series of weekend protests about the Housing Corporation’s proposed sale of I.6ha of land. A spokesman for the Joint Working Group on Bastion Point, Ms Carole Syminton. said yesterday that about 200 people, who held a 24-hour sit-in at the point, at the week-end, had decided to setup “tent embassies.” People would camp on the reserve Auckland City Council land, adjacent to the disputed land, each week-end until April 6, the closing date for tenders to the corporation. The position would then be reviewed, she said. The Archbishop of New Zealand, the Most Rev. P. A. Reeves, yesterday spoke out in Dunedin against the Housing Corporation’s intention to sell a portion of land at Bastion Point. Archbishop Reeves described the proposal as “inappropriate” and questioned the corporation’s wisdom in selling the 1.7 hectares at this time and especially for private housing.