Hunn ‘misinformed’

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 22

Hunn ‘misinformed’

PA Wellington The Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) has refuted a claim from the general manager of the Development Finance Corporation,- Mr J. M. Hunn, that the Government was providing insufficient information about the major energy projects. Mr Hunn, had said that informed debate on the major projects was not possible because of the lack of information.

However, Mr Birch said in a statement last evening that Mr Hunn was “disturbingly misinformed.” “Details about the resource allocations of major projects are released as decisions are made,” Mr Birch said. 1 “When possible, indications

of prices and construction periods are also released. However, it must be obvious that full commercial details cannot be published until negotiations are well advanced and in some cases, not until final decisions have been taken.” Private sector groups were involved in the major projects and in many cases it was a matter for a separate company to finally bring all the information together for public release, Mr Birch said.

However, the Government had already tabled White Papers in Parliament detailing contractual arrangements on major projects. “I would have expected Mr Hunn to have known .that a great deal of information has in fact been released on these projects.”

In his criticism, Mr Hunn also cast strong doubt on whether the political parties have any serious plans for improving New Zealand’s economic performance over the next 10 years.

Mr Birch said Mr Hunn’s comments about the Govern-' ment’s lack of commitment to growth “revealed his abysmal ignorance about the Government’s growth strategy. “The Government is supporting growth through its policy of sectorial grants in fishing, farming, forestry, manufacturing, energy, tourism, and others. “The commitment to, growth has already been noted by the Planning Council which is forecasting a two to four per cent growth rate a year for this decade.”