What the M.P.s were saying Ferry service ‘endangered by greed, selfishness’

Press, 9 August 1982, Page 2

What the M.P.s were saying Ferry service ‘endangered by greed, selfishness’

Parliamentary reporter

The Picton-Wellington ferry service should not be destroyed or set on the path to destruction by “the greed and selfishness of those who hold the labour monopoly over its operations,” accord-' ing to Mr D. L. Kidd (Nat., Marlborough).

He moved a notice of motion in Parliament that: “This House notes the continued stoppages by cooks and stewards on the’ Aranui, first to have the carpets in their cabins shampooed, then because the carpets were still damp, and next because the chief cook was not able to sail, and calls on the Minister of Transport to introduce alternative methods of providing a Cook Strait service if the cooks and stewards are determined to destroy their own jobs, and those of their mates.” Mr Kidd urged the Gov-, eminent to make sure that the trend of militancy and disruption which had characterised this service throughout the years did not start the virtually irreversible process of decline. This would lead to the loss

of jobs in the service and to the loss of important key jobs in the economy. This was important to the South Island, and especially' to Marlborough, he said. Freeze ‘disaster’ The Government could not ask people in a democracy to co-operate in something that was unfair to them, their neighbours, and their workmates, said Mrs Ann Hercus (Lab., Lyttelton), in speaking on the Government’s wageprice freeze. The Minister of Trade and Industry had sought cooperation in spirit and deed for the 12-month freeze, which he no longer called a "freeze” but a “curb.” Why should anyone support something that day by day was proving to be an absolute disaster? Mrs Hercus said. Why should anyone support something that was proving to be hypocritical and economically stupid? Why should anyone, including the trade unions, support action which froze wages solid for a minimum of 12 months, and in reality for 18 to 24 months, while prices

continued to rise? Mrs Hercus said. Why should anyone support a freeze that was both inequitable in its rules and covered a period of 12 months, and which was economic suicide? said Mrs Hercus. ‘Slums’ risk Introducing mobile homes into New Zealand permitted the freedom to introduce slums, said Mr G. W. R. Palmer (Lab., Christchurch Centra]). Anyone who 'was familiar with mobile homes overseas knew that their presence constituted a blight on the landscape, both physical and social, and they w : ere to be condemned. He was speaking on a local bill, the Rodney County Council Mobile Home Park Empowering Bill, which he saw as the thin end of the wedge to legitimise substandard permanent accommodation. To introduce mobile homes into New Zealand required . justification, he said. No such justification had been advanced in the bill.

Rodney County wanted the bill because it had got into difficulties in its camping grounds, where people were trying to live permanently, Mr Palmer said. The bill sought to make such unsatisfactory conditions permanently allowable under the law. ‘Override act' It was the clear intention of the Broadcasting Amendment Bill to enable the Government to override the provisions of the Copyright Act in the case of the “Listener," said Mr P. T. E. WooHaston (Lab., Nelson). The Minister of Broadcasting had suggested, rather obliquely, that in some way the “Listener’s" programme details were not covered by the act. The Crown and the Minister were covered bv the Copyright Act, he said. To override was not morally justifiable. Mr Woollaston said he was in agreement with the Law Society's statement that the provisions of the Copyright Act ought to be upheld.