Carpet policy attacked

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 21

Carpet policy attacked

Parliamentary reporter The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) has attacked the Labour Party's carpet-mak-ing policy, calling it ludicrous. Labour’s economic roadshows continued to emphasise the election campaign plan to build carpet factories, he said. Raw wool was stacked unsold in woolstores for lack of acceptable prices. If carpet manufacturers “saw anything in it” they would buy the wool to make carpets. “They are the people who are in the business, who know what it is all about,” he said. “They are telling me that they are selling all the

New Zealand carpet that it is possible to sell around the world at present. “If you build 16 new carpet factories, you will not sell the carpet. We are literally selling all the carpet that is saleable out of New Zealand at the present time, and we have unused capacity in our carpet factories. “We are also selling yarn overseas to the extent that we can sell it,” Mr Muldoon said. Carpet factories were not substitutes for selling energy, which New Zealand had in boundless quantities. New Zealand should be adding value to its energy and selling that, he said.