Nominations welcomed

Press, 15 July 1983, Page 1

Nominations welcomed

Political reporter The decision of the Labour Party president, Mr J. P. Anderton, to accept nomination for the Sydenham seat was welcomed by party officials within the electorate yesterday. Mr Anderton is a leading contender for the nomination, although it is by no means certain that he will win it at this stage. Because the sitting member of Parliament for Sydenham, Mr John Kirk, announced his decision not to seek re-election only last week-end, many party officials have not had time to gauge rank-and-file support for the nominees who have come forward so far. About 20 candidates are expected before nominations

close at the end of the month. Unless another strong candidate emerges, Mr Anderton will face his biggest challenge from Mr Alex Clark, a Christchurch City Councillor, and Mr Wes Cameron, the president of the Canterbury Trades Council.

Last week-end, Mr Kirk said that he favoured Mr Cameron above Messrs Anderton and Clark.

Mr Clark, who is chairman of the Addington branch of the Labour Party, which is within Sydenham, started campaigning for the nomination even before Mr Kirk announced his decision to stand down. Yesterday he said he had strong rank-and-file support. His success would depend on how much

local support Mr Anderton picked up before the selection meeting. Most party officials in Sydenham yesterday maintained that they had open minds over the selection and that Mr Anderton did not necessarily have an advantage. However, it came through clearly that Mr Anderton is highly regarded by electorate representatives. The' chairman of the Labour Electorate Committee in Sydenham, Miss Jeanette Weastell, said she expected Mr Anderton’s nomination to be welcomed by the electorate.

“Jim Anderton is held in high esteem by members of the Labour Party through-

out New Zealand because of the job he has done as president. I think the Sydenham Labour Party will welcome his nomination, but a lot of good nominations have been put forward already and the selection is definitely not a foregone conclusion,” she said. The chairman of the Labour Party’s regional council, Mr Garth Lomax, said that judging by comments made to him opinions were running strongly in favour of Mr Anderton. “He is tremendously well respected within the party in New Zealand and I am sure his decision to contest the seat will be well received by Labour Party ale in Christchurch,” he “At this stage he is merely one of a number of ale nominating for the Because he is the party president does not give him any privileges. He takes his chance along with the rest.”

Mr Lomax said he was pleased with the calibre of the people who had been nominated so far. A few of the electorate

officials said they would prefer to have a local candidate, but most were of the view that it would be no disadvantage to have a candidate from outside the electorate or even outside Christchurch.

They said that the member of Parliament for Papanui, Mr M. K. Moore, and the member of Parliament for Christchurch Central, Mr G. W. R. Palmer, had already shown that outside candidates could be effective and successful. Miss Weastell said that of the five people who had put nominations in and five more who were likely to be nominated, only one, Mr Clark, was from within the local electorate.

She said that being local would be a help to the nominees, but Labour Party people were most concerned to get the best candidate. “They want someone who will be living in the electorate when they are the M.P. and who will be accessible to the people within the electorate,” she said. Mr Alistair James, who is secretary of the L.E.C. and of the Addington branch, said that Sydenham people wanted someone who would be “strong and positive” in working for the electorate. Coming from outside the electorate would not be a

handicap to any of the contenders. Mr James said he believed Mr Anderton was one of the frontrunners in the selection, but he was waiting to see who else would be nominated. He had found “reasonably mixed” reactions to the nominations from Messrs Clark and Cameron, although he had heard of no objections to either of them.

One of the points that might favour Mr Anderton is the composition of the selection committee, which is expected to meet in midAugust. It will consist of three representatives from the Labour Party’s New Zealand council and, because party membership in Sydenham is less than 10 per cent of the Labour vote at the last election, only two local representatives. A preferential poll taken from party members at the meeting is counted as one vote.

Another Labour city councillor, Mr Geoff Stone, confirmed yesterday that he would put in his nomination for the seat. Mrs Mollie Clark, a city councillor who ran for the Christchurch Mayoralty in the last local authority elections, said she had been asked to accept nomination and was giving the request deep consideration.