Conference urges treaty inquiry

Press, 6 September 1983, Page 3

Conference urges treaty inquiry

PA Auckland Maori delegates to the Labour Party annual conference yesterday clashed over remits dealing with the Treaty of Waitangi. The contempt shown by some of the younger Maori and European delegates to the treaty was reflected in amendments put forward and the shouting at speakers from the floor. One remit eventually passed called on the next Labour government to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the treaty immediately it gets into power. The remit was passed after the words “and its functions and the celebration of the treaty does not take place until the matter is resolved,” were deleted.

Amendments calling for the treaty to be recognised by the party as a fraud and for a review of foreign diplomats being invited to Waitangi Day celebrations as guests were defeated. One remit passed in the industrial relations and employment section called for the next Labour government to repeal in the first session of Parliament legislation passed by the present National Government to impose youth rates in industrial awards.

Another remit calling for the next Labour government to support the introduction of a 32-hour week with no loss in pay was thrown out. It was replaced with a call for the party to examine the definition of work and investigate ’shorter working weeks with no loss of net income, longer periods of training, jobsharing, retraining and extension of part-time work.

A remit calling for the next Labour government to have a Royal Commission on the news media to investigate ownership and control was approved. Delegates also approved a remit urging a Labour government to legislate provision for a right of reply where a newspaper or magazine printed an article about a person or organisation which was inaccurate or distorted in the way it presented facts about the person or organisation.

The remit urged that if there was a dispute over whether the article was inaccurate or distorted, then the matter would be referred to an impartial tribunal to decide whether a right of reply was justified and that a similar right be given in respect of radio and television.

One delegate who spoke in favour of the remit said it was not an attack on the freedom of the press if it was sensibly used.

The right of reply was merely trying to counteract the worst excesses of editorial bias by extending the range of information available to readers.

The delegate said that when the truth was distorted, then the person or organisation concerned should have the opportunity to set the record straight. Other remits approved by delegates included calls for:—

Priority to be given to the allocation of new radio licences to non-profit social and community organisations. The establishment of a national Maori language radio station and extension of Maori language television programmes.

The next Labour government to introduce appropriate tax incentives for investing in the film industry and the arts.

The next Labour government to urge that a television programme similar to “Country Calendar” be introduced to cater to the interests of trade unionists and express a trade union point of view.

A future Labour government to commission, by means of a competition, an appropriate and distinctive New Zealand flag.