Avon M.Pe sure to wiri, says Mr Lange

Press, 30 September 1983, Page 1

Avon M.Pe sure to wiri, says Mr Lange

PA Wellington The Labour Party Leader, Mr Lange, believes Mrs Mary Batchelor, the Labour member of Parliament for Avon, will be reselected as the party’s candidate for the safe Labour seat.

Mr Lange told a postcaucus press conference yesterday that he would not consider the possibility of Mrs Batchelor’s becoming an Independent if she was not reselected. “I think she will win it,” he said. “There has been a substantial volume of support and at this stage I think it is quite hypothetical (that she could turn Independent) and, indeed, I think we are wrong to consider the possibility that she will not win it.” Last week Labour’s New Zealand Council decided to reopen nominations for Avon after a selection meeting to decide the party’s candidate was deadlocked. The selection meeting was unable to arrive at a clear decision between Mrs Batchelor and her main rival, a trade unionist, Mr Paul Piesse. Mr Piesse has said he will seek the nomination again. Mr Lange said Mrs Batchelor yesterday told the caucus of her determination to stand for Avon. She had received support from people in the electorate and pledges of loyalty from people who might be interested in standing for Avon but would not do so

because she was standing. Under Labour rules, a candidate for nomination pledges to abide by the decision and to support the duly elected candidate. “There is no doubt in my mind that Mrs Batchelor knows that pledge and has given it,” said Mr Lange. “I have no misgiving at all about her loyalty to the party and her awareness of the commitment to it. She has served this party well. She knows the ropes. There would be no-one more aware of party discipline. “I attribute to Mrs Batchelor an integrity which is beyond any aboutface if there were to be an adverse decision.” Mrs Batchelor was not aware that Mr Lange had made any statement about her chances of winning the Avon selection when asked for comment by “The Press” last evening. She said she imagined Mr Lange had based his remarks on the “extremely strong” support for her that had come through from the electorate and from all over New Zealand. “He has received no complaint against my work in the electorate and he says himself that is rather un-

usual. Normally there are complaints about any member of Parliament, no matter what they do. I suppose that with that sort of knowledge, he probably considers that that will come through at the selection meeting,” she said. Mrs Batchelor said it was unfair to ask if she believed she now had the numbers to win the nomination at the next selection meeting. “It is asking me to gaze into a crystal ball,” she said. “I am very hopeful, extremely hopeful, that at the next selection meeting those people who are members of the party and support me will be there and that their vote will show through.” Asked about Mr Lange’s suggestion that she was unlikely to become an Independent if she failed to win the Avon selection, Mrs Batchelor would say only that she agreed with the comment that it was “a hypothetical question.” She confirmed that the Labour Party caucus discussed the Avon selection yesterday, but she would not reveal any details because matters discussed at the caucus were confidential.