What the M.P.'s were saying ‘Compelling’ evidence on transport industry

Press, 3 October 1983, Page 2

What the M.P.'s were saying ‘Compelling’ evidence on transport industry

Parliamentary reporter Evidence given to the select committee considering legislation for delicensing the transport industry was compelling, said Miss Ruth Richardson (Nat., Selwyn). It showed that if competition between all transport modes was allowed after a transitory period, there would be a saving of between S4IM and SS3M, she said.

If New Zealand was interested in efficiency and international competitiveness, it had to reform its transport system in line with the provisions of the Transport Amendment (No. 5) Bill.

“In economic terms, one cannot support a transport licensing system that loads costs of the order of 96 per cent, 83 per cent, 72 per cent, or 53 per cent, depending upon the destination,” she said. A ‘bad’ bill

Structures built over many years, people, and careers would be destroyed by the Transport Amendment (No. 5) Bill, said Mr T. K. Burke (Lab., West Coast). The public did not want

the bill, nor did the railway workers and transport operators in his electorate, he said. It was a bad bill.

“Who wants the bill apart from some of the theoretical people — Right-wing theorists in the National Party, a lurch to the Right, who have taken up the bill without caring at all about what it will drag down?” he said. Small businesses Small businessesmen had been hit hard by the Government, said Sir Basil Arthur (Lab., Timaru). They had been hit for development finance by crippling interest rates, by falling living standards, and by the rise in unemployment, he said. Sir Basil disputed Government assertions about having the support of small businessmen and industry leaders. The Government had talked to farmers, manufacturers, employers and Chambers of Commerce, and had received no confidence from any of them.

Hardship

Hardship allowances were

almost impossible for university students to get, said Mrs Mary Batchelor (Lab., Avon).

Of 71 applications by University of Canterbury students, only eight had been approved, she said. She criticised the $1 a week increase in the grant provided in this year’s Budget. Raising the grant from ?10 a week to ?11 a week was inadequate when inflation was taken into account, she said. Board praised Mr G. W. R. Palmer (Lab., Christchurch Central) C raised the position taken y the Hagley High School board on the closing of Four Avenues. The board had taken a strong and responsible position in proposing to preserve the school, he said. He asked the Minister of Education, Mr Wellington, whether he was prepared to reconsider his decision to close the school.

The Education Department should not be permitted to use the failure to carry out maintenance as a reason for closing schools, Mr Palmer said.