No discussion in caucus on rebel backbenchers

Press, 9 December 1983, Page 2

No discussion in caucus on rebel backbenchers

PA Wellington The rebel Government backbencher, Miss Ruth Richardson, arrived for yesterday’s caucus carrying a workman’s hard hat, obviously expecting to get a hard time for crossing the floor of the House to vote against the Finance Bill, with two colleagues, on Wednesday. She emerged smiling broadly at the end of the three-hour meeting to say, “The hat was redundant.” The issue was not discussed. The death of a former Prime Minister, Sir Keith Holyoake, saved the Government from having dissatisfied members of Parliament cross the floor to vote for a third night in a row. As a mark of respect to Sir Keith, Parliament put aside normal business yesterday to devote its time to tributes to his work. The Industrial Law Reform Bill, on which the member for Waipa, Ms Marilyn Waring, crossed the floor, will now be passed through its committal stages in a debate starting this morning. The sitting could run into the early hours of Saturday morning.

Mr Muldoon told reporters after yesterday’s caucus that the actions of Miss Richardson, Mr Derek Quigley (Rangiora), and Mr

Dail Jones (Helensville) over the Finance Bill and Miss Waring’s action over the Industrial Law Reform Bill were not discussed at all.

Asked whether Miss Richardson had needed her hard hat, he said he did not understand what the questioner meant. Mr Muldoon has made it clear, however, that the matter will be discussed at the next Dominion Council meeting of the National Party in Wellington on Wednesday. The party president, Mrs Sue Wood, said from Canberra that she thought the matter was an appropriate one for discussion. Miss Richardson and Mr Quigley have declined any comment on their dissension since Wednesday evening, but Mr Jones has been

happy to enlarge on his reason for crossing the floor.

Mr Jones has declared himself “totally dissillusioned” with the Government’s present economic policy and said he would have to decide whether to stand on the election platform next year and say he supported the National Party. Mr Muldoon was quick to criticise the actions of the three dissenting members, declaring them to be disloyal. He questioned their motives and said they had damaged the Government’s credibility. Mr Jones countered by suggesting that under a Westminster system of Government, Mr Muldoon would have resigned because of the “messy, shambolic” way in which the mortgage interest rate regulations had been handled.

To that suggestion, Mr Muldoon said: “I don’t know what he is talking about and I don’t think he does.” Mr Jones said that if the National Party did not adhere to its established economic principles he would have to question “whether he belonged to the National Party.”

He was “still a member of the New Zealand National Party,” but said, “I am not a member of the Muldoon party.”