Lange policy pledge

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 1

Lange policy pledge

Parliamentary reporter

Radical changes in economic and social policies were promised last evening by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lange, to improve employment, raise living standards and distribute income more evenly. In a speech to the Bay of Plenty Combined Rotary Clubs — the first of two speeches outlining Labour’s attitude to policy — Mr Lange avoided specific details. He hinted at changes that would:

© Shift health spending to preventative education.

® Allow redundant teachers to be employed on special courses. © Shift housing finance to lower-income groups. © Alter the abatement of extra income earned by the unemployed.

He said that Labour did not believe there were “quick fixes” or easy solutions to New Zealand’s problems, but those problems were not insurmountable, either.

“Labour is committed to stem and reverse the decline in employment, to raise the living standards of New Zealanders, and to restore New Zealanders’ sense of their nation as a fair society, in which the fruits of economic activity are distributed equitably,” he said. “I believe there is widespread support for this position.”

Without detailing economic policies, Mr Lange called for a “new consensus” approach, involving the State, private enterprise, unions and employers in a mixed economy, to arrive at decisions on overall framework, the economic and social objectives. This approach would replace a consensus on which New Zealand had operated for “far too long,” and which was probably obsolete in the 19605, Mr Lange said.

“The great change that must take place in the New Zealand economy is a consistent position on economic policies,” he said. Mr Lange called for an “agreed, medium-term economic strategy,” to assist restoring economic certainty and confidence. He singled out tourism, pastoral farming, addedvalue processing, fishing and horticulture as industries worth supporting, while computer-software and electronics-based industries geared towards the primary sector would also warrant support. New Zealand, he said, was on tne verge or a new phase of economic development, in which efficient industries were being developed to compete internationally in exporting and in import substitution.

Mr Lange said Labour was keen to both anticipate and foster this phase.

“We do so in the interests of improving New Zealand’s economic performance, to improve living standards and to create jobs,” he said. On a more philosophical note, Mr Lange said Labour did not argue for absolute equality. “Rather, we argue for equal opportunity — for income, for employment and for personal security. Our economic system should reflect that major principle,” he said.

Labour was a party “with a hard head and soft heart,” a party of “economic reality and defined social goals.” Employment would be treated as a top priority by a Labour Government, he said.

“We would see a more equitable distribution of income as being highly desirable in lifting living standards,” he said.

“New Zealand has reached a crisis point — required change has been unforthcoming, while existing policies are largely unsuccessful.”

In an apparent reference to the Social Credit Party and the New Zealand Party, Mr Lange commented: “I believe much of the

underlying frustrations, the volatility in the electorate, the seemingly irrational attraction to third-party messiahs, and the uncertainty in the New Zealand economy and society is due to the failure to meet the groundswell for change.” “Think big” received a hammering in Mr Lange’s speech, where he described the policy as “an unacceptable and misdirected change,” seen widely as “a highly expensive over-reac-tion to the slow growth of the mid-19705.”

He suggested factors that should be taken into account in drawing up economic and social policies should include: the near-static population growth; an ageing population; the concentration of population centres; the changing and more dominant role of women; an increase in one-parent families and people choosing to live alone; and the disparity in income between ethnic groups. “They should be fully reflected in the objectives of social policy,” Mr Lange said.