P.M. calls for snap election after caucus defection

Press, 15 June 1984, Page 1

P.M. calls for snap election after caucus defection

By

PATRICIA HERBERT,

in Wellington, and NZPA

New Zealand will have a snap election on July 14, the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, announced last evening.

He dropped the bombshell soon after Government members of Parliament were called to a special caucus meeting at 10.30 p.m. Sir Robert emerged from the meeting at 10.45 p.m. to tell reporters that the member for Waipa, Ms Marilyn Waring, had withdrawn from the caucus.

bers “for what we are trying to do,” he said. “If you don't want it, go the other way.” The national president, Mrs Sue Wood, was with him, as were several Cabinet members. Mrs Wood was asked if the party was ready for an election. She said it had “95 good candidates all set to go.”

is our time,” Mr Lange said.

He also said that it was only the second time in the 100 years of New Zealand's constitutional history that the Government of the day had thrown in the towel, but “the Labour Party was here and ready.”

the divisive waterfront strike, the Holland National Government was returned to power. Ms Waring gave a statement, saying. “This afternoon I advised the Chief Government Whip that I would no longer be available to attend meetings of the Government caucus or Parliamentary select committees.

“I have indicated a willingness to form a Government forthwith,” he said. “The Prime Minister is satisfied that he can’t govern the country. I’m satisfied that we can,” he said.

“Although she gave us an undertaking to vote for Government measures with the exception of those that related to nuclear arms, defence and rape, we could not accept the fact that with her withdrawal we still had a majority,” Sir Robert said. Reporters heard applause in the caucus room before Sir Robert emerged to face reporters.

She was then asked how much warning she had had of the decision. Sir Robert put his hand on her shoulder and said she had been “very close all the way through,” but Mrs Wood said she had first heard of it that afternoon.

“If the response is that an election will be called, we have every candidate selected and all our policies settled.”

"Caucus has supported my recommendation that I tell the Governor-General that we do not have a majority and we must thus have a General Election,” Sir Robert said. He then left Parliament buildings for Government House.

On Sir Robert’s return at 12.15 a.m., he held a brief press conference in the upstairs foyer. He said the decision had been promoted not by Ms Waring, but by the member of Hamilton West, Mr M. J. Minogue. Both voted against the Government this week for an Opposition-sponsored anti-nuclear bill and the Prime Minister’s slender one-vote majority was sustained only through the support of the two Independents, Messrs John Kirk, Sydenham, and Mr P. B. MacDonell, Dunedin Central.

Sir Robert said that Mr Minogue at the last moment had “gone the other way,” but later said that he had been “only a teeny bit” of what prompted the decision for the snap election.

He indicated that he had called the election to get a fresh mandate for the country and more solid support in the House.

“You can't govern on that basis,” he said. “You need a certain majority.” He was just asking the public to give him the num-

The Prime Minister then took over again and said, “Yes, but we had been talking about it, as an option, for a long time.” “You can’t govern without a majority,” he said. At 11.40 p.m., the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lange, called a press conference that was attended by journalists and jubilant Labour members of Parliament. He said that his colleagues had greeted the announcement with extraordinary spirit and that it confirmed the inevitability of failure of the National Government. Labour had seen over the last few weeks the collapse of policies and the frantic changing of stances that had destroyed the authority of the Government, said" Mr Lange.

It had been at risk before, but the last few days had confirmed that the Prime Minister lacked authority and that this “simply had to happen.”

“We have absolute commitment to the future of this country. We believe it

Mr Lange said that it was “a day of deliverance” and an indication of what the Labour Party had done and of the start of “a new beginning” in this country.

Asked if he had been notified personally of the news by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange said that he had not; he had been advised by the news media. One caucus source told NZPA that Ms Waring’s decision had been expected for some time.

“We knew that as soon as she got her pension she would lob a grenade into the troops,” the source said.

NZPA also learned that no caucus member had argued at the special caucus meeting that the Government try to continue in office. Government members told NZPA that Ms Waring had not attended the weekly caucus meeting yesterday morning and had not been at the special meeting last evening.

The last time New Zealand voters faced a snap election was in 1951, when against the background of

“This evening in a meeting with the Prime Minister, the party president, the general director of the National Party, and the Chief Government Whip I repeated an assurance I had given Mrs Wood (president) and Mr Leay (general director) in a vist to me late last year that I would vote on all procedural motions and on all matters of substance for the Government for the 1984 Parliamentary year with my position reserved on disarmament matters and the rape legislation. “I have nothing further to say on this matter.”

The leader of the New Zealand Party, Mr Bob Jones, said he was “excited and thrilled” about the snap election.

Although it would make it more difficult for his party to win seats, he said they had not been caught napping.

Mr Jones predicted that the Government would not win.

The Social Credit leader, Mr Bruce Beetham, said his party welcomed the early election.

The party was extremely confident of winning additional seats because of its considerable strength in a significant number of electorates, he said.

Further reports, page 4

The final section of the 7km Lyttelton to Woolston liquefied petroleum gas pipeline is welded into place at the pipe’s tunnel exit at Corsair Bay yesterday by Mr John Cramer of the Auckland-based construction company, McConnell Dowell, Ltd. The tie-in weld connecting the pipe’s tunnel section with the submarine section across Lyttelton Harbour marked the completion of the ’ pipeline construction from the Lyttelton oil wharf to the Woolston depot. However, work on the project is far from complete, according to the project manager, Mr Warren North. Several minor welds had to be made before hydrotesting and commissioning of the pipeline could start, he said.

Hydro-testing involves filling sections of the pipeline with water and pumping it to pressure for 24 hours to test for leaks.

Work started on the pipe-

line in December last year. The pipe has been laid through two tunnels between Naval Point at Lyttelton and Corsair Bay and across the seabed from the bay to Rapaki Point. It then travels over the Port Hills to the depot station at Woolston.

The L.P.G. pumping station at Naval Point is expected to be completed by the end of next mouth, according to the operations manager of Liquigas, Mr B. Darge.

Work on the oil wharf, which included the installation of the loading arm and fire and safety equipment, was expected to be completed about the same time, he said.

“The first shipment of L.P.G. to the port is expected towards the end of August,” he said. “All other work related to the project will have to be completed before this.” The L.P.G. tanker Tarahiko unloaded her first shipment of the gas at Dunedin on June 2.