P.M. gives political beliefs

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 3

P.M. gives political beliefs

By

OLIVER RIDDELL,

in Wellington

The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, has left New Zealand for two days as the General Election campaign gets under way, to deliver the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial address in Melbourne. To be asked to deliver it is a great personal compliment to him — this prestigious occasion has, in the past, been the preserve of retired international statesmen.

But it is unfortunate from the point of view of the National Party that its leader will be away for two working days — he will fly back this evening — when the campaign is just about to gather momentum. Sir Robert’s address at Monash University last evening was in the nature of an exposition of his political beliefs. He said:

“Although people outside politics rarely see it this way, in democracies like ours, politics have one distinguishing and brutal feature. You have to put yourself up in front of the public and say, ‘This is what I’ve done over the last few years, this is what I would like to do in the future, will you please vote for me.’ ” To do that every three or four years was not easy, and did not become any easier with time, Sir Robert said.

Tactics were certainly crucial, he said, and those who were devoid of a “political know” were much to be found in the ranks of opposition everywhere. But if the tactics were foreign to the electorate, they would get nowhere. “For years I have held the view that you can rely on the common sense of the pedje,” Sir Robert said. Experts were constantly

paraded in front of the people informing them that the'Government had committed some or other heinous error. Finally, there was only the common sense of the people to fall back on.

Most of Sir Robert’s address was devoted to the international economy, where common sense had been a commodity with a high scarcity value. He outlined for his Australian listeners a debate he had been involved in for more than two years. Even though there had been a recovery, the danger remained. The next 12 to 18 months would tell if everyone had been sufficiently scared to begin the complex task of tackling the underlying problem, Sir Robert said. “My position is that I would rather do jf now while the recovery ves us a breathing space than wait

for the next downturn, the next round of rescheduling, when we will be forced to do so in much less propitious circumstances.” The international economy faced a number of deep-seated structural problems, which the recovery had merely papered over. Sir Robert said that among the key problems were the vast overhang of debts, the persisting slipping away from the principles of multilateralism as country after country embraced new forms of protectionist devices.

There were various kinds of financial dislocation, such as extreme exchange rate volatility, and these problems were closely linked with one another.

The key to resolving these structural problems, he said, was to generate greater political will, although certainly the technical issues were formidable.