Economic summit meeting in main chamber of Parlt

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 8

Economic summit meeting in main chamber of Parlt

PA Wellington Next month’s economic summit conference will be held in Parliament’s debating chamber. A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, told NZPA last evening that it had been decided that the debating chamber would be used rather than the rarely used Legislative Chamber. Better facilities, including those for the news media, had been the reason for the choice, the spokesman said. The Australian Labour Government’s economic summit conference had also been held in its parliamentary debating chamber. Earlier yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Robert Muldoon, said that a few National members of Parliament did not

want some of the people attending the conference in September sitting in Parliament’s debating chamber. The National caucus believed it would be wrong to hold the summit conference in the debating chamber, he said.

“The chamber of the House has been used infrequently for purposes other than the sitting of Parliament. “On each occasion these have been important international meetings. On earlier occasions when we have had these domestic conferences involving domestic pressure groups we have always used the old Legislative Chamber. “We don’t believe that at this time the particular meeting warrants the use of the chamber of the House.

The importance of the conference, if you can put it this way, may be great in the eyes of the Government but these are not elected people. “Quite frankly, one or two of our members feel a little put out that some of those who are likely to attend are sitting in the seats of elected members of Parliament.”

Sir Robert would not identify the people the members of Parliament preferred not to sit in the chamber. “I would leave that to the imagination of the representatives of the news media,” he said.

He did not know whether there was anything the Opposition could do to stop the Government using the debating chamber.