Mr Lange calls for caution

Press, 10 September 1984, Page 8

Mr Lange calls for caution

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington

Labour .Party members were asked by their leader, Mr Lange, last evening, not to provide a catalogue of quotes that would damage the Government's popularity. He told delegates at the party’s conference in Wellington that they must not provide “unwitting ammunition” for their political opponents. Mr Lange hinted that they should temper the way in which they expressed their opposition to the 1985 All Black tour of South Africa. “I don’t want them to go but there are large numbers of New Zealanders who really can’t see why they should not,” he said.

“You may doubt the quality of their belief but you can’t doubt the strength with which they hold it. “You can’t destroy something which is important to people'unless you put something just as significant in its place,” he said. “I will spend a lot of time between now and the proposed tour convincing New Zealanders that they are doing their fellows a disservice when they play with apartheid,” Mr Lange said. However, he warned that he might not succeed, and reminded delegates that "rugby people” were New Zealanders and not bad.

He indicated that the same constraints applied to positions seen by some as affecting New Zealand security. Labour opponents would start a scare campaign to

make the public feel threatened and it was the Government’s duty not only to ensure that its citizens were safe, but to make them feel safe, he said. Of the economy, Mr Lange said that the country was not getting justice out of the tax system but hinted that the taxation measures in the Budget would not be as severe as some Government spokesman had indicated.

He also assured delegates that Labour would never stand back “and let rampant free-market forces determine the shape of the future.” It would never shrink from helping those who could not help themselves, Mr Lange said.

His entry into the conference was received with tumultuous enthusiasm.