Allen affair regretted

Press, 4 October 1984, Page 6

Allen affair regretted

PA Wellington Members of Parliament and the news media would do well to reflect on their actions during the last days of the former Minister of Customs, Mr Allen, said the new member of Parliament for Tauranga, Mr W. R. Peters (National).

Mr Allen had served the Tauranga electorate diligently and competently until July 14, said Mr Peters during the Address-in-Reply debate.

He was very highly appreciated by his constitutents but because of “unfortunate circumstances” the electorate was denied the opportunity to pay homage to him.

Mr Peters said that if Mr Allen had had a fault, it was

that he had been publicityshy. “There are those in this House, those sitting opposite and those in the media, who would do well to reflect on their actions in the last days of that former member,” said Mr Peters. ' “Politics is a rough, tough business, we all know that.” It would always be so because it was “a raging battle for political power,” he said. “That’s the' way it has always been, the way it will always be, but it does have its rules. “I believe that in the case of Keith Allen, those rules were seriously offended.” Mf Allen was involved in a |gntroversial incident

earlier this year when he claimed he had been attacked by three men while walking to his Wellington Ministerial flat. However, the police found no evidence of an assault.

The next day, the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, announced Mr Allen’s retirement from politics at the election because of ill health. He suffered from diabetes. Mr Allen died just after the July snap election.