Adrenalin flows as new Govt sets a frantic pace

Press, 2 January 1985, Page 3 (Supplement)

Adrenalin flows as new Govt sets a frantic pace

The Labour Party began 1984 dispirited and down in the polls, but when Sir Robert Muldoon called a snap election, only Labour was properly prepared.

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

The Labour Party went from rags to riches in 1984.

At the start of the year Labour was down in the polls with a leader of 12 months of whom the public was tired; at the end of the year it had already been the Government for five months and had ridden the crest of a wave of popularity. For this change it has three people to thank — its Leader, Mr David Lange; its president up to and during the Genera] Election, Mr Jim Anderton; and the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, for calling an early election. When 1984 dawned Labour was dispirited. Two of its members of Parliament had defected — Mr John Kirk and Mr Brian Mac Donnell — and were challenging it. After Mr Lange’s elevation to the leadership in early 1983 his popularity and that of his party had soared for a few months, only to sink back into the doldrums again.

But Labour did have some assets. It had a young and vigorous leadership in Parliament to present to the country, it had a lot of new policies; it had a superb party machine waiting to leap into action.

So, although there were still some bruising moments along the way, Labour’s confidence built up as the

months went by. When the snap election was called, Labour was the only party ready for it.

Mr Lange burst burst upon the public. His campaign was an inspiration. Always working for him were the policies, the candidates, his closest associates and now Cabinet Ministers, and the party organisation with its computers and new technology.

The euphoria of election lasted for all of 48 hours. Then Labour plunged into its first crisis. This was not a constitutional crisis, of an outgoing Government refusing to co-operate with an incoming Government. Whatever the appearance, that was not the reality.

However, the reality was bad enough. Money was flooding out of the country like water going down the plughole. The result was a 20 per cent devaluation, the first of a series of economic measures that have taken Labour far from its socialist origins. Labour made few election promises, other than general ones about a “consensus” style of politics, but it still carried the hopes and expectations of many. These included the poor, the trade unions, the Maoris, the beneficiaries, the teachers, the doctors, and the women. Yet those who seem to have been happiest with the Government so far are those who had few expectations of it — businessmen, financiers, retailers and

farmers, indeed all those who had wanted a “more market” economy and despaired of ever getting it. Labour’s first attention had to be to the economy. From that, it was hoped, all blessings would flow. They may, and there are some hopeful signs, but there has had to be a lot of economic pain first and it is still being felt. In Government, Labour has tried to do as much as quickly as it can. The faster it can get things into place, the longer there will be for them to work, and the the sooner done the readier the climate to receive them. So the last five months has been a period of frantic and exhausting activity. The pace has been killing for the Labour Government and its advisers. Even the new backbench Labour members of Parliament, so happy and confident a few months ago, are starting to look grey. But as long as the adrenalin

of office keeps pumping, they will drive on.

In five months, Labour has already amassed a vast body of achievements. It has tried to put the framework of its new economy in position, from which it hopes enough of the expectations of its supporters can be met (or at least not killed) while rescuing the economy. Parliament sat until four days before Christmas. The frantic pace lasted until the last possible minute. Now there is a hush while a deep breath is taken, and the labours pause, before resuming again — probably at the same cracking pace — early in February. In its shift from a languishing Opposition to an exhausted Government — but still very determined — Labour has run. the full gamut of politics in 1984. Whether its actions are supported or derided, or both, none can deny that 1984 was Labour’s year.