Float leak denial was expected—Sir Robert

Press, 18 March 1985, Page 3

Float leak denial was expected—Sir Robert

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington The former National Party leader, Sir Robert Muldoon, has said his colleagues were warned that their informants would refuse to “go public” on the alleged dollar float leak. Sir Robert made the statement in Parliament on Friday to laughter from the Government benches. It followed denials from all those present when the leak allegedly occurred. The Opposition alleges that the Minister of Agricul-

ture, Mr Moyle, told the executive committee of Federated Farmers’ meat and wool sector on February 12 that the exchange rate would be floated within the next two months. Seven people were at the meeting apart from Mr Moyle. “The Press” originally reported that only six people were there, not having been told the presence of Mr Graeme Jenner, a federation executive officer. Mr Jenner has since been asked for comment. He confirmed as others have, that the question of floating the

dollar was discussed. It is a policy Federated Farmers has long pursed and Mr Jenner said members questioned Mr Moyle on it as they had successive Cabinet Ministers. Mr Moyle, however, had given no indication that there was to be a float or that it was to occur in the next week, month or year, Mr Jenner said. His statement completed the list as the other six federation members at the meeting had already denied the allegation. They are Messrs Brian Chamberlain, Bruce Anderson, David Petersen, Stanley Phillips, Dick Davison, and Eion Garden. Mr Davison told the “Dominion” newspaper from Mintaro Hut on the Milford Track on Thursday evening that Mr Moyle had not leaked anything in the discussions. Yet the Leader of the Opposition, Mr McLay, persists with the allegations. On Friday, he said the people at the meeting had said that the float had been discussed but that Mr Moyle had denied it. Mr McLay repeated his call for a commission of inquiry into the incident. The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, said Mr McLay was making a fool of himself and that he would consider setting up an investigation only when he had been

provided with “any evidence at all that any leak took -place.” If that happened, he said, he would consider the matter most earnestly and, given its gravity, would be inclined to act first and convene an inquiry after. “That would be the responsible thing to do,” he said. “The difficulty we have at the moment is that we have had it (the allegation) denied by everyone present.” Mr Lange said he had asked Mr McLay to table his evidence in the House — a forum of absolute privilege — but that Mr McLay had conspicuously refused to produce “one jot.” Sir Robert suggested that’ Mr Lange accepted affidavits from the National members involved as an adequate basis on which to decide whether there should be a commission. “My information from my colleagues is that what they have said is correctly what they were told by several members of this committee, some at least of whom told them they would deny it in public,” Sir Robert said. Mr Lange said sworn affidavits on hearsay were probably the most unreliable evidence one could get, and he questioned Sir Robert’s reasons for making the suggestion. “I don’t know what his

motive is but if ever he set out to set up the member for Pahiatua (Mr John Falloon) and the member for New Plymouth (Mr Tony Friedlander) he has just done it,” he said. “If we were to turn his attention now to Birkenhead (Mr McLay’s electorate) it might be of some profit to his party." Mr Jim Sutton (Lab., Waitaki) dubbed the Opposition’s allegations “an orchestrated litany of inaccuracies” and Mr Trevor Mallard (Lab., Hamilton West) called on Messrs FalIbon, Friedlander, and McLay to substantiate their allegations or resign. The New Zealand Party’s agriculture spokesman, Mr John Galvin, has said the National Party should “put up or shut up” over the alleged leak, the Press Association reports. “By persisting with the allegations in the face of repeated denials by the federation members, the Opposition is calling into question the integrity of those Federated Farmers representatives,” Mr Galvin said. Cabinet Ministers would be reluctant to have confidential discussions with the federation or any other group if they feared those discussions might be leaked to the Opposition, he said.