The refractory Mr Anderton

Press, 4 July 1985, Page 20

The refractory Mr Anderton

Unrepentant, Mr Jim Anderton, the member of Parliament for Sydenham, has said he will continue to speak out and question publicly the policies and directions of the Government of which he is a part. His Labour Party colleagues have done their best to quieten him since he gave vent to stinging criticisms prompted by the Government’s by-election loss at Timaru. Chastised in the caucus, publicly rebuked by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, and warned by the party’s executive, Mr Anderton might have been expected to bite his tongue, but he will not have a bit of it. A former president of the party, now simply a back-bencher, Mr Anderton’s outspokenness undoubtedly embarrasses a Government that is trying to press on with economic reforms in the face of considerable public disquiet. His misgivings about the Douglas economic strategy obviously are shared by many party supporters. The alternative that he proposes is a return to the recently abandoned Labour policies that still

have the support of a sizeable section of the party’s membership. As Mr Anderton reminds his listeners, the present Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, was dismissed from the front bench of the Labour Opposition under Sir Wallace Rowling for subscribing to the very policies that the Government is implementing. Policies, priorities, and even Governments change with time. One thing that stays the same, it seems, is the inability of Prime Ministers to brook any dissent from the ranks. Mavericks on the back bench might make the business of government difficult, but they are a healthy sign in a democracy. It should not be necessary to try to smother the dissenter’s voice under the full weight of the party machine. Policies should be able to withstand criticism and the mavericks persuaded to join the cause, or accepted as one of the afflictions of political life. In the long run, the Government must convince the public of the wisdom of its course; bully and bluster are no allies in that task.