2300 hear Sir Robert

Press, 4 July 1985, Page 8

2300 hear Sir Robert

PA Wellington The former Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, last evening made a spirited attack on the Government at a rally organised in Wellington by the National Party’s splinter group, the Sunday Club. About 2300 people were in the audience. Sir Robert fired jibes at Labour politicians and had several exchanges with what appeared to be a lone heckler. He ignored a call of “Where’s Jim” while telling the audience his speech was a political one. He said that the Opposition members of Parliament called the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Prebble, the Unguided Missile because he did not know what he was going to say when he stood up in Parliament, and did not know what he had said when he sat down. Sir Robert also suggested that the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, was on holiday on doctor’s orders because he was showing signs of strain in Parliament. One of these signs was

the short Budget speech Mr Lange had given in Parliament, he said. When the lone heckler suggested that was better than saying nothing, Sir Robert drew heavy applause with, “Frankly, I think he would have been better had he said nothing.” He continued, “If he is going there on doctor’s orders it would have made sense to have just told the public, and he would have got a lot of sympathy.” Of the economy, Sir Robert predicted that the effects of rent rises since the lifting of the rent freeze would boost the inflation rate for the June year to 16 per cent. After Sir Robert’s speech, the singer, Suzanne Prentice, dedicated a new song to him. Sir Robert is one of her keenest fans. She sang “I wish I was Waltzing with You” after Sir Robert’s speech. Miss Prentice had also given a short concert before the speech and the last song before Sir Robert walked on stage was “How Great Thou Art.”