Labour opponents of GST ready for party conference

Press, 30 August 1985, Page 2

Labour opponents of GST ready for party conference

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington

For Labour Party opponents of the goods and services tax, tomorrow is DDay. That is when the party conference will discuss two remits on GST; the first, expressing outright opposition to the tax; and the second, asking the Government to reconsider the proposal and to drop it unless certain preconditions are met.

Among these are an assurance that low-income and middle-income earners, including beneficiaries, will be immediately and significantly better off, and the exemption of food and essential services.

On the regional conference circuit, not one of the party’s six divisions gave GST unqualified approval and one opposed it in its entirety. That was the Wellington branch, which will lead the charge against the tax and the Government’s management of the economy in the economic debate.

The speakers it is expected to put up are the secretary of the Distribution Workers Federation and anti-GST luminary, Mr Rob Campbell, and the national secretary of the Cleaners’ Union, Mr Pat Kelly.

Both men attended a meeting in Wellington last Sunday at which it is believed the broad arguments were to be rehearsed, exceptthat, acting on a tip-off

from a friendly unionist, the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, and his deputy, Mr Palmer, gate-crashed. “I thought what better way to prepare myself for the Labour Party conference than to get it from the horse’s mouth,” Mr Lange said later. He also said that he and Mr Palmer had got “a somewhat less than Pentecostal reception.” The significance of this incident is mostly that it demonstrates how high the stakes are for both sides on GST, this notwithstanding the fact that Mr Lange has said he will not be deterred whatever the result of the vote.

Mr Kelly, in reply, has threatened that he will consider mounting a constitutional challenge in the courts against the Cabinet or the Parliamentary wing should the party throw out GST and the Government push ahead with it regardless.

Probably the most the anti-GST lobby can hope for, however, is that the conference will attach conditions to its support. This is because even the trade union movement, where opposition to the tax is highest, cannot present a united front.

With one or two exceptions in Wellington, the Hotel Workers’ Union is for GST.

The secretary of the Canterbury branch, Mr Graham Harding, says many of his

members stand to benefit quite considerably, and that his main regret is that they should have to wait to October next year for it to be introduced.

Should this be the predominant view, Mr Kelly does not much fancy his electoral chances. He told “The Press” this week that the outcome of the GSTeconomy debate would determine the winners in the election of officers.

Mr Kelly is one of three contesting the junior vicepresidency. Of the other two, Mr Rick Barker, of the Auckland Hotel Workers’ Union, is pro-GST, and Mr Garth Lomax, of the Labourers’ Union, is against it.

Mr Kelly said they would not allow the anti-GST vote to be divided — an indication that one will withdraw if it looks close.

Competition for the executive will be intense, however, as 25 have put their names forward and there are only five positions going. Among the other candidates are such high-profile figures as Mr Rob Campbell; the member of Parliament for Mount Albert, Ms Helen Clark; Mr John Hercus; the secretary of the Wellington Clerical Workers’ Union, Ms Elizabeth Tennet; the unsuccessful candidate for Timaru, Ms Jan Walker; and the party’s publicity “whizz,” Mr Simon Walker.