Opposition objects to ‘excessive’ P.R. costs

Press, 20 September 1985, Page 7

Opposition objects to ‘excessive’ P.R. costs

PA Wellington A private member’s bill to allow court challenges against taxpayers’ money being used for “blatant party political purposes” is being considered by the Opposition. “If a government has been caught with its hands in the cash register, the courts should be able to do something about it,” said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr McLay, at his postcaucus press conference. Citing what he called the excessive expenditure on publicity for the goods and services tax, Mr McLay said the Government was spending $1 for each man, woman and child in New Zealand on newspaper advertisements, glossy pamphlets, television commercials, and a video. But there was nothing in them about how the tax would apply, the forms to be filled in, and the

"bureaucratic nonsense" associated with it. Instead they were a “soft sell” of a Labour Party policy which a recent public opinion poll had shown was supported by only 27 per cent of New Zealanders. “They have got to sell it for political reasons.” He dismissed Government claims that the GST advertisements matched the publicity produced by the previous National Government on the “think big" projects. What National had done on the “growth strategy" was exactly what the present Government had done with the White Paper on

GST — explain a Government proposal. That was legitimate expenditure, Mr McLay said, and he did not object to publication of the GST White Paper. That was also applied to new laws such as the Firearms Act, where people had to be told to reregister.

But he said the television advertisements on GST did not state Government intentions, what the tax would actually mean, or what people would have to do to comply with the new tax. Mr McLay said details of when and who would introduce the private member’s bill had still to be decided.