‘Myth’ of National controls rejected

Press, 3 December 1985, Page 8

‘Myth’ of National controls rejected

PA Wellington The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, last evening attempted to dispel a “myth” that the National Party favoured unnecessary controls and regulations. The previous National Government had tackled difficult regulated areas such as the meat industry, Mr Bolger said at the opening of a new National Party building in New Plymouth. It also removed restrictions on Saturday trading and tackled “the most entrenched monopoly of all — trade unions.” It introduced voluntary unionism and planned to move on allowing union structures and practices to be reformed, Mr Bolger said.

The National Government also deregulated inland transport, both land and air, in a move which improved efficiency and reduced costs.

Those moves and many others were totally opposed by the Labour Party, Mr Bolger said.

The Labour Government deregulated only the "easy areas” by changing financial control to allow those with money to speculate at home and abroad, obtain high interest rates and to establish their own bank.

Mr Bolger said he also wanted to confront another myth — that the Labour Government was not intervening in business. The biggest export sector, the meat industry, had felt

the force of Government intervention.

However, the Government had failed in its responsibilities for wage-fixing procedures.

While the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, made moves in the financial sector, the substantial beneficiaries were not middle or small New Zealand but big corporations with financial clout • ‘ '

Private enterprise was more than just permitting the big to get bigger. It also meant allowing small businesses to get started and to survive, “not to crush them with impossible interest rates and complex and costly tax systems such as' goods and services tax.”