M.P. tries to discover fate of journalist

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 9

M.P. tries to discover fate of journalist

PA Wellington An Opposition member of Parliament yesterday tried to find out whether a woman journalist received a substantial settlement from Radio New Zealand for sexual discrimination. Speaking in Parliament during debate on the broadcasting estimates, the National member for Tauranga, Mr Winston Peters, asked whether a Radio New Zealand journalist, Ms Hillary Hudson, had quit after being unsuccessful in job applications in the Broadcasting Corporation. Mr Peters asked the Minister of Broadcasting, Mr Hunt, if the former

Checkpoint journalist had made an acceptable claim about sexual inequality in relation to treatment of job applications. He also queried whether it was true that her husband, a lawyer for the Broadcasting Corporation, had successfully claimed a substantial sum of money in settlement. "Is it true that this journalist had been unsuccessful in nine applications for senior positions? “Is it true that this journalist has since resigned from Radio New Zealand and is now a lecturer in journalism at Wellington Polytechnic?” Mr Peters said he wanted to know if Radio

New Zealand was “guilty of sexual preference in respect to male appointments” and what would be done about it. Mr Hunt later said the circumstances between employees and the corporation were matters under the act for the corporation, the employee, and the Public Service Association. “I want to say that some of the comments the member for Tauranga made were completely incorrect,” he told Parliament. Asked last evening whether the claims made by Mr Peters were correct, Ms Hudson said she had nothing to say.