Mr Bolger criticises Luggate proposal

Press, 6 November 1986, Page 6

Mr Bolger criticises Luggate proposal

PA Wellington The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, yesterday attacked the "selective morality” of the Government for considering the Luggate dam to save jobs but refusing aid to other provinces. “The Government is prepared to build dams for electricity generation ahead of time when there is no , market, but is not prepared to assist industries which do have a market for their products,”. Mr. Bolger told a public meeting in Taradale, Hawke’s Bay.

He said Mr Lange’s selective morality “justifies the destruction of productive areas like Hawke’s Bay without a qualm yet allows ‘the Prime Minister a few weeks later to try to justify decisions like the Luggate dam, or for that matter the earlier decision to subsidise coal trains to the West Coast.” “The Prime Minister is now forced to admit that there is a ‘social welfare’ element in the decision to press ahead with the Luggate dam,” Mr Bolger said. “There is a welfare ele-

ment in this decision all right — Mr Lange is worried about his own welfare. Vote-buying would be a more honest term.

“If the Lange Government is now ‘people-orien-tated’ why is it only so with the people of Cromwell?

“What about the people of Whakatu or Morrison Industries, or farmers, horticulturists and transport operators who are struggling for survival under Labour’s unbalanced economic policies?” Mr Bolger said.