Business ‘fat cats’ understood

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 9

Business ‘fat cats’ understood

By

PETER LUKE,

political reporter

Many Avon voters did not understand the futures market but could see that the business world’s “fat cats” were benefiting at the expense of the working class, said the electorate’s new member of Parliament, Mr Larry Sutherland.

In his maiden speech in Parliament, Mr Sutherland put in a powerful plug for his electorate where greater numbers were less well off than in other parts of New Zealand.

“They live in a world where life for many is about a real struggle and survival.’’

Rather than seeing a share index on each even-

ing’s news bulletin “perhaps we should be seeing what I believe are the realities of life,” he said. Mr Sutherland said that his constituents, because of a limited education, found it difficult to understand the world of the share and futures markets.

“But they do understand very clearly one thing, and that is that there are a lot of fat cats in the business world who are getting fatter at the expense of the working class.

. “No wonder people get angry when they See this sort of thing happening and the effects it has on themselves and their families.”

Unless the problem of

unemployment whs grasped, New Zealand was doomed to continue the widening of the gap between the haves and have-nots, he said. Mr Sutherland said that his trade union background allowed him to understand the issues that confronted people from day to day. He mentioned specifically the issues of housing, education, women in the workplace, and the costs of medical care.

“I fully support the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.”

Mr Sutherland also paid tribute to his predecessor, Mrs Mary Batchelor; and the former member for Tasman, Sir Wallace Rowling.