Thirty years on Mr Tizard fights

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 20

Thirty years on Mr Tizard fights

PA Wellington Thirty years after first being elected to Parliament, the Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard, feels he has lost none of his ideals despite “bruises on my bum.” However, the present Parliament’s longest serving M.P. says, as a pragmatist, he accepts there have to be priorities. “When you’re in Opposition everything can be top priority, but when you’re in Government ... if something’s first, something else has to be a hundred and first," he said. "You can still battle for what you believe in. “At a time of difficulty, such as now, when we are grossly over-committed, and the Minister of Finance has to make every saving he possibly can, a whole lot of spending programmes just get shoved out “It’s not a broken promise at all, it’s facing reality."

Mr Tizard said he saw his role In Cabinet discussion as sharing his wide experience, warning of past mistakes. “But as I’ve said very

rudely to them, you’ll never learn from the bruises on my bum. Until you get some of your own, you don't learn from experience. “Sometimes you’re listened to, sometimes you’re not, but I still raise my voice.” A former Minister of Finance and Energy, Mr Tizard said he had criticised Treasury publicly "because I think some of their attitudes are based on wrong premises.” “The idea that New Zealand is big enough to represent a market that should be the dominant force is just stupid in my view,” he said. “We are so small that an investment decision by any one of our trading partners can have a grossly disproportionate effect on the New Zealand scene.

“That argument is being fought at great stages. It’s not always won by Treasury and I’ve got no hesitation in taking them on.”

In his other portfolio, science and technology, he also found himself offside with Treasury thinking.

“I see technology based on science as being a positive, constructive way through to a better life. Treasury on the other hand talk about the investment,” he said. As Finance Minister he had had more input than was realised. “Each Minister does something to mould the development. “I certainly did not want to see income tax as being the major collector, because it hits the middle and lower levels of our society much harder than the top. “They can employ lawyers to find loopholes. I’ve always been interested in indirect taxation for that reason and I think we’ve still got further to go.” However, looking back over his years as an M.P., Mr Tizard felt his most memorable achievements were at the personal level.

For example, one exserviceman with multiple sclerosis had been rejected in his claim for a war pension. “I found a way rotind it It’s the little things that really count,” he said.