Prebble given ovation

Press, 16 August 1988, Page 8

Prebble given ovation

PA Auckland The Minister for StateOwned Enterprises, Mr Prebble, was given standing ovations in Auckland on Sunday from about 200 Labour Party members at his third seminar to explain the 1988 Budget. His 2 -hour session, which was closed to the news media, was not without some heated exchanges while he defended the need for actions such as sale of State assets. However, at the end of the meeting he pressed members for a show of hands from those totally opposed to the Government’s actions. There were two.

“After the meeting in Dunedin, which I had interpreted as being fairly favourable, one prominent Left-winger walked out and said to the media that I had not convinced anyone and that everyone was against me,” Mr Prebble said. The level of acceptance on Sunday did not surprise him — partly because he was on home electoral ground, but also because his mail had been telling him the same thing. “That doesn’t mean to say everybody is totally in favour of everything but it is a mistake for people to claim that ordinary rank-and-file Labour Party members are opposed to the sale of Government businesses to repay debt.”