Bolger has tough words for tax advertisements

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 6

Bolger has tough words for tax advertisements

By NIGEL MALTHUS The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, reserved his harshest words for the Government’s television advertisements for the October tax changes, when he spoke on broadcasting policy in Christchurch yesterday. The advertisements gave a powerful political message but “damn all information,” said Mr Bolger. “It is naive to suggest the advertisements are just there to inform the public.” Mr Bolger’s remarks were made during an informal meeting with Radio New Zealand staff and executives, attended also by some TVNZ executives, and representatives of other news media, at RNZ’s Christchurch headquarters. Emphasising the need to prevent political fo-

terference in broadcasting, Mr Bolger said that the big error or omission in the legislation changing the present structure was that it ignored that requirement. The Minister of Broadcasting, Mr Prebble, had said that further legislation would be introduced to maintain the political independence of the two new State-owned enterprises for television and radio. The opposition would “wait and see,” but the appearance of the tax advertisements “weakens our confidence,” said Mr Bolger. The advertisements feature characters including a “Mrs Mop” cleaning lady, portrayed as extremely pleased with the increase in take-home pay the tax changes would bring. Mr Bolger said that she would get only another 96

cents a week, while higher-paid people would get far greater increases. He agreed that newspapers carried similar advertisements, but print did not carry the same powerful, emotive image as television. The advertisements were “a con job,” and it was a mistake for TVNZ to have accepted them, he said. - Asked about National’s broadcasting policy, Mr Bolger avoided specifics — promising a clear policy announcement well before the next election — but he appeared to stand by the basics of previous policy that State broadcasting should be non-commercial, and private broadcasting commercial. There should also be one non-commercial television channel funded from an increased licence fee.