Views ‘worth fighting for’

Press, 16 December 1988, Page 4

Views ‘worth fighting for’

By

ANDREW BEACH

NZPA correspondent

Wellington

The ousted Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas yesterday defended his economic policies, declaring leadership was about “determining what you believe is right and going out and fighting for it”

The Manurewa member of Parliament implicitly criticised the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, as lacking the courage to see through unpopular but necessary policies.

“I believe that is what politics is all about, that you’re in power not for power’s sake but rather to do what you believe is right at the time,” Mr Douglas said. “One thing’s certain when you’re in Government. You’re going to be kicked out at some point - that’s the only thing you know for certain. “If you know you’re going to be kicked out, then surely for God’s sake you should do what you believe is right while you’re there, not just try to hold on for another three years.”

Politics was about doing what you believed in, Mr Douglas said. “I don’t believe doing what the current mood is, is right.” Mr Douglas said opinion polls should not be read in a literal way. “The essence of opinion polls is, where do people want to be... and if they want security then you introduce and implement the policies which you know will give them that.”

Mr Douglas said opinion polls before the introduction of GST showed strong public opposition.

“The fact is that we stuck by what we knew was right... and we

didn’t shift our ground.”

Within a few weeks of the tax’s introduction, 60 per cent of people were in favour, he said.

“That I believe is what politics is all about, determining what you believe in and know is right and then going out and having the guts to say to New Zealanders, this is in your best interests.

“You don’t fall over because you have an opinion poll which says, maybe you don’t have the majority of New Zealanders with you at a particular point of time.” Mr Douglas said he would be “an active member of Parliament” in his new backbench role.

“The brain doesn’t go to sleep just because you’re not in Government.

“I think we’ll make quite a good team up there (in the backbenches).” Mr Douglas said he would be able to speak his mind in caucus, as backbenchers had considerable freedom. However, he would abide by caucus decisions.

“I’ve got no intention at all of resigning. The decision I made on Thursday was in many ways a great relief for me.

“I had enjoyed being Minister of Finance, but in the end I realised the relationship and the loss of trust and respect between David Lange and myself made it impossible to continue under his leadership. “My regret is that interest rates right now are 4 per cent higher than they should be because of the stupidity of the last 12 months. That’s costing a lot of people a lot of money on their mortgages, it’s costing a lot of people jobs...”