Leaks show integrity lack, says Bolger

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 8

Leaks show integrity lack, says Bolger

By leaking confidential papers, the former Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, has proved he does not have the integrity to be a Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, said yesterday.

Mr Douglas showed several Cabinet papers to journalists last Friday, in breach of Cabinet secrecy rules, and earned a stern rebuke from the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer.

The papers related to decisions on spending cuts in this year’s Budget, made shortly before a speech by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, in June, warning of a Budget deficit blow-out.

“Roger Douglas has shown by his open abuse of Cabinet convention that, under pressure, he

hasn’t got what it takes,” Mr Bolger said. The Cabinet papers showed that the Government had been in turmoil for months, and he predicted a "lame duck Government through to the next election.

“They will stagger from shambles to crisis,” he said.

There were similarities between the present Labour in-fighting and that experienced by the National Government before the 1984 snap election.

“But the personal animosity in this case exceeds that by a quantum leap,” said Mr Bolger. In the end, the reason for the Government’s present troubles was that its economic policies had not worked, he said.