Labour talks to focus on treaty

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 8

Labour talks to focus on treaty

Political reporter

The Treaty of Waitangi will be a main focus of debate at the Labour Party’s first regional conference, which will be opened by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, this morning. The delegates will spend two hours in closed session this afternoon examining the history of the treaty and possible models for bicultural development. The Waikato divisional conference will be the first of six to be held by the party in the next six weeks. The conference is usually a more subdued affair than those in metropolitan areas. Electorates within the region can boast only a small number of members of Parliament and only one Cabinet minister, the Minister of Police and Forestry, Mr Tapseli. But last year a small number of delegates heard the then party president, Mr Rex Jones, deliver a sharp attack on the Government’s economic priorities. With this year’s conference preceded by the decision not to proceed with the BNZ sale, rank-and-file responses to the Government will have had much of the heat taken from them.

On the economic front, remit one urges the Labour Party to continue to support Rogernomics, while another remit says each resident should be issued one share in each State-owned enterprise.

A total of 103 remits will be discussed, in addition to the treaty session and speeches by Mr Lange, the party president, Ms Ruth Dyson, the general secretary, Mr Tony Timins, and the Minister of Social Welfare, Dr Cullen.