P.M. ‘challenged’ by poll

Press, 13 April 1989, Page 4

P.M. ‘challenged’ by poll

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The disastrous result for Labour in the latest public opinion poll is seen by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, as a challenge. In an address in Levin last evening he set out why he thought both he and Labour had done so badly in the poll and what would be done about it. “The poll shows we are the underdogs and there are two reasons for that — more than 150,000

people are out of work and there is disunity in the Government and party,” Mr Lange said. The country’s economy had stalled between the 1950 s and mid-1980s, and the changes in the last five years had inevitably resulted in unemployment. The protective walls that had shielded those workers in non-productive jobs had to come down, he said. There needed to be a

channelling of resources into competitive production. No-one would dispute that that had had to be done, but it was also true that the burden of restructuring had been unfairly carried by those least able to do so. To see that the very real rewards of the restructuring were redistributed so that all could benefit was the challenge facing the Government now, Mr Lange said.