Electorate officials may quit too

Press, 19 April 1989, Page 1

Electorate officials may quit too

By

GLEN PERKINSON

Sydenham’s entire Labour electorate committee is expected to resign today in the wake of Mr Jim Anderton’s rejection of the party he belonged to for 25 years.

Mr Anderton is expected to tell all of the 20 members of the electorate committee what plans he has for continuing as Sydenham’s member of Parliament. The committee’s chairman, Mr Tim Arthur, told “The Press” yesterday that he had no doubt the committee members would resign in sympathy with Mr Anderton.

The committee’s deputy chairman, Mr Marty Braithwaite, confirmed that last evening and said he too would resign if others did so en masse.

Mr Anderton would never rejoin the Labour‘Party both men said.

Neither would comment specifically, however, on the rumour that Mr Anderton was to establish his own party.

Mr Arthur said: “Jim Anderton is not going to go away; he’s not going to be a politician that’s forgotten. There’s no doubt about that.”

But Mr Braithwaite said Mr Anderton was a “wily old fox” and knew the pitfalls in establishing a breakaway party. There would be little, if no, trade union support for a breakaway party, he said.

Nevertheless he thought Mr Anderton had enough support in Sydenham to carry the seat as an Independent.

Mr Arthur, an organiser with the Engineers’ Union, has probably been the closest to Mr Anderton during the period when he made his mind up to resign. Mr Arthur has already resigned from the party’s northern South Island regional executive and yesterday said he was “seriously considering my future with the party.”

Several other electorate committee members spoken to last evening, including three Christchurch City councillors, were waiting until this evening’s meeting before commenting publicly.

Both Mr Arthur and Mr Braithwaite agreed that Mr Anderton’s being “frozen out” from the Labour caucus and the growing rejection of him from the party hierarchy led to his resignation.

Being unable to influence the party’s direction inside caucus Mr Anderton became increasingly frustrated with what he saw as a “betrayal of the heartland ol Labour voters and members.” Mr Arthur said Mr Anderton had thousands of supporters in “every small town and city the length and breadth of New Zealand.”

He strengthened the rumours of a Left-wing party forming, saying the idea had been mooted for more than four years. “That question will be asked and answered at the public meeting next week,” he said. Mr Anderton plans such a meeting to inform his Sydenham constituents of his position.

Mr Arthur said Mr Anderton’s caucus support was strong. Much

of that strength was drawn from those opposed to the actions of the demoted Ministers, Messrs Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble. “They have totally destroyed the Labour Party and Insulted it,” he said. Mr Braithwaite said Mr Anderton had become disheartened at the drop in party membership trom 70,000 a few years ago to just 10,000 today. The steady stream of defections were because of the Government’s direction. Mr Arthur would speak with the party president, Ms Ruth Dyson, and the secretary-general, Mr Tony Timms, about reorganising the electoral committee because “there’ll be nothing left of it today,” he said.