Shields chides M.P. on bar suggestion

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 2

Shields chides M.P. on bar suggestion

Wellington reporter. The Minister of Women’s Affairs, Mrs Shields, has taken issue with a Labour colleague’s suggestion that politicians and judges should drink for an hour each week in a public bar. The suggestion came from the member of Parliament for Palmerston North, Mr Trevor de Cleene, during the marathon second reading of the Sale of Liquor Bill. He sid that politicians and judges might be less pompous if they took his advice — adding that he could be found in a Palmerston North bar at opening time on Saturdays.

Mrs Shields attacked the implication that talking in public bars was the source of all wisdom.

“I would suggest to Mr de Cleene that if he is serious about reflecting his ‘fellow human beings’ he should spend equal time with women’s organisations, at the supermarket and down at his local pre-school centres. “That would require

him to stop being pompous. It would also bring him into contact with significant segments of the majority who do not frequent public bars, as well as with the minority who do.”

Mr de Cleene did not support a call from the Minister of Transport, Mr Jeffries, that the clause which would remove the mandatory provision of public bars in hotels and taverns be overturned. He argued that publicans must have the right to control their clientele. But Mr Jeffries warned that without compulsory public bars, “social apartheid in drinking facilities” would develop. His amendment would, guarantee that any adult could go in to a bar however they were dressed, and could not be refused admission without reasonable cause. The member of Parliament for Auckland Central, Mr Richard Prebble, agreed, describing the amendment as “an egalitarian measure.”

Mr Jeffries’s proposal was lost on voices.