P.M. should go, says mayor

Press, 7 April 1979, Page 11

P.M. should go, says mayor

PA Wellington The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) should retire as soon as possible, the Mayor of Auckland (Sir Dove-Myer Robinson) has said in Dunedin. In an interview. Sir Dove-Myer was asked for his comments on the view of the President of the National Party (Mr G. A. Chapman) that the Government should move further to the Right.

“It is not the Government so much as the Prime Minister who has made it clear that he has no knowledge of or interest in local government,” Sir D o v e-M yer The Prime Minister’s said.

The Prime Minsiter’s general attitude had been critical of local government. He had publicly said that local government was extravagant and should be more controlled. “As far as I can recollect he has never promoted anything of benefit to local government,” Sir Dove-Myer said. Examples where the Government had imposed taxation on local bodies which was “not fair” were sales tax on vehicles used

for local-body purposes, and tax on the honoraria of mayors and councillors which were supposed to compensate them for their time.

However, local government relationships' with the central Government had improved since the appointment of the present Minister of Local Government (Mr Highet), said Sir Dove-Myer. “While he has to be loyal to his Government, it is obvious that he is having considerable troubles with some of his Cabinet colleagues because they do not appreciate the fact that we are representpopulation of this county, and that we have more to do with the personal, day-by-day, lives of the people than the Government itself has,” he said. Sir Dove-Meyer said his personal hope was that the Prime Minister retired as soon as possible and made way for somebody who was not quite so sensitive, who had a better appreciation of local-gov-ernment needs, and someone who showed much more respect for other people — who might differ with him in opinion — than he had shown so far.