National rebels turn to law

Press, 23 April 1979, Page 12

National rebels turn to law

PA Auckland East Coast Bays National Party rebels plan court action to try to get back into the party, one of the dissidents has said. The party’s Dominion council decided to take no action over the barring of the rebels from attending the annual meeting of the Mairangi Bay branch on March 8. The three leading rebels, Mr J. Bridges and Mr E. and Mrs C. Pownall complained that their exclusion was against party rules. The party’s Dominion council heard a detailed report on the background to the events from the East Coast Bays party chairman (Mr R. Browne). Present was the local member, Mr T. F. Gill. Mr Gill did not speak. Little discussion, it is

believed, took place before the council resolved that there was no appropriate action it could take, and it referred the problem back to the local branch. Mr Bridges said that referring a complaint back to the branch which had acted against the rebels was the most undemocratic thing the council could have done. He asked how they could air their grievances to a body which had used policemen to keep them out of a meeting. He said they would apply for a judicial review of the council’s decision, and apply for an in-

junction to nullify the decisions of the Mairangi Bay annual meeting. There would be a “fighting fund” so that people who “still valued democracy” could make contributions, Mr Bridges said.