Reform heads agenda again for Govt

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 2

Reform heads agenda again for Govt

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington

Reform will again be at the top of the Government’s political agenda this year with the focus on defence, industrial relations, and the social welfare system. Reviews are planned in these and other areas, but whether the exercise will succeed in capturing the public imagination is doubtful.

More likely is that the economy will dominate centre stage as — against a background of business failure, rising unemployment, and continuing high interest rates — the wisdom of the more-market strategy comes under challenge from an in-

creasingly nervous electorate.

Most important structural changes in the economic sphere have been introduced, although the goods and services tax and the deregulation of banking have yet to be given effect. The Fair Trading Bill, to improve consumer protection; and the Commerce Bill, to regulate the take-over and merger of companies, also have yet to be passed through all their stages. For the Finance Ministers this will be a year of consolidation directed mostly at reducing the deficit and inflation. Their role will accordingly be reactive rather than aggressive.

Parliament has another heavy legislative programme to wade through. Much of it is technical and of limited interest but there are a few highly charged exceptions — notably Ms Fran Wilde’s Homosexual Law Reform Bill, the Bill of Rights, and the Government’s anti-nuclear bill. This is not now expected to be finally enacted until the second half of the year so it is not until then that New Zealand will learn exactly what American reaction there will be and how this will affect A.N.Z.U.S. Beyond this, international relations will probably take more of a back seat than during the last 18 months when New

Zealand’s policies have claimed the spotlight not only at home but abroad. Highlights of the Foreign Affairs year will be Mr Lange’s visit to China and the visits to New Zealand of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, the Queen, and Pope John Paul 11. Issues with more immediate impact on the lives of New Zealanders and likely to command attention are: the introduction of graduated drivers’ licences, legislation to define the status of children bom as a result of artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilisation, the reform of defamation laws, video censorship, and whether State-organ-ised lotto is approved.