Rangitikei candidates meet in Waiouru

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 657, 8 October 1996, Page 7

Rangitikei candidates meet in Waiouru

By Michele Monaghan Eight of the nine candidates standing for the Rangitikei electorate this election were at Waiouru Monday night last week to answer questions from the community, put by community services officer Ken Morton. Natural Law candidate John Blatchford was not present. Around 40 local people turned out to the meeting that saw candidates outline their party policies on health, taxation, superannuation and education. Of particular importance to Waiouru residents were the questions relating to defence. Each candidate answered questions about the defence budget vote, the future of Waiouru camp, the inclusion of New Zealand Army personnel in United Nations forces and participation in exercises with other countries and the Limited Service Volunteer (LSV) orcompulsory training schemes. The order of speaking was drawn prior to the meeting and Labour candidate Jill White spoke first. Mrs White is the sitting MP for Manawatu and she said that Labour has no plans to cut the defence budget and no plans to downgrade Waiouru. "Activities are more likely to increase than decrease," she said. Labour is committed to peacekeeping when troops are adequately trained and equipped and a close relationship with Australia is particularly important Mrs White said. She added that Labour would look at soldiers receiving a fairer share of UN remuneration. Labour does

not believe in compulsory military training, but supports the volunteer scheme and a build-up of territorial forces. Using defence resources as a form of penal reform was not an option, she said. Next to speak was Act candidate, Vic Bailey. He said that Act had no defence policy as it did not have access to the appropriate information to form a consensus of opinion. However, Mr Bailey did say that

New Zealand does need a viable defence force. "The status quo remains, no changes," he said. National candidate and sitting MP for Rangitikei Denis Marshall spoke next, saying the government was committed to its current defence budget of $1048 million over three years. "The future of Waiouru is absolutely assured," the minister said. He said the only change likely was the Turn to Page 8