Social Credit 1984 Announcer: “This party-political broadcast is an address by the leader of the Social Credit Party, Mr Bruce Beetham, from the Baycourt Centre in Tauranga.“ Announcer 2: “Ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome the leader of the Social Credit Party, Mr Bruce Beetham.” Clapping. Music: When the Saints go marching in. Beetham and wife descend down the stairs. Billboard: They’re playing too rough! Blow the whistle- Vote Social Credit for a fair go. Beetham: “Kia Ora.” Clapping and laughter. “And I didn’t need Rob Talbot to tell me to say it either.” Laughter. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to start my opening address tonight by sending a special greeting to all my constituents in Rangitikei and to pledge myself to continue to serve them as conscientiously in the future as I have tried to do in the past. One of them sent me a letter of best wishes, well quite a lot of them, but this one in particular. Together with a little rhyme, which I’d like to share with you.” Banging noise and laughter. “Four party leaders appearing on TV, A backbencher shot one, and then there were three, Three party leaders putting blame where it is due, Along came Anderton and reduced them to two, Two party leaders, but when all is said and done, What’s in it for the millionaire, which leaves us only one One party leader, who has already made the grade, Keep faithful to your principles, and Bruce you’ve got it made.” Clapping. “On Monday night the Prime Minister indulged in his usual attacks, usual attacks without offering us any hope at all. It was an address utterly devoid of constructive solutions, to any of the growing economic and social problems facing this country. His speech was an attempt to reproduce the abrasive, combative, divisive style that has served him well in the past. But the public has become all too aware of this tactic. His address showed that the National Party is now politically bankrupt and has no idea of which way to turn. All it can offer is the divisiveness and the confrontation of the past. A past that most New Zealanders are going to turn their backs on in this election. Clapping. Then last night, then last night, you saw a typical example of the use of the Lange rhetoric to catalogue the country’s economic woes, without offering a single solution either. It appears the only way the Labour Party will be able to develop an economic policy to deal with the country’s problems is if a conference of all of the pressure groups is called after the election to suggest one to it. Now while the principle of consultation is admirable, it would be of some assistance to the electorate if Mr Lange could have demonstrated that the Labour Party has at least some agreed on ideas of its own. This election is a snap election. It has been called because the government’s confidence has snapped. Snapped in the face of the economic storm that will hit before November. People all over the country, especially women, know that Marilyn Waring is just the scapegoat. Just as so many others have become scapegoats when it suited this government. Social Credit is going to benefit from what has happened. Our election machine has swung into action early. We’ve been on the road for a week already, getting a great response. Which when translated into votes will turn the public opinion polls on their ears. Clapping. In this election, Social Credit is the key to removing the Muldoon administration from the power its arrogantly exercised for far too long. It is Social Credit, not Labour, which is in a position, in many National held seats, to topple a significant number of Muldoon candidates. I’m talking about those National held seats, some 15 in all, in which Social Credit is the clear and immediate opposition to the Muldoon candidate, and in which Labour is trailing a distant third, with no chance of winning. In these seats, as in Rangitikei and East Coast Bays, Labour is so far behind it cannot win, even if it does well nation-wide. The only way the Muldoon candidate can be kept out, or toppled, in these seats is for all of the opposition vote to go to the Social Credit candidate. That is why, Social Credit is very confident not only that it will retain its existing seats or Rangitikei and East Coast Bays, but obtain a stack of additional seats in National held electorates, in which it is now just a few hundred votes away from winning. Just remember how close Social Credit is in those seats. In the Bay of Islands, less than 500 votes separate Les Hunter from a seat in the House. We’ll fix that this time. Clapping. In Wanganui, Terry Heffernan won’t be seeing too much of his new baby daughter. Because he’ll be travelling to Wellington frequently, we’re going to make sure of that this time too. Clapping. And in Pakuranga, Neil Morrison is already packing his bags. After the last election many of our supporters said to Neil, “Well Neil, if we knew how close it was going to be in Pakuranga we’d have voted for you.” Well, this time we’ll fix that as well. Clapping. And there are others. Alistair Thompson in Hauraki, Stuart Perry in Waitotara, and Bill Thompson is set to pull off one of the greatest political upsets of the decade in Otago. That is why incidentally (clapping), that is why the Prime Minister did a Warren Cooper retention programme in his opening on Monday. Laughter. And in Tongariro Jim Elder is going to win in a three-way split with an independent spoiling Labour’s chances. And here in Tauranga, Paul Hill is just a few hundred votes behind. Clapping. Paul is ready to give this area some real representation. And Gary Knapp, my friend Gary Knapp, is looking forward to strengthening his majority in East Coast Bays. Gary works his heart out for the Bays. And he has got a proud record of achievement for the people of his electorate. And they know it; I’m sure they do. We’re excited, we’re ready, and we’re going to make a real impact and get the results in this election where they really count. This is a crucial election for New Zealand. It represents what could well turn out to be the last real chance for New Zealanders to turn their country in a new direction. To break away from the tyranny of what has become close to a dictatorship and move towards an approach based on cooperation and consensus. The Labour Party will, of course, they’ll argue that simply voting Labour will achieve that. But there is no certainty that that is so. This is simply because Labour is not the crucial factor in any but the few seats which are marginally between Labour and National. It is Social Credit which is the key factor because there are at least 15 seats which Labour can’t take off National, never could. But Social Credit can. Providing everyone opposed to the Muldoon government gets behind Social Credit and Social Credit alone in those seats. Divide and rule has been the essence of the Muldoon style. And this snap election is a classic example of his tactic of trying to stay in power, by dividing the country just two ways, in all electorates. You know, the Rob’s Mob, and the other lot syndrome. Laughter. Knowing, of course, he stands to win if people fall for that tactic. That is if they vote for Labour in seats Labour can’t win, and thus prevent Social Credit from unseating National in those seats. And Mr Lange, partly because of party pride, but also partly because he is not a very good mathematician, is promoting exactly the same tactic. From which, ironically, it is the Prime Minister who will benefit most. You know it is the old two-party club talk. The sort of misleading propaganda they specialise in to get the voters supporting them and them alone. Even if the result for one of them is not going to be as good as it could be. And they’ve been at it for donkey’s years. We know the tactics, we’ve seen it all before, but people are wising up faster than they realise. And the Labour Party, well once again the Labour Party seems more determined to try to prevent Social Credit from obtaining further seats than it is in seriously trying to win the election and becoming the government. You know Michael Joseph Savage, who had a high regard for Social Credit, and who pulled New Zealand, this country, out of the Depression of the 1930s, through using Social Credit’s financial policies for public works and housing programmes, he’d turn in his grave at that attitude. Ladies and gentlemen, the confrontationist, abrasive, and divisive style of government being practiced in this country is exaggerated by the type of leadership that the Prime Minister has inflicted on us. But that confrontationist style of government is primarily the inevitable result of a basically two-way, two-party system. That system positively rejects intelligent debate and compromise, in favour of the worship of the god of total victory on every issue, no matter how trivial. And though the Labour Party will pretend otherwise in this campaign, its attitude in this area is just as bad as National’s. Just as bad. No longer can we as a nation afford to continue on this path of division and confrontation, as shown by the them and us attitude. What we must have in its place is cooperation, consensus, and as much unity as possible. Only that will allow us to solve problems in a satisfactory way, and move forward together. We must have the strong, positive leadership that is considerate and not afraid to compromise. We must have, ladies and gentlemen, government by consent. And that means genuine debate in Parliament, and the effective representation of minority views. And we must change the electoral system so that it is more responsive to different groups. Proportional representation is absolutely necessary if our society is not to fragment and fall apart in the years ahead. And if people, different groups of people, are not to become totally alienated from one another. You know you can have all the open government and Parliamentary reform in the world and still not have a true political democracy. Professor Palmer, he knows that as well as anyone else. And that is why it is a pity he has become a party politician because that seems to have forced him to quietly back peddle on his previous support for proportional representation. And I believe that he still knows that proportional representation is the cornerstone of real political democracy, as indeed it is. Neither ladies and gentlemen can this country afford to continue going down the road of chronic unemployment, crippling debt, and the further souring of our industrial relations. We must arrest the economic and social breakdown which is causing an increase in violent crime and threatening law and order and internal stability in this country. On July 14th, Social Credit will attain the seats that will for the first time effectively give it the numbers to really influence the decision-making process in the next Parliament. And we’ll use that position to help forge a stable well-led, reforming and consensus seeking government. A government that can bring the people of this country together again, and on a course acceptable to the great majority of New Zealanders. Clapping. Social Credit can and will then play the crucial role in bringing to an overdue end, a Muldoon-led administration which no longer has the people’s confidence. And having achieved that we will play a positive role in helping to establish a government that will set this country on a road to economic recovery and the introduction of long over-due reforms in its financial, industrial and political structures. Let me repeat, Social Credit and Social Credit alone, because of its strength in seats, apart from the two it already holds, because of its strength in seats which Labour can’t possibly win, could never win, Social Credit then has the ability, in this election, to be the means, and probably the only means, by which the defeat of the Muldoon administration can be assured. Through what we, through what Social Credit offers, both by way of our unique political position in this election campaign and by way of our policies you can have a worthwhile future. Clapping. And so that your children can have one also, Social Credit has adopted a policy of armed neutrality. This is now the only workable defence and security policy for New Zealand in the modern world. Whatever it may have meant in the distant past, our alliance commitment today plugs us in, automatically, to any nuclear conflict between the superpowers. And we had better recognize that fact. A neutral New Zealand would take us out of the nuclear confrontation we are currently, and automatically, entangled in, enable us to encourage nuclear disarmament amongst other nations, and allow us to regain the role of example and leadership in world affairs. Now the Labour Party, the Labour Party wants a dollar each way over our alliance commitment and the nuclear question. And it is not on. Let’s get it quite clear, Social Credit is the only party which has maintained an undiluted anti-nuclear stand. And the public should know that. We’d establish a nuclear free zone in and around New Zealand, ban the entry of nuclear armed or powered ships into our waters, oppose the dumping of nuclear waste, and move to establish a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific. Loud clapping. Now the unarmed non-aligned policy, the unarmed non-aligned policy of the Jones party is not armed neutrality. Their policy would place New Zealand in jeopardy. The armed neutrality of Social Credit is the only credible defence policy that New Zealand can adopt in a world gone nuclear mad. And if we are to be part of the solution, we have got to stop being part of the problem. Interjection: “Good on you.” Clapping. And that means, that means realizing we can’t have it both ways, that we must face up to the extra costs that our policy, which wouldn’t be great, would incur if we are to stand on our own two feet. Of course, we can only sustain an independent foreign and defence policy if we also become more economically independent. That is why Social Credit says New Zealand should move rapidly, as many other countries are now doing, into the field of value for value trading, called counter-trading. This now accounts for a quarter of all the world’s trade, a quarter. If we plug into this, which is what Social Credit has advocated for years, then we’ll reduce our dependence on our traditional trading partners, and on hard international trading currency, and that will ease our serious Balance of Payments problem and our external debt problem as well as giving us greater independence of action. I want to emphasise only Social Credit has a trade policy which is consistent with an independent anti-nuclear position. One in fact that is necessary to make that position viable. Now ladies and gentlemen 1983 was the year in which both National and Labour lost clear ideas of how to manage the economy. All they could do was argue fiercely among themselves. And those arguments are still raging. The result is that neither National nor Labour has a clear, consistent and agreed policy on economic management to put before you in this election campaign. That is why no clear direction came out of the Prime Minister’s opening address on Monday night. And that is also why the Labour Party’s economic policy, released yesterday, was the blandest document that has ever come from the Labour Party. Of course, given the division over economic policy within the Labour Party, that was hardly surprising. That document offered none of the fundamental reforms of the financial system that are so urgently needed. As a contribution to the debate on economic management at this election that document was a non-event. And as a contribution to the solution of the country’s economic problems it is a complete write-off. And for the business community all that remained in 1983 was uncertainty, apart from the excessive controls. There was no pointer to the future, no convincing way out of the freeze to hold onto its gains, and no development of policies to carry us out of the sickening cycle of low production, high unemployment, greater dole payments, higher taxes and deficits, record real interest rates, excessive financial costs, squeezed profits, and, in too many cases, heart-breaking bankruptcies. And in 1984, New Zealand is still on the treadmill. Trying to borrow its way out of debt, while the business community, which must get us out of debt, is being put under even greater and greater strain. We’ve got to get off the treadmill. The old economic policy, by which both National and Labour, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, or if you like Tweedledum and Tweedledumber. Laughter and clapping. The old economic policy by which both of them have run this country, ever since the 1940s, and which has resulted in massive deficits and massive debts, has well and truly had its day and must go. It must go. Clapping. And turning to the market philosophies, the free market philosophies, whether of Derek Quigley, Roger Douglas, or Bob Jones variety, that will get us nowhere. That is just turning the clock back. Those approaches were discarded over a century ago. Because they led to so much social injustice, so much poverty, and so much stress for so many people. Voters, in fact, should ask themselves a few key questions about the Jones party, and those questions are these. Do leopards change their spots? How can a property speculating mentality possibly achieve a fair deal for all? How would you fare in a winner take all economy? Why did the supporters of an aggressive market forces approach in economics adopt a form of Social Credit’s peaceful armed neutrality policy? After all, a traditional, aggressive sabre-rattling approach would have been more in line with the harsh economic thinking of that party. I suggest, that you think of the Jones party, the Jones party bird as the hawk it really is. And then ask yourself these additional questions. Freedom for whom? Prosperity for whom? And one further question, if there is a pot of gold at the end of the Jones party rainbow, who will get it? Beetham smiles, clapping and laughter. Not you ladies and gentlemen, and not the struggling small business people. Not the harassed homemaker. Nor the young people desperate for a job, nor young couples anxious for a home, nor the Maori and Polynesian people and certainly none of those at the lower end of the economic scale. You know, hard-core conservative solutions to economic problems, such as more free market, open slather for the wealthy, and devil take the hindmost, those sorts of solutions will only see this country plunge deeper and deeper into the swamp of social disaster with more and more people exploited and deprived. We need an economy in which ownership is spread across as many individual people and cooperative groups as possible. Because only then will we achieve fair shares for everyone, and that is what the Social Credit party has been saying for years. Clapping. We need an industrial system in which people are regarded as worthwhile and given dignity and respect. Not treated as economic digits that can be dispensed with. That is why we must have worker participation in management, and a socially responsible economic enterprise system that includes individual worker share-holding. That way wealth can be widely distributed throughout the whole community. And the benefits of the new technology spread to everyone. We need to give every encouragement to small businesses, because they’re the main growth points for economic enterprise and employment. And that is why we will champion the small business people in this country, providing them with working capital at 5% and making the first ten thousand of their profits tax free. Graduating their tax after that to a maximum of forty-five cents in the dollar. Clapping. And that will return small business people to prosperity once again. And they deserve it too. And we need to ensure that the economic system does not favour those who neither toil nor spin; the financial parasites and speculators in existing assets. Those who invest productively are the ones who should reap the rewards. And under Social Credit they are the ones who will get the rewards. Clapping. Most of all, we need to ensure that our financial system works for the good of society as a whole, rather than for those who control it. For this to happen, of course, all of the money supply must originate with the Reserve Bank. With the trading banks on-lending overdraft money at much lower rates of interest than applies at present. And we’ve said an average rate of 5%. And a greater proportion of overdraft money also needs to flow into productive industry and regional development than to the government for covering the internal deficit. Now if you don’t like what is going on in New Zealand today, if you feel that the game is being played too rough, then you’ve got the chance as referee on July 14th to blow the whistle on it and say that is enough, let’s start over. And this time we’ll have some fair play. Clapping. First, fair play for the unemployed. Social Credit will make a huge dent, immediately, in the unemployment problem by making National Super available from age 55 to those who give up full time work. And you know that simple measure will provide more than 45,000 full-time jobs and more than 22,000 part-time jobs for people presently unemployed. That means jobs for our children. Your children, my children, an end to education for the dole. And for those who still can’t get a job, we’ll ensure that the dole is replaced with a wage for productive community work. Clapping. To get a permanent solution to unemployment, we’ll put in place policies that move capital out of speculation and back into production. We’ll also reduce the financial costs of industry and business and give producers the tax breaks they need to expand and create new jobs. We’ll give businesspeople the conditions they need, because we’ve got faith that given those conditions the natural enterprise and initiative of New Zealand business will happily do the rest. Next, we want a fair go for the wage and salary earner as far as tax is concerned. We’ll provide a tax-free level for all, with special consideration for the family unit. And above the tax-free level, we’ll introduce a flat rate of tax to encourage initiative and reward effort and enterprise and productive effort. To help re-stimulate production and provide jobs, additional tax will only apply at higher levels of income. And only then to income that is spent on excessive consumption, rather than saved and invested in production. I’ll be announcing the details of that later in this campaign. We also want a fair deal for the homeowner. That is one of the reasons why we have announced a policy for halving all interest rates right across the board. Clapping. And just think what that means. The removal of half your interest burden on your mortgage, and more money for the family budget. And what is more, for all new homeowners, first mortgages will be available at 5% and second mortgages at seven. And that is because. Clapping. And that is because we want to see all young families decently housed. We believe that is the natural right of every New Zealander. Besides, under our policy of halving all interest rates, you’ll pay a lot less on hire purchase. And for the first time in your life, you’ll know what a cheap overdraft is. Laughter and clapping. Now if you are a small investor, getting an income from interest on your nest egg, you don’t need to worry. We’d prefer you to invest your money in new production to help create new jobs. But if you still want to keep your money in a fixed interest-bearing deposit, then providing you put it into the Post Office, or a trustee savings bank, you’ll get a fair deal as well as an inflation proof return. So, don’t worry, you’ll be protected. And to give the farmer a square deal. Enough income to cover his cost of production, plus a reasonable profit without the indignity of having to rely on government handouts. Importers of luxury goods will be required to pay a premium on their use of foreign exchange. The premiums will be returned to the farmers, via the producer boards, through a transfer account at the Reserve Bank. After all, it is the farmers who have earned the overseas funds in the first place. Clapping. And we want to right another injustice in our community too. We want to restore the right of every New Zealander to be able to walk down any street of this country in safety, day or night. We want to be sure that our families can sleep at night, peacefully, without the danger of housebreaking or violent intrusion. We want our youngsters to be able to go out, without molestation, or mugging, or at risk of some other despicable crime. The sort of crime that occurs all too frequently and horrifies us all. That is another basic right of New Zealanders. But sadly, under this government, we’ve seen a rapid decline in respect for law and order in this country, and we want to stem that tide of lawlessness. And to achieve this, we’ll put more bobbies on the beat, we’ll provide greater resources for the police, we’ll reintroduce the suburban police station, we’ll provide stiffer penalties for offenders, and put a great deal more emphasis on restitution for the victims of crime and violence than is the case at present. Clapping. Now on July the 14th ladies and gentlemen, your bastille day, I ask you to remember Social Credit’s commitment, on your behalf, to storm the political ramparts, and depose the Muldoon government. In those seats, where Social Credit is close to winning, you, the voters, have a real chance to effectively bring to an end an administration which has oppressed this nation for far too long. And I’m looking forward, with real anticipation, to leading a team, a really substantial team, of Social Credit members in the house. A team, which will be able to directly influence, for the better, the direction this country takes in the future. That is what we need to heal the wounds of past years. July 14th is D-day. Democracy day for New Zealand. When you the voters have the opportunity to put in Parliament the people who can forge a democratic consensus government which meets your needs and your aspirations, and your hopes for the future. July 14th is that day that you, the voters, have the opportunity to declare yourself against nuclear entanglement and for an independent New Zealand. July 14th is the day you, the voters, can take the decisive step of backing Social Credit’s policies to bring an end to the scourge of unemployment in this country. And the breakdown of law and order which it spawns. You know, in a country with a small population, of just over three million, with abundant natural resources, the existence of unemployment is unnecessary, immoral, and intolerable. What is physically possible, and socially and environmentally desirable, can always be made economically feasible. If the resources are there, and the manpower is there, there is absolutely no reason why the money can’t be there as well. Clapping. Chronic mismanagement, chronic mismanagement by our two governing parties over the last 40 years has brought this once proud nation to the edge of financial and moral bankruptcy. Social Credit has told you tonight that this situation should not, and need not, exist. It is simply a question of having the right economic management. We have the policies, and we have the leadership which can put this nation back on the road to recovery, to self-respect, and pride. We can re-establish New Zealand’s place in the world, as a leader in social justice and new ideas. It is what New Zealand needs. It is what New Zealand deserves. It is what Social Credit offers. And it is what you want. So, let’s go for it, together. Thank you. Beetham smiles. Standing ovation and clapping plus cheering. 20.27 this country, out of 12.12 4.01. 2