THE DEMOCRATIC APPROACH  'Opportunity With Justice'  Neil Morrison, Leader NZDP  "The Democratic Party is a Party with vision. Its policies are designed to provide you with a better way of life, both for yourself, your family and your country.  We believe we have something different to offer. That's why we're in politics. The Democrats stand for a country run for New Zealanders by New Zealanders. We want a new society which profits first the producers of real wealth.  Every citizen will have a personal stake in his or her country, either as an individual or in co-operation with others.  You will be able to have a greater say in the running of your own affairs, nationally and locally - and more freedom of choice.  Political democracy depends on open, consensus government based on genuine public participation, where tolerance, understanding and respect are promoted.  It is the Democratic principle of fair and equal opportunity to ensure that the less advantaged are helped to achieve as high a degree of independence as possible.  We need to protect and enhance our natural environment, while ensuring the efficient and productive use of our natural and people resources.  We welcome the benefits of the new technology which will enable people to have greater freedom, enjoy more leisure and be more creative - as our economic reforms will allow.  Democrats oppose financial exploitation, monopoly growth, sexual and racial discrimination, centralism, inflation, foreign takeovers, political expediency, abuse of the environment and the breakdown of the family unit.  Democrats support financial reform, true individual enterprise, decentralisation of power, conservation of natural resources, law and order, stable prices, sovereign independence, real democracy and security with freedom.  As a nation, the Democrats believe, we can stand on our own two feet and hold our heads high again, all races together."  This booklet is a condensation of policy. Anyone requiring more details should contact the local Democratic Branch or N.Z. Headquarters, Box 44-177, Pt Chevalier, Auckland.  THE ECONOMY  At the moment many ordinary New Zealanders are very concerned about the state of the economy.  No matter what schemes are tried, Muldoonism or Rogernomics, the situation never seems to improve. We simply go deeper into debt, chase higher and higher interest rates, and watch helplessly as inflation soars.  The Democratic Party offers new and different policies. They wilt make the economy more stable, reward initiative, and encourage savings.  People should come first, not financial institutions. The economy must be organised to serve producers and consumers, not the other way around.  This means reforming the financial system to maintain a better balance between the supply of money on the one hand and production on the other. It means unclogging internal and overseas debt. It means developing our own resources ourselves, halting madcap inflation, providing jobs, stabilising prices. It means distributing money more justly to people and regions that need it. It means growth.  Financial reform, under the Democrats, will help Kiwis to control their own destiny, and not be dictated to by foreign financial concerns.  We need:  • a three-year economic plan and meaningful incentives -so that businesses can budget and operate more efficiently.  • to bring interest rates down to no more than 3%.  • to curb monopoly growth and the activities of speculators.  • to control the exchange rate and help exporters.  • cheaper capital to be  invested in development and production - this would help reduce rates at the local level.  • more openness and accountability of private sector financial institutions, and more effective control of Government expenditure. Indeed, any parliamentary committee dealing with public expenditure should be open to the scrutiny of the media and the public.  • reasonable import protection for our industries, skills and jobs.  Tax reforms include:  • replacing G.S.T. with a fairer system called a 'transfer tax'. This will help those on fixed incomes and force speculators to share the burdens they now escape.  • instituting a simple two-stage tax scale which promotes investment in housing and business.  • increasing the basic level of tax-free income to give families a choice of whether one parent works or both.  • allowing the cost of rates and mortgage interest to be tax deductable.  Farming  Huge debts, high interest rates, inflation, and meagre prices are forcing hundreds of farmers off the land. The nation really cannot afford to allow its prime overseas exchange earner to move from crisis to crisis. The wealth of New Zealanders depends on a viable farming industry.  • Democratic policies will reverse this unwanted trend. The whole purpose of its economic reforms is to reduce inflation to acceptable levels, provide low interest rates to help keep costs down, to institute a controlled exchange rate, and to enable our primary producers to be competitive on world markets.  • If New Zealanders want to purchase and keep their own farms they should be  the country for five years or more - New Zealand land for New Zealanders.  • Democratic policies will ensure that the prices farmers receive for their products will enable them to gain a fair return on their investment, maintain stability and efficiency, and pay competitive wages.  • Primary produce still needs considerable further processing before export. Sound and aggressive market research is required. The Democrats have new initiatives for diversification.  • The marketing of that produce also calls for a more aggressive, orderly and higher quality approach.  • Special trading credits and bold ventures with countries which need our production will be encouraged.  • A Board of Trade, free from and balance of imports and exports.  • Other policies support irrigation investment as a national asset, a change of rural rating to land classification instead of being valuation-based, better use of freezing works and an extended killing season, and tax incentives for forest farming.  • All policies collectively will revitalise rural communities and restore confidence in farming as a way of life.  Industrial Relations  Conflict and confrontation are the hallmarks of industrial relations in New Zealand. This results in thousands of lost working hours each year through stoppages and strikes, higher costs, loss of exports, and unemployment. For the nation's good the situation must not be allowed to continue.  The NZDP advocates a number of reforms based on cooperative and harmonious relations, not conflict. Here are some of them.  • Workers will be given the chance of participating in management decision-making and planning - joint responsibility for the production of goods and services.  • Tax concessions and special loans will enable companies to establish worker shareholding schemes, with the same rights as ordinary shareholders. Thus, both employees and employers will be able to share the rewards of modern technology. Redundancies and stoppages will be fewer.  • We have far too many unions in New Zealand. They need to be reorganised into 'industrial councils' which represent all the workers at the one place of work or within defined localities.  • The NZDP will create more jobs via a range of economic and social policies which will attract private and government investment into the productive sector - renewed economic growth, greater processing of traditional primary products, development of new industries using our own natural resources and technology, reasonable import protection, and regional development.  • A minimum nett weekly income based on the single-income family unit will provide a good standard of living for all.  • The unemployed will be given work experience and on-the-job training so they can re-enter the workforce -meaningful work at award rates instead of hand-outs for doing nothing.  In addition the Democratic Party will promote equal pay for equal work, strengthen the conciliation and mediation services, and preserve the rights of employers and employees to work out their own contracts.  Democrats welcome new technology - to improve the quality of life, reduce drudgery and provide greater leisure opportunities through a reduced working week.  Education  Our education system is presently undergoing many changes. It is most important that all views are considered, especially those of taxpaying parents.  It is also vital that changes are built on certain basic principles such as equality of opportunity for all no matter what creed, sex or colour; the need to develop an individual student's uniqueness and so enhance his/her independence; the need for co-operation and a recognition of the worth of others.  The education system should offer a rich diversity and freedom of choice - we welcome the part played by private and alternative schools. There needs to be more parental and community involvement, a more sensitive reaction to local needs, an awareness of Maori language and culture, and a removal of sex discrimination.  To accomplish this the administration of education should be decentralised to allow for, among other things, greater flexibility in building design.  Some of the many Democratic policies are:.  • the use of schools in holiday periods for summer schools and second-chance education.  • an open university.  • a network of educational shops in major centres.  • a Teachers' Federation - an umbrella organisation for all groups in the teaching profession.  • teacher study leave.  • maximum rolls of 500 (primary) and 800 (secondary)  • expansion of Intermediate into Junior High Schools and the creation of Senior High Schools.  • Certificate of Attainment for all school leavers.  • maintenance of School Certificate - partly external examination and partly internally assessed.  • an external examination for University Entrance in Form 7.  • annually renewable bursaries indexed to the cost of tertiary study 4.  • reform of the apprenticeship system to make it more responsive to needs  • a system of modular education, with national ratings, to provide expanded opportunities for all people  • better ancillary support in specialist areas  • revitalised rural education, with adequate and reasonable rental accommodation  • ongoing curriculum diversification, such as knowledge of the legal system, but not at the expense of basic subjects  • a strengthening of early childhood facilities and teacher training  Defence/Foreign Affairs  • The over-riding objective of Democratic policy is one of humanitarianism and peace in the world community.  • We support the United Nations in its efforts to preserve peace but believe that we, ourselves, should take a more active part in international mediation.  • Trade and aid are the most effective defence weapons. The NZDP will promote bilateral trading with nations of the Pacific Basin using a system of reciprocal credits.  • We will promote the concept of 'armed neutrality', which means an expansion of the role and function of the armed services – peacekeeping units, home defence, civil defence, emergency relief, search and rescue, mutual assistance to the South Pacific.  • The navy will assume a new role, including the above, plus maritime surveillance, fisheries protection and coastguard duties. The present anti-submarine frigates will need to be replaced by fast, multipurpose modem vessels capable of fulfilling these functions. A New Zealand Volunteer Coastguard Service will be established.  • Likewise the airforce. Its present strike and retaliation capacity will be maintained but the emphasis will be on more multi-purpose activities. A Civil Air Patrol will be established using aero club volunteers.  • Recent history highlights the need for a revitalised Civil Defence organisation. It should be Incorporated into the Defence Service as an independent unit, supported by the army and airforce.  • Democrats will work for world nuclear armaments-free zones.  • Economic and cultural cooperation with the Pacific Basin countries and South-East Asia should be expanded via trade promotion, reduction of tariffs on imports, and the provision of educational and financial assistance.  Parliamentary Reform  Democratic policies will ensure that parliament fulfils its proper role as the nation's decision-making body. Abuses and excesses of executive power will be curbed, the process of lawmaking made more democratic, and the committee system streamlined,  • A Democrat Government would institute a fairer system of voting that works for the voter and not necessarily the Party. We favour a system of proportional representation which reduces 'waste' votes to a minimum but may mean larger electorates and more than one M.P. representing them. The point is, your vote will count.  • A greater emphasis will be placed upon public hearings of Parliamentary Select Committees, with opportunity for the news media to televise and take recordings.  • Specific provisions will be introduced that accord due recognition and respect to all political groups and independent members in parliament concerning their rights and the conduct of proceedings.  • Members of Parliament should abide by a code of ethics which would place some restriction on the protection Members enjoy at present when making personal attacks on people, both within and outside the House.  All Members of Parliament will be required to make a complete disclosure of their financial affairs.  The Speaker of the House, often the cause of so much friction and party political bickering, will be a member of the Judiciary, not a politician.  The Democrats will retain the three-year life of parliament.  Energy self-sufficiency for New Zealand is the goal. Democratic policy will pursue it along a path of 'soft' technology, owned and controlled by a wide spectrum of individual New Zealanders.  If we put all our efforts into big projects we become burdened with huge foreign indebtedness, as has already been proven, and invite pollution, major disruptions from mechanical failure, natural disaster, human error or even sabotage. Soft technologies are technologically simpler, cheaper, cleaner and decentralised.  • Therefore, considerable research will be instigated, by both Government and independent bodies, into the development and use of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, wave, and geothermal.  • The export of non-renewable resources for immediate financial gain will be  Energy  resisted. We will carefully husband fossil energy and encourage a shift of emphasis from non-renewable to renewable resources.  • Small, local hydro plants are better for the overall security of the country.  • There is too much wastage from geothermal power stations. We will realise the full energy potential from geothermal development -steam for industry, district heating, lowgrade heat for fuel fermentation, timber drying, agriculture and horticulture.  • The Democratic Party opposes the installation of nuclear fission electric power stations.  • Our vast reserves of coal should be very carefully developed since they are our most important non-renewable resource. We do not favour the export of any  coal, or the rapid development of Southland lignite.  • Petrochemical plants, established as needed, will extract as many by-products as possible - fertilisers, dyes, coke, plastics, solvents, oils.  • Methane production will be encouraged from organic material, to eventually replace fossil natural gas.  • Fuel ethanol will be commercially produced from wood and crops in plants widely dispersed throughout New Zealand.  • An imaginative education campaign will be launched to teach New Zealanders how to get the greatest return for the least energy input.  • There will be a uniform electricity price throughout the country, discounted for South Island consumers.  Race Relations Tourism  • Democrats recognise the multi-cultural nature of New Zealand society and wilt ensure that all races have equal access to essential facilities, equal opportunity to develop, and equal rights.  • We recognise the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi and will enact its land and citizenship provisions wherever feasible. Our policy here, as elsewhere, is to enhance self-determination.  • There will be greater opportunities for various races to place aspects of their cultures before the people via television and radio.  We will encourage experimentation with new architectural and settlement designs for housing more in tune with traditional ethnic kinship and cultural patterns.  The Maori seats should be maintained in their present form until such time as a system of proportional representation is introduced.  • Tourism is a real growth industry with exceptional potential as a foreign exchange earner. Private development of hotels, resorts, and other tourist complexes will be encouraged.  • Scenic attractions will not be allowed to be exploited but facilities in our national parks need improving and expanding.  • Greater overseas marketing of the South Island is needed.  Matters of law and order are worrying New Zealanders more and more. It is obvious that our police and probation services are undermanned.  • If we wish to keep our streets and suburbs safe then not only more personnel are required but also more personalised contact of the police with the public.  • Effective backing should be given to community programmes like "Neighbourhood Watch'.  • The Democrats regard crimes against the person as far more serious than crimes against property. Penalties should reflect this.  Law  • Considerable emphasis should be placed upon restitution to the injured party.  • The concept of 'hard labour' should be reintroduced for those convicted of crimes of violence, plus a mandatory minimum prison sentence.  • Police need more 'teeth' in dealing with solvent sniffing and like problems.  • The NZDP opposes the general arming of the police.  • For juvenile offenders the emphasis should be on long-term reform and rehabilitation. To this end the use of institutionalised care should be scaled down in favour of a system of foster care, on a paid basis, in private homes.  • All new drivers should be more adequately prepared and undergo a defensive driving course before a licence is issued.  • A special programme of rape awareness education will be funded.  • National referenda will be used on major moral and social issues to gauge exactly what people think.  • Sexism will be removed from the language of statutes and regulations.  • Neighbourhood law offices will be promoted.  Environment  Land is our heritage and the basis of our national identity. It needs to be carefully managed and treated with respect.  • Human well-being, not the profit motive, should govern our attitude towards the environment and the development of our natural resources - communities for people.  • The NZDP will preserve our remaining virgin bush, and operate a sustainable yield of forest and sea over a long-term period.  • Any proposed development of our natural resources will be subject to a full cost-benefit, with full public involvement. Their use will be carefully researched and controlled, especially our non-renewable mineral wealth.  • Democrats favour the recycling of ail agricultural, industrial and municipal wastes, by reprocessing them into by-products, converting them to fertilisers, or controlling their return to the environment in non toxic, bio-degradable forms.  • We support the use of organic manures and mechanical and biological control rather than chemical spraying.  • Forest trees should be processed into as many different products as possible, rather than simply exporting raw logs or pulp.  • Different types of trees should be grown for special markets. Incentives will be given for farm forestry as part of our multiple land use policy.  • The rape of our fishing grounds must cease. They will be protected from further damage and depletion. A separate Ministry of Fishing and Aquaculture will be established, plus joint ventures, a school of fishing, a scientific fishing resource centre, and the encouragement of marine shellfish farming and a more export-oriented industry.  Health  The Democratic Party supports a quality care, community-based health service. The main thrust of expenditure would be aimed at the prevention of illness through education.  Policies are aimed to open up access to the public health system, thus decreasing the need for private health insurance.  Decentralisation is absolutely necessary if communities are to be served with a health system that suits their needs. Hence the NZDP supports the establishment of Area Health Boards throughout the country, thus allowing voluntary and private sectors to have solid input.  Specific policies include:.  • Increased tax on alcohol and tobacco, sufficient to cover the cost of preventing and treating the ill-health they cause.  • Increased public education on drug misuse and abuse.  • Small neighbourhood pubs rather than large taverns.  • The retaining of small community hospitals and adapting them to local needs.  • Improvement of hospital outpatients' facilities, including day recovery beds, to help ease the long wailing lists.  • Regular in-service training for health professionals.  • Salaried home visitors for the elderly, and financial help for establishing hospices.  • Recognition of specialists in alternative forms of medicine.  • University-based research into alcoholism and drug addiction, the health effects of unemployment, recreation activities and facilities, family health problems. occupational health.  • The treatment of mental health patients in community-based homes rather than large institutions, with an expansion of the extra-mural services, to aid rehabilitation into society.  Welfare  The key theme of the Democratic Party is the encouragement of self-help rather than welfare dependence. While it is the State's job to guarantee against poverty and disadvantage, it has a firm responsiblity to prevent the need for welfare by promoting self-reliance.  The NZDP welfare policy should be viewed as one part of a much wider integrated programme of economic and social reform. It aims to restore to people (a) security with dignity and freedom (b) an ownership stake and participation in the resources and producing assets of the nation.  • We will encourage balanced, stable, caring communities and policies which protect and strengthen family life.  • The two-income family should be a matter of choice, not necessity. Mortgage interest should be at rates families can afford. There should be greater freedom in the choice of education. And jobs should be available for school leavers in the towns in which they grow up.  • The whole social welfare system should be decentralised, to provide a greater degree of local responsibility and support.  • The NZDP will maintain the present national superannuation scheme, which will automatically reflect cost of living increases.  • Neighbourhood centres will be fostered, and parents educated for parenthood.  • We will encourage a network of day nurseries and creches.  • The system of foster homes will be upgraded.  • We will assist charitable trusts and local bodies to build residential complexes of various types for the elderly.  • The beneficiaries' tax will be based on total income -benefits plus earnings. We will abolish the surtax.  Immigration Transport  • Each application for immigration wilt be considered "in its own right' regardless of race, colour or creed.  • The criteria, however, will consider (a) population levels and the need to maintain an acceptable standard of social and economic services and amenities (b) the need of industry for people with skills and abilities not readily available among New Zealanders (c) our special obligations towards our Pacific Island partners (d) our humanitarian obligations towards world refugees (e) our ability to successfully absorb and integrate immigrants, and (f) the safeguarding of employment and career opportunities.  Non-residential visitors who overstay work permits will be deported to their country of origin.  • The transport industry is in a state of change at the moment. It is very important that feeder air services to smaller centres be retained and improved in the light, of two major airlines competing for air traffic.  • Ways and means of integrating transport sections for the overall benefit of the nation will be investigated. One method would be the setting up of transportation centres serving as terminals or interchange points for as many different modes of transport as they can serve,  • We favour an electrified transport system in major New Zealand cities.  Housing  All people have the right to acquire their own homes without financial hardship. Access to finance at a reasonable interest rate is a major priority, especially for young families trying to purchase their first home.  Home ownership accounts will be inflation-proofed and interest earned will be exempt from income tax.  • All families will be eligible for Housing Corporation loans, with an interest rate progressively reduced to 3%. Repayment rates will vary according .to circumstances.  • No new housing development should proceed until a proper community social development plan is approved.  Residential accommodation in inner city areas will be aided by help with architectural designs to encourage privacy.  Loans will be made available to people wishing to modify existing homes to accommodate other members of the family.  Co-operative housing will be encouraged in rural areas, accompanied by a relaxation in structural requirements, to assist self-supporting rural communities.  Broadcasting  The NZDP is committed to private enterprise involvement in television and radio, a greater multi-cultural content, especially that of Maoritanga, educational television for the housebound and disabled, and generally a more open access by all groups to the broadcasting media.  10  Local Government  As its name implies the Democratic Party stands firmly behind effective local and participatory democracy, decentralisation of government, and strong community identity and autonomy.  Central Government keeps insisting that local bodies assume more and more responsibilities but fails to give them the authority and power to do so adequately.  • The NZDP will introduce, therefore, the practice of revenue-sharing between central and local government. A percentage of all personal income tax will be returned to local bodies, thus reducing the demands on rating According to established need certain general purpose grants would also be available  • Free of interest loans will help establish basic community amenities such as water supplies, drainage and sewerage schemes.  • The Democrats are also interested in seeing the establishment of composting plants for recycling sewage waste and rubbish disposal, and help would be given with pensioner housing schemes and the reconstruction of decaying, downtown areas.  Small Business  Small business is the heart and soul of the New Zealand economy. A Democratic Government will create an economic climate in which small and medium-size businesses, individual and family enterprise, can prosper.  Their growth is vital for stimulating new ideas, developing new products, providing more jobs, and increasing productivity and exports.  • A revision of company tax wilt be undertaken to ensure greater equity and increased incentive.  • As stated in our industrial policy worker shareholding schemes will be given every encouragement.  • Death duties will be abolished to the level which fully protects the family business.  • Companies will be  encouraged and assisted to establish industries in the smaller centres.  • Business monopolies and takeovers will be carefully governed.  • The NZDP will promote low-capital, high-l.abour-content operations, preferably based on local resources.  We will abolish double taxation on company profits by taxing dividends in the hands of shareholders only.  Arts and Culture  • Democrats support a truly New Zealand culture, which means advancing indigenous Maori and Pacific Island culture and artistic expression as well as the imported arts.  • There should be cooperative promotion between Government, local government, commerce and the community in general.  • The aim should be to promote professionalism, adequate facilities for the ongoing training and support of artists, and accessibility to all regions of the country.  • Democrats support the work of the QE 11 Arts Council and will provide adequate funds for regional and community arts councils, civic arts festivals and regional tours.  We will advance the New Zealand content of television programmes, establish a national school of performing arts, encourage the New Zealand film industry, and provide tax concessions to encourage business houses to sponsor the arts.  Youth  Respective Governments have paid little heed to the needs of young people as a whole. They seem to be listened to only when trouble brews. But as a separate group and as the country's future leaders their ideas should be constructively sought, now.  • There should be a spokesman/woman for youth in cabinet.  • Policies for youth should be developed as much as possible by youth, especially for meeting the needs of 'at risk' young people.  • Commercial and business initiatives could be encouraged to help private and voluntary agencies in preventive youth work.  • The Democrats would tackle the problem of youthful unemployment through a job-intensive, regionally-based N.Z. Development Strategy.  Work co-operatives, marae enterprises and similar alternative employment patterns will be supported.  • Voluntary service schemes at home and abroad will be encouraged, through such schemes as a N.Z. Voluntary Social Service Programme.  Youth centres, leadership courses and alternatives to prison sentences will be vigorously pursued.