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Salient. Victoria University of Wellington Students' Newspaper. Volume 31, Number 22. September 17, 1968

Food for Asia 'best defence'

page 3

Food for Asia 'best defence'

"Our most powerful line of defence is a full stomach in Asia," Mr John O'Brien, Deputy-Leader of the Social Credit Political League (left), told students on Thursday.

"We are producing food in a world that is desperately short of food.

"And yet we persist with policies that deny bilateral trade with Asian countries.

"We still for some peculiar reason seek trade in Europe where we are not wanted.

"Why did we reject Indonesia's offer to sell us petroleum in exchange for food?

"We refused to make credit in New Zealand currency available to the Indonesians for trade." he claimed.

"However, some of the thickheads that run this country are beginning to see the light.

"Interest-free credit is to be made avaiable at last to India.

"But we must convince the Asians that we are not out to make a fast quid or a slippery dollar."

Speaking on New Zealand's trade missions, Mr O'Brien said the only qualification of many New Zealanders who go on trade missions is a liking for champagne.

We never bothered to send anyone who spoke the local language.

When a New Zealand trade mission arrived in Singapore, it hired an interpreter.

This was no way to create a good impression, let alone sell anything.

Referring to the outlook for international trade, Mr O'Brien declared that within eighteen months we would sue the collapse of sterling as an international reserve currency.

The recent arrangements made to support sterling simply meant that two thousand million dollars' worth of the world's sterling reserves were no longer convertible.

"This ridiculous system cannot continue to work, he said. "The only workable basis for international trade is the bilateral agreement, using the currencies of the individual countries involved."

In conclusion. Mr O'Brien said that New Zealand had an urgent need for men of progressive thinking.

We needed leaders who would recognise that trade could be our most important influence in the world. Dandm.zzhomo.athat

Photo of Mr O'Brien

• In his speech on Thursday Mr O'Brien first asserted that "armed intervention cannot control nationalist uprisings" which were "generally labelled as Communist, on American insistence".

Without specifically mentioning Vietnam, he condemned the policy of supporting "corrupt rotten governments" in Asia.

Then, when questioned about discrepancies between his statements and those made by Mr Cracknell to students earlier this year, Mr O'Brien admitted that Social Credit would oppose a Parliamentary motion calling for the withdrawal of New Zealand troops from Vietnam.

However, he preferred to stress that Social Credit's policy was to adopt any policy made by a free vote in the House of Representatives.