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What is the cost to NZ ?

There are three important questions that the Minister of Police and his colleagues have to answer after the police action against the demonstrations at Harewood Airport and Weedons Airforce Base last weekend.

Firstly there is the question of the cost of the police operation. The police were on duty from Friday to midnight on Monday — a total of over 96 hours. A conservative calculation of the wages of 450 policemen for two 12 hour days, based on the basic pay scales for constables and sergeants^*, produces an estimate of over $21,000 for police wages, forgetting the extra wages for airforce personnel at Weedons, whose weekend leave was cancelled. Transport and communications costs would also have been high. The police used Bristol freighters to bring men from other centres to Christchurch. R.N.Z.A.F. Iriquois and Sioux helicopters used by police for surveillance and transport purposes cost $120 and $40 an hour flying time respectively^*. These are 'direct operational costs' which exclude labour costs for crews and ground staff. The police also used R.N.Z.A.F. buses and their usual fleet of vehicles on the ground. Extensive use of videotape, radio, flares and a large communications network would also have been expensive.

The total cost of controlling 200 people would have been approximately $30,000. If the Government wants to retain the electors' confidence it will set up a public inquiry into the costs of the Harewood-Weedons operation and the way the money was spent. Mr Connelly may claim that the police were successful in controlling the demonstrators. But can the Government afford to spend large amounts of public money protecting foreign military installations in New Zealand when other Cabinet Ministers are continually telling people that reforms in our dilapidated welfare services will be made when the money is available 'sometime in the future'? If 200 people cost $30,000, how much will it cost to control 2,000 or the 10,000 whom the police estimate will protest against the Springbok tour?

Secondly the Government's frantic efforts to defend American military bases do not fit very well with Mr Kirk's claims that, under the Labour Government, New Zealand will pursue a totally independent foreign policy. Governments which have recently increased their diplomatic and trade ties with New Zealand, such as the Chinese and the Russians, could be excused for thinking that Mr Kirk's talk about independence is just a cover for continued subservience to American foreign policy.

Finally Mr Kirk should realise that the demonstration against the American bases at Harewood and Weedons took place because he had refused to tell C.A.F.M.A.N.Z. (the Committee Against Foreign Military Activities In New Zealand) what action his Government planned to take to end foreign military activity in this country. He must tell the people why the American military are still allowed to set New Zealanders against each other.

— Peter Franks