Once again the issue of abortion had reared it’s ugly head in which the protagonist factions waste their time trotting out the same old arguments to deaf ears.
Every time it arises it gives me a small flush of pride for it was the cause of the nicest compliment I’ve ever received. Here’s what happened.
Back in the mid-1970s the issue arose and took a bitter tone to an extent never since matched.
To calm emotions Prime Minister Rob Muldoon called for a Royal Commission into the issue, its panel of dignitaries headed by then Supreme Court Judge (as we then called High Court Judges) Duncan (later Sir Duncan) McMullin. The Commission duly presented their findings in late 1977.
I did not know McMullin thus a year later was surprised to receive a call from his secretary who said he would like to come and see me, why, she didn’t know.
So a couple of evenings later he came in, drinks were poured and pleasantries exchanged. “You will be wondering why I’m here”, Duncan said. He continued, “I wanted to personally tell you that for two years from one end of the country to the other I’ve listened to thousands of submissions on the issue but nothing I heard matches what you wrote in your book New Zealand the Way I Want It (this a play on the National Part’s 1975 election slogan, New Zealand the Way You Want It).
As I said, by far the nicest compliment I’ve ever received.
I reproduce the article here as nothing has changed.