NZHistory, New Zealand history online - national party

National Party caucus, c. 1979

Members of the caucus of the governing National Party pose for a photograph on the stairs of the Beehive (the Executive Wing of Parliament Buildings) around 1979. Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (at left) and Deputy Prime Minister Brian Talboys stand at the front, with MP Marilyn Waring beind Muldoon’s right shoulder.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP-Politics-National Party, from 1973-01
Photograph taken by Ray Pigney for New Zealand Newspapers Limited.

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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1980s

national party

robert muldoon

Decline - The New Zealand Legion

NZ Legion first anniversary

Internal divisions and resignations over policy had considerably sapped the New Zealand Legion’s strength by the beginning of 1934. In the Hawke’s Bay Division, only two of six Centres were functioning satisfactorily, and of the outlying Centres it was reported that ‘complete silence reigns’. President Campbell Begg attempted to rally the Legion with a stirring speech on the movement’s anniversary in February, and a complete 12-point policy was issued in March. But despite a brief resurgence in some Divisions and Centres, the movement continued to struggle.

Lack of finance was also an ongoing issue. As early as August 1933 the National Finance Committee reported a deficit of £434, due mainly to the inability of Divisions to meet the fundraising quotas assigned to them in April. The publication of the journal National Opinion was a continual drain on Legion finances, with its circulation never exceeding 2400. It limped on until October 1934 before being replaced by Legion, a cheaper production that only produced four issues before folding.

Election contests

In July 1934, the Legion decided to field its own candidates in the 1935 election. This raised the obvious claim of hypocrisy, as well as fears that Legion candidates might split the conservative vote. By 1935, however, the Legion lacked the capacity to fund its own candidates, and the plan was abandoned. Nevertheless, in May 1935 the Legion officially endorsed several candidates for the Lower Hutt local body elections, seven of whom were elected as councillors.

Above all, the improving economic conditions undercut support for the more radical policies of the Legion. The coalition government’s controversial decision to devalue the currency began to pay off as an increase in farmers’ incomes percolated throughout the rest of the economy. By 1935 New Zealand had turned the corner, despite the Legion’s continuing attempts to deny it.

Begg resigns

NZ Legion elects new president

By May 1935 even Begg had had enough. Citing work commitments, he resigned as President in favour of Clarence Meachen, a fellow medical professional and a pioneer in blood transfusions. Despite Meachen’s upbeat rhetoric, he was unable to keep the Legion alive. After publishing a list of recommended candidates for the general election in November 1935, the movement disappeared. A few Centres, such as the one in Hastings, devolved into local study groups in 1936.

‘I certainly didn’t know what I was letting myself in for, when I had the leadership thrust upon me.’ (Robert Campbell Begg, The Secret of the Knife, 1965)

With the conservative parties being well and truly trounced by Labour at the 1935 election, the Legion was soon forgotten. Some of its members, though, became active in the new National Party formed in 1936. Eight former Legionnaires were selected as National candidates in the 1938 election, and the movement’s greatest success story, Sid Holland, went on to serve as National Prime Minister from 1949 to 1957.

Political cartoon, 1972

In this Eric Heath cartoon from 27 November 1972, new Prime Minister Norman Kirk is the barman kicking out the defeated Jack Marshall and his deputy, Robert Muldoon. Kirk’s deputy Hugh Watt holds up a sign announcing that the ‘bar’ is ‘under new management’.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-311-4-017
Cartoonist: Eric Walmsley Heath
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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Overview - NZ in the 1970s

Population

New Zealand’s population reached three million in late 1973. Then the rate of natural increase slowed as the contraceptive pill became more widely used and an economic downturn meant that young couples were less eager to start families. There were also more emigrants and fewer immigrants. The population had only reached 3.2 million by the end of the decade.

Non-Māori still lived longer than Māori, although the gap was narrowing. Life expectancy for non-Māori men was 69 years and for women 76, as opposed to 63 and 68 respectively for Māori. Māori infant mortality had fallen by almost half since the 1950s, but at 22 per 1000 was still significantly higher than the non-Māori rate of just over 15. Nevertheless the total Māori population had increased fourfold in 50 years. In 1976 nearly 45% of the Māori population was aged 15 and under, compared with just under 30% of the non-Maori population.

Economy

Todd Motors assembly plant, 1973

Developed economies worldwide reeled as a result of the twin oil shocks of 1973 and 1978–9. Soaring oil prices had severe consequences for our economy, which relied heavily on imported oil. Our balance of payments worsened while unemployment and inflation both increased. By 1976 New Zealand was in recession. In a bid to reduce oil consumption the government employed a variety of methods ranging from carless days to the more ambitious – and expensive – ‘Think Big’ energy projects.

Britain’s position as our major export market had already begun to decline by the time the United Kingdom entered the European Economic Community in 1973. Britain’s share of our exports was still around 50% in 1965, but by the end of the 1970s it was less than 15%.

In 1975 the average weekly wage was $95 per week (equivalent to around $850 per week in 2012). This rose to $157 per week by 1979, but because of inflation the average Kiwi was no better off. The minimum wage for all workers was set at $1.95 an hour (around $11.30 per hour in 2012) compared to the average hourly rate of $4.52 per hour ($20.26 in 2012).

Popular Culture

In 1970 the single state-run television channel (a second began broadcasting in 1975) broadcast 65 hours of programmes per week. The opening of the Warkworth satellite station in 1971 enabled us to receive news from overseas more quickly and to watch events ‘live’ without physically being there. Colour television arrived in 1973, but it was expensive. In 1975 a 26-inch colour set could set you back around $840 ($7,500 in 2012) and its annual licence fee of $35 ($330 in 2012) was almost double that for a black and white set. With advertising restricted to five days a week for much of the ‘70s, the licence fee was an important source of revenue for television broadcasting.

The rise and fall of Play School

Although American and British shows dominated the television listings, important steps were made in the development of local content. Good examples included the ‘soaps’ Pukemanu (1971) and Close to home (1975). While they caused some ‘cultural cringe’, viewers did get used to hearing an authentic Kiwi twang on the telly. We explored our past through The governor and laughed at our rural roots with Fred Dagg and his host of ‘Trevs’ as well as Murray Ball’s Footrot Flats. Shows such as A week of it allowed us to laugh at our politicians; the catchphrase ‘Jeez, Wayne’, became part of the national lexicon. For our kids, Play school (1972), which featured Big Ted, Little Ted, Humpty, Jemima and Manu, and the award-winning Spot on (1974) became compulsory viewing.

Music shows continued to be popular. Ready to roll, The Grunt machine, and its successor Radio with pictures all attracted strong viewer numbers. Music videos were coming into vogue but talent shows remained popular. Studio one/New faces, described by music historian John Dix as ‘a talent quest in search of safe innocuous performers’, actually covered the full gamut of musical styles and acts. Nevertheless, Osmond and Partridge family wannabes appeared frequently.

On the big screen, Sleeping dogs (1977) was the first full-length feature film made entirely by a New Zealand production crew. It attracted large audiences here and was also released in the United States.

Protest and issues

The 1976 Montreal Olympics boycott

Anti-Vietnam War protests intensified before New Zealand’s complete withdrawal from the conflict was announced shortly after Labour’s victory in the 1972 general election. Opposition to French nuclear testing continued and led to questioning of whether we should allow nuclear ship visits from our American allies. Sporting contact with South Africa continued to dog New Zealand and New Zealanders. In 1970 Māori players toured South Africa for the first time, but only as ‘honorary whites’. Fearing violence should it proceed, the Kirk government cancelled the proposed 1973 Springbok tour to New Zealand. The All Blacks’ tour of South Africa in 1976 resulted in a boycott of the Montreal Olympics by 26 African nations.

The 1970s brought major changes for Waitangi Day as (briefly re-branded as New Zealand Day in 1974) it became a focus for renewed Māori activism. The 1975 land march and high profile protests at Bastion Point and Raglan highlighted the issue of Māori land loss. The establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 was an important constitutional development that enabled Māori to seek redress from the Crown for breaches of the Treaty.

The women’s movement grew in strength through the decade, influencing significant legislative and social changes. United Women’s Conventions attracted thousands in the main centres. The message of women’s rights was brought to the streets in marches and protests. Key issues for women included the right to safe legal abortion, pay equity, matrimonial property rights, and legislative change to outlaw discrimination against women.

Race relations suffered a setback with the controversial dawn raids by police on the homes of ‘overstayers’ who were alleged to have remained in the country after their visas expired. Samoans and Tongans in particular were singled out for attention.

Politics

National finally lost power after four terms in office when a revitalised Norman Kirk led Labour to a landslide victory in 1972. Kirk’s interest in foreign affairs brought new links with Africa and Asia and a new sense of national identity. Following his sudden death in August 1974 there was a genuine outpouring of grief and thousands attended his state funeral. The new National Party leader, Robert Muldoon, portrayed Kirk’s successor Bill Rowling as weak and dismissed Labour’s economic policies as ‘borrow and hope’. National’s pledge of a tax-funded superannuation scheme wooed many voters and helped National reverse the 1972 election result in 1975. Muldoon’s abrasive style created a divisive brand of politics that was captured perfectly by one particularly memorable interview with Simon Walker on the current events show Tonight in 1976.

In 1972 the term of Sir Arthur Porritt, the first New Zealand-born Governor-General, came to an end. Unlike Porritt his successor, Sir Denis Blundell, had spent most of his life in New Zealand. From now on this would be a requirement for appointees to the position. The 1977 appointment of Keith Holyoake – a serving cabinet minister – was controversial. Many doubted his ability to be impartial and the precedent of appointing a retiring politician has not been repeated.

Sport

Rugby remained a powerful sporting and cultural force. Prior to the establishment of a two-tier National Provincial Championship in 1976, the Ranfurly Shield was the symbol of provincial supremacy. Smaller unions such as North Auckland (Northland), South Canterbury, Manawatu and more famously Marlborough all enjoyed tenures of note. This was not a vintage era for the All Blacks, who tasted defeat in 14 of their 48 tests – much worse than their usual record – including controversial series losses in South Africa (1970, 1976) and at home against the British Lions (1971). During an internal tour in 1973 they were even defeated by the Junior All Blacks. A first ever ‘grand slam’ against the home unions in 1978 was the highlight of an otherwise mediocre decade for the men in black.

The New Zealand cricket team had a little more to shout about, with first-ever test wins against both Australia and England.

1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch

The victory by the New Zealand rowing eight at the 1972 Munich Olympics was hailed as one of our greatest Olympic moments. Four years later our participation at Montreal was overshadowed by the boycott of the games by 26 African nations in protest over that year’s All Black tour of South Africa. On the track John Walker won gold in the 1500m and the New Zealand men’s hockey team upset the more-fancied Australians to win the gold medal. But it is the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games that stood out for many Kiwis. Dick Tayler’s celebrations after winning the men’s 10,000 metres on the opening day would become one of the iconic sporting images of the decade.

Fans of the round-ball code of football received a boost with Sunday lunchtime screenings of England’s Match of the day and (from 1973) live screenings of the English FA Cup final. Locally a national league was established in 1970. Mount Wellington and Christchurch United each won three titles during the decade.

Outdoor basketball was renamed netball in 1970. Auckland staged the fourth world championships in 1975, and in 1979 New Zealand shared the world title with Australia and hosts Trinidad and Tobago.

'Meat and drink'

We remained a ‘meat and three veg’ people. Our appetite for beef increased from 45 kg per person in 1969 to 57 kg in 1977. Counting mutton and lamb as well, the average Kiwi scoffed nearly 90 kg of red meat each year. Potatoes (57 kg), carrots (8 kg), cabbages (5 kg) and cauliflower (4 kg) were the main vegetables eaten.

Delivering milk in Wellington, 1975

Milk – almost always full-cream – was delivered by the local ‘milkman’ in a glass bottle. In 1979 we each drank 188 litres of the stuff. The amount of cheese consumed almost doubled during the decade to 8 kg per person per year, in part because of the fad for fondues. We also spread 15 kg of full-fat butter on our sandwiches.

Kiwis still enjoyed a ‘flutter’ at the track or the TAB. The amount ’invested’ annually on horses and dogs increased more than threefold to just over $500 million, and the betting age was lowered from 20 to 18 years. A bet went hand in hand with a beer. By the late 1970s we were consuming 119 litres of beer a year per person – quite some effort given the numbers who didn’t touch alcohol. We were also drinking more wine – 4.5 litres in 1969 but 11 litres in 1979.

John Key

John Key’s parliamentary apprenticeship before becoming PM is the shortest since David Lange’s. Like Lange, he is one of the few recent PMs without prior Cabinet experience.

Key, the state house kid who dreamed of making millions and of becoming PM, achieved both goals. In the mid-1980s, after graduating from Canterbury with a commerce degree, he launched a lucrative international career in investment banking.

In 2001 Key returned to New Zealand to enter politics. A year later he was one of National’s few new faces after an election in which it won just 20.9% of the vote. In 2004 Opposition Leader Don Brash, another of the 2002 recruits, promoted Key to deputy and then to finance spokesman. Brash improved National’s poll ratings, but lost the 2005 election and the following year resigned under pressure, clearing the way for Key.

Elected in November 2008, during a deepening international recession, Key formed agreements with the ACT, United Future and Maori parties and the following year signed a memorandum of understanding with the Greens. In opposition National accepted most of Labour’s key policies but in 2009 reintroduced titular honours. Like Clark, Key made a statement in his selection of a portfolio, in his case tourism.

Written by Gavin McLean

See also:

Biography of John Key (Wikipedia)

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Jenny Shipley

‘This ain’t a damn beauty contest. If you come into politics to be popular, then you’ve picked the wrong sport’, Jenny Shipley declared. New Zealand’s first woman PM came to power in 1997 after staging a carefully planned coup against Jim Bolger.

Jenny Robson grew up in rural Canterbury, where she befriended MP Ruth Richardson, whose politics she shared. Between 1990 and 1997 she held several portfolios, including Women’s Affairs, but was best-known for social welfare and health, where she oversaw radical and sometimes controversial reforms driven by Richardson’s policies, dubbed ‘Ruthanasia’. She mastered detail quickly and worked hard.

National’s ratings slumped as voters asked what had become of ‘the decent society’ Bolger promised in 1990. He demoted Richardson in 1993 and in 1996 formed the first MMP-era coalition with the centrist New Zealand First, led by Winston Peters.

Shipley shared caucus resentment of Peters and of policy direction. After she seized the tiller from the ‘Great Helmsman’, National enjoyed a brief honeymoon, but she could not woo an electorate gun-shy of radical reforms. In late 1998 the coalition collapsed, leaving National propped up by an assortment of independents and minor parties.

After leaving Parliament, Shipley and husband Burton moved to Auckland, where she became a company director. She became Dame Jenny Shipley in 2009.

Written by Gavin McLean

See also:

Biography of Jenny Shipley (Wikipedia)
Premiers and Prime Ministers of New Zealand

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Jim Bolger

New Zealand’s most openly republican PM, Jim Bolger presided over major electoral reform and Treaty of Waitangi settlements, and outflanked Cabinet opposition to funding the new national museum.

Bolger entered Parliament in 1972 and served as a minister under Robert Muldoon. He became leader of the opposition in 1986 and though he lost in 1987, he won handsomely three years later when the electorate rejected Labour.

Bolger was both pragmatic and principled. He kept Labour’s anti-nuclear and environmental legislation, and demoted radical Finance Minister Ruth Richardson after the 1993 election, when only voter memories of 'Rogernomics' (Labour's neo-liberal economic policies) allowed National to scrape back in. Bolger did not favour electoral reform (he wanted a new upper house), but he kept his promise of a referendum on proportional representation. That led to the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system.

‘The Great Helmsman’, as he was nicknamed, quickly mastered MMP, governing in coalition with New Zealand First. But growing caucus resentment of National’s coalition partner and the government’s move towards the centre gave Jenny Shipley the numbers to stage the first successful coup against a sitting PM in decades.

After leaving Parliament in 1998, Bolger was ambassador to the United States. Back home, he chaired Labour creations Kiwibank and the renationalised rail operator, which he had privatised in the 1990s. ‘My life is full of ironies’, he replied when someone questioned that philosophical flexibility.

Written by Gavin McLean

See also:

Biography of Jim Bolger (Wikipedia)
Premiers and Prime Ministers of New Zealand

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Robert Muldoon

Rob Muldoon was one of our most polarising PMs. To supporters he was the voice of ‘the ordinary bloke’; to critics he was a dictatorial bully.

After wartime service, Muldoon became an accountant. He entered Parliament in 1960 and became minister of finance seven years later, acquiring the nickname ‘Piggy’.

In 1974 he deposed Jack Marshall and launched his bid for power. Muldoon mastered television, wrote the bestseller The Rise and Fall of a Young Turk, and packed public meetings with ‘Rob’s Mob’, who included many blue collar conservatives. Helped by the promise of an expensive superannuation scheme, he crushed Labour in 1975.

Muldoon’s premiership was dominated by the same economic challenges Labour had faced. He continued Labour’s borrowing and increased subsidies to farming and industry. His ‘Think Big’ heavy industry programme proved costly, though Closer Economic Relations with Australia worked.

Muldoon was complex. He was liberal on some issues, and happy to drink with gang members, but he was opinionated and aggressive – ‘counterpunching’ he called it. His glare intimidated. That abrasiveness, and the divisive Springbok Tour of 1981, alienated urban liberals. The Tour also caused diplomatic difficulties.

Eventually Muldoon accumulated too many enemies. In 1980 Cabinet almost dumped him. He narrowly won the 1981 election, but alienated younger MPs tired of his 'financial wizardry', especially his wage/price freeze. He was defeated in the 1984 Bastille Day snap election (sometimes called the ‘schnapps’ election, a reference to his drinking). Sir Robert, as he now was, ended his term with a currency and a constitutional crisis.

After being deposed as leader, Muldoon sat on the back benches, increasingly dismayed by the free market policies of both major parties. He died a year after leaving Parliament.

Written by Gavin McLean

See also:

Biography of Robert Muldoon (Wikipedia)
Premiers and Prime Ministers of New Zealand

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John Marshall

‘Gentleman Jack’ Marshall, for long – too long, he felt towards the end – Keith Holyoake’s deputy, spent mere months as PM, but served Cabinet well for two decades.

Marshall was a Wellington lawyer. After war service, he entered Parliament in 1946. From 1949 until 1972, with the exception of a short stint in opposition between 1957 and 1960, he was in every National Cabinet. For 12 of those years he was deputy PM. The range of portfolios he held was probably exceeded only by that other barnacle of Cabinet, Sir Joseph Ward: health, justice, customs, industries and commerce, overseas trade, immigration and labour.

At times Holyoake overloaded his hardworking and reliable deputy, who spearheaded negotiations over the trade consequences of Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community. Marshall also established the Accident Compensation Corporation.

Marshall remained leader after Labour’s 1972 victory but was no match for Prime Minister Norman Kirk in the polls. In mid-1974 he fell in a coup led by his deputy, and former Cabinet rival, Rob Muldoon, a man he had commanded during the war. He left Parliament the following year.

In retirement, Sir John (knighted in 1974) wrote his memoirs and a children’s book. He was also was active in religious and charitable work and was a founder of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery.

Written by Gavin McLean

Keith Holyoake

‘Kiwi Keith’ Holyoake, the first officially designated deputy PM (1954), was our third-longest serving leader. Although critics derided his ‘plummy’ voice, this populist kept his number listed in the phone book and usually walked to work. He was an economic nationalist. Although criticised for sending troops to the Vietnam War, he is now seen as ‘the most dovish of the hawks’, doing the bare minimum to keep America happy.

Holyoake ended his formal education aged 12. In 1932 he entered Parliament for Reform, lost his seat six years later but was earmarked for the safe seat of Pahiatua, which he held from 1943. National’s rising star became deputy leader four years later and PM in 1957 when Sid Holland reluctantly resigned. Weeks later Labour’s victory ended Holyoake’s prime ministership, but he led National back in November 1960 and became its longest-serving PM.

The early ‘Holyoake Years’ were prosperous, but the country’s terms of trade deteriorated in the late 1960s and National barely won in 1969. Holyoake stepped down in February 1972 months before the Labour victory.

When National returned to power in 1975, Robert Muldoon made Holyoake minister of state, a role he still held in 1977 when Muldoon controversially appointed him governor-general for three years. Holyoake served competently if not brilliantly, though no subsequent PM has repeated the experiment of sending a politician straight from Cabinet to Government House. In 1980 Sir Keith became a Knight of the Garter, a rare honour.

Written by Gavin McLean