NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online - norman kirk

Stopping the 1973 tour - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

Stopping the 1973 tour

Waitangi Day 1970s

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

The 1970s brought major changes for Waitangi Day. The day finally became a public holiday. Increasingly, it also became the focus of growing Maori protest about the status of the Treaty of Waitangi and issues of race.

Impact of the Vietnam War in New Zealand - NZ and the Vietnam War

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

It is difficult to assess which side had the better of this debate during the Vietnam War. The decision to send combat forces to Vietnam initially appeared to enjoy high levels of public support, and the National Party did not suffer unduly adverse electoral consequences, being returned to office twice - in 1966 and 1969 - during the Vietnam period. Nor was the government ever sufficiently concerned by domestic criticism to change a policy it had adopted largely for alliance reasons.

Norman Kirk Springbok tour cartoon

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

Norman Kirk in 1971

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

Norman Kirk

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

biography of Prime Minister Norman Kirk

Labour Party TV commercial, 1969

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

This 1969 advertisement for the Labour Party emphasised the leadership qualities of Norman Kirk and sought to capitalise on a public mood for change as that turbulent decade drew to a close. It screened in full colour in cinemas and in black-and-white on television (colour TV wasn't introduced until 1973). Its striking split-screen imagery and pop-styled theme song were clearly aimed at younger voters, a potentially important audience in an election when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 20 (it would be reduced further, to 18, in 1974).