NZHistory, New Zealand history online - david lange

Vogel House and Premier House - housing NZ's prime ministers

In 1976 New Zealand regained an official home for its prime minister for the first time in 40 years. Ten years earlier, Jocelyn Vogel had given Vogel House in Lower Hutt to the Crown to mark 100 years of Parliament in Wellington. Designed in 1933 by Helmore and Cotterill, it was one of the Hutt Valley’s last large houses designed for a family and domestic staff.

The Muldoons in Vogel House

Prime Minister Robert Muldoon rushed to refurbish Vogel House in time for a dinner for the visiting Queen Elizabeth II in February 1977. He was our first modern leader able to offer VIPs proper hospitality.

David Lange, who succeeded Muldoon in 1984, never liked Vogel House and kept his family in Auckland. He ‘camped’ in a tiny first floor apartment in the house, moaning about the staff folding the edge of the toilet paper in neat triangles, hotel-style. Finding it too far from the Beehive, he saw out his term as prime minister in a flat near Parliament.

Vogel House remains a ministerial house. In 2008 the governor-general moved into ‘Government House Vogel’ for four years while Government House Wellington was restored.

Tinakori Street becomes Premier House

After Michael Joseph Savage rejected Tinakori Street, it became ‘the murder house’, a children’s dental clinic. The Public Works Department raised seedlings at the front of the grounds. In 1977 the dental nurses moved out, leaving the property empty. In the early to mid-1980s the Ministry of Works repiled the building and fitted sprinklers, but it remained underutilised. Some wanted to redevelop the site, but the Thorndon Society and the Historic Places Trust defended its heritage qualities. It is a Category I historic place on the Trust register.

The Palmers in Premier House, 1990

In the late 1980s, Minister of Internal Affairs Michael Bassett decided to restore 260 Tinakori Road as an official prime ministerial residence. The conservation of Premier House, as they renamed it, was a 1990 Sesquicentennial project. That year Geoffrey Palmer and his wife, Margaret, became its first official residents.

Premier House has housed every subsequent prime minister. Some made it a family home, but Helen Clark and John Key kept their families in Auckland, using Premier House as a workday squat. ‘There’s a little corner which has the bedroom and the bathroom, and … I go into the bedroom somewhere around midnight or later,’ Clark said in 2002. ‘The alarm goes in the morning, I wander along to the kitchen, I turn on the jug and make a cup of tea. Then I’m out of there.’

Premier House, 2005

Nevertheless, Premier House hosts VIPs, such as Prince William, who attended a barbecue there in 2010. It is also used by politicians and officials for meetings and is the venue for events such as awards ceremonies. Premier House was one of the few Crown-owned ministerial houses retained by the government recently after it reformed ministerial expenses, terminated many leases and put ministers on to flat allowances to cover their Wellington expenses.

David Lange

Prime Minister: 26 Jul 1984–8 Aug 1989
Age on becoming PM: 41
Electorate: Mangere
Political party: Labour

Seven years and one stomach-stapling operation after entering Parliament in 1977, David Lange became PM a month before his 42nd birthday. The baby-boomers had ousted Robert Muldoon’s RSA generation and Lange’s youthful Cabinet ‘heaved and bubbled like a Rotorua mud pool with new ideas, some equally volcanic.’

The son of a Christian socialist doctor, Lange got through university by working at the freezing works. He described himself as a lawyer who had ‘adventures in smart-alec advocacy.’

Obese, scruffy, but brilliantly witty, Lange re-energised a caucus that was still recovering from its 1975 thrashing. In 1982, by now slimmer and better presented, he replaced Bill Rowling. Two years later he defeated Muldoon. In 1987 he achieved a goal that had eluded Labour PMs since the 1940s – a second term. His press conferences sparkled with wit and humour. He let off steam by driving rally cars.

As minister of foreign affairs, Lange championed Labour’s anti-nuclear policy. He enhanced his international reputation with a masterful performance in the widely televised Oxford Union debate in March 1985. Arguing that ‘nuclear weapons are morally indefensible’, Lange drew thunderous applause with his now famous reply to a young conservative: ‘hold your breath just for a moment. I can smell the uranium on it as you lean toward me!’ In his second term he took the education portfolio and oversaw ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’, which decentralised educational decision-making.

It seemed like a revolution. Labour made gay sex legal, gave te reo Māori official status, let the Waitangi Tribunal consider historical claims, removed subsidies, tore down tariff barriers, reformed local government, trimmed and restructured the public service and sold state assets.

But the mounting social cost of ‘Rogernomics’ (as Roger Douglas’s neo-liberal economics was known) unsettled Lange. In turn, he destablised his own government by taking unilateral positions on tax and on foreign affairs. After losing control of Cabinet, he resigned in August 1989. He sat out Labour’s difficult last months as attorney-general.

In 1992 Lange, now divorced from wife Naomi, married his former speechwriter, Margaret Pope. Four years later he left Parliament. His later years were complicated by health problems, financial worries and alcohol, but they also brought love and a new family.

Written by Gavin McLean

See also:

Biography of David Lange (DNZB)
Biography of David Lange (Wikipedia)
Premiers and Prime Ministers of New Zealand

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David Lange celebrating 1984 election victory

Jubilant Labour supporters hoist leader David Lange into the air on the night of the snap election on 14 July 1984. As promised in the party's election manifesto, the following year the new government established a Royal Commission on the Electoral System, chaired by Justice John Wallace. Although Labour's leadership subsequently tried to ignore it, the Royal Commission's 1986 report was to kick-start a process of electoral reform that culminated a decade later in New Zealand's first election under Mixed Member Proportional representation, or MMP.

See biography of David Lange

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: Dominion Post Collection, 1984/3356/29
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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Film: first Parliamentary session after 1984 snap election

The snap election of 1984 brought in a new Labour government.

Still shots and description

The clip shows Members of Parliament assembling and the election of Speaker Sir Basil Arthur.

From 6.30 News, 15 August 1984, TVNZ Television Archive
TVNZ Television Archive
P15318

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The House of Representatives

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Nuclear Free New Zealand

New Zealand's Search for Security 1945–85
Case Study: Nuclear Free New Zealand

This case study examines New Zealand's involvement in the nuclear debate of the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in a breakdown of the ANZUS alliance in 1985. With particular emphasis on French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the nuclear ships row, this case study will provide teachers with:

Activities to develop student understanding of this aspect of New Zealand's search for security in the period after Second World War
A context with which to describe the causes and course of this historical development as well as the consequences of these developments (achievement standard 1.5)
An opportunity to examine the influences, events and issues that led to the shaping of the identity of New Zealanders (achievement standard 1.6)
Historical sources relating to this theme (achievement standard 1.3)

Most of the activities can be completed with reference to the feature Nuclear Free New Zealand. This is essential reading for these activities. Where appropriate other resource material has been provided.

Death of David Lange

David Lange was New Zealand’s youngest prime minister during the 20th century. Renowned for his sharp wit and oratory, he is best remembered as leader of the fourth Labour government from 1984 to 1989. This was a turbulent era, characterised by New Zealand’s strong anti-nuclear position, the implementation of ‘Rogernomics’ and other radical changes.

Lange suffered poor health for many years, including diabetes and heart problems. In 2002 he was diagnosed with a rare and incurable blood plasma disorder. By July 2005 he was receiving dialysis treatment for kidney failure. He had his lower right leg amputated as a result of complications from diabetes before dying of heart failure on 13 August 2005. He was 63.

Read more about David Lange

Image: David Lange in 1984 (Timeframes)

State-owned enterprises are born

The State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 – the key provisions of which took effect on 1 April 1987 – heralded a major overhaul of New Zealand’s state sector. A number of government departments became commercially oriented organisations with an emphasis on efficiency and profitability.

The SOEs were a cornerstone of ‘Rogernomics’, the dramatic liberalisation of the New Zealand economy which followed the election of the David Lange-led Labour government in 1984. The name derived from Minister of Finance Roger Douglas, the main driving force behind the controversial initiatives.

For decades governments had used the state sector to minimise unemployment. But the new SOEs were to be run along private sector lines, which in many cases meant drastic cuts in staff numbers. These were painful times for many and things got worse following the October 1987 sharemarket crash. By that time Lange and Douglas were at odds over the pace of change in economic policy. Lange famously recommended ‘pausing for a cuppa’ while Douglas insisted that this was not the time to hesitate. Eventually Lange sacked Douglas and his key ally Richard Prebble. When caucus invited both men back into the fold, Lange responded by resigning in August 1989. A little over a year later Labour experienced its worst election result since 1931 as the National Party swept back to power.

Image: Roger Douglas (ATL)

Nuclear-free legislation - nuclear-free New Zealand

It was election year in 1984, and Robert Muldoon decided to go to the polls early, on 14 July. This was due partly to the decision by Marilyn Waring, a National Party Member of Parliament, to withdraw her support for the National caucus on June 14. She had been savagely attacked by Robert Muldoon for supporting the Labour opposition's Nuclear Free New Zealand Bill the previous day.

Labour campaigned against nuclear propulsion and weapons, but not against ANZUS. The Americans' 'neither confirm nor deny' policy, however, would make it difficult for a Labour government to reconcile these two aims.

In the election Labour swept to power, and it immediately made clear its intention to pursue policies that would establish New Zealand as a nuclear-free country. This was a popular stand, and by the end of the year nearly 40 towns and boroughs had declared themselves nuclear-free. Labour announced its decision to ban ships that were either nuclear-powered or armed. The United States maintained its position, and stalemate was quickly reached.

Five days after his defeat in the election, the outgoing prime minister, Robert Muldoon, met the United States secretary of state, George Shultz, in Wellington for an ANZUS council meeting. Lange labelled this 'a calculated attempt to embarrass the new Labour Government' and declared that the council communiqué was 'intellectual dishonesty which allowed the representatives of a defeated government to put their country's name to a document that all who signed it knew did not represent the views of the country's future government'.

Lange, in seeking a softening of Labour Party policy on this issue, found that there was little room to move; party activists were unwilling to draw distinctions between nuclear propulsion and nuclear weapons. The mood of the nation was also turning against such political manoeuvring. David Lange hinted to George Shultz that a compromise could be reached, and Shultz believed that he had Lange's assurance that Labour's policy could be changed. He later claimed that he felt betrayed by the way things unfolded.

USS Buchanan cartoon

Following confidential discussions over the selection of an acceptable ship, in late 1984 the United States requested that the ageing guided missile destroyer USS Buchanan visit New Zealand. The Americans hoped that public suspicions that it was not nuclear armed would be enough for it to slip under the political radar, and believed they had Lange's agreement. But on 4 February 1985 the government said no. 'Near-uncertainty was not now enough for us,' Lange later explained. 'Whatever the truth of its armaments, its arrival in New Zealand would be seen as a surrender by the government.' In response Washington severed visible intelligence and military ties with New Zealand and downgraded political and diplomatic exchanges. George Schultz confirmed that the United States could no longer maintain its security guarantee to New Zealand, although the ANZUS treaty structure remained in place.

Hear an extract from Oxford Union debate

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Read the transcript of this file.
Ref:COMP 3, 1985, tk6 Sound Archives

The Oxford Union debate

One of the concerns of the United States over the ships row was that other countries might follow New Zealand's lead, undermining the Western alliance. David Lange had effectively become the 'pin-up boy for nuclear disarmament', and this was demonstrated on 2 March 1985 during the widely televised Oxford Union debate. David Lange competed against the right-wing evangelist Jerry Falwell, and his performance in arguing the proposition that 'nuclear weapons are morally indefensible' was masterful. The quick-witted David Lange drew thunderous applause with his now famous reply to an American student: '... hold your breath just for a moment. I can smell the uranium on it as you lean toward me!' Briefly, New Zealand had taken the centre stage.

ANZUS cartoon

In 1987 Labour passed the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act. In a largely symbolic act, the United States Congress retaliated with the Broomfield Act, downgrading New Zealand's status from ally to friend. David Lange stated that if the security alliance was the price New Zealand must pay to remain nuclear-free, 'it is the price we are prepared to pay'. In 1989, 52% of New Zealanders indicated that they would rather break defence ties than admit nuclear-armed ships. By 1990 even National had signed up to anti-nuclearism.

Sound: Oxford Union debate on nuclear weapons

David Lange at the Oxford Union debate, 1 March 1985.

Transcript

Arguer for the negative: What I should like to know, sir, is why you don't do the honourable and the consistent thing and pull out of the ANZUS alliance. For whether you are snuggling up to the bomb or living in the peaceful shadow of the bomb, New Zealand benefits, sir. And that's the question with which we charge you. And that's the question with which we would like an answer, sir.

David Lange: And I'm going to give it to you if you hold your breath just for a moment ... I can smell the uranium on it as you lean towards me!

I want to pass over here the preparations which are constantly being made for the winnable or even survivable nuclear war. I would ignore those and wholeheartedly embrace the logic of the unthinkable war if it could be established that the damage which could result from the collapse of that logic could be confined to nuclear weapon states. Unfortunately and demonstrably, it would not. We in New Zealand, you know, used to be able to relax a bit, to be able to think that we would sit comfortably while the rest of the world seared, singed, withered. We were enraptured!

And the fact is that we used to have the vision of our being some kind of an antipodean Noah's Ark, which would, from within its quite isolated preserve, spawn a whole new world of realistic humankind. Now, the fact is that we know that that is not achievable. We know that if the nuclear winter comes, we freeze; we join the rest of you. And that means that there is now a total denouement as far as any argument in favour of moral purpose goes. It is a strange, dubious and totally unaccepted moral purpose which holds the whole of the world to ransom.

This frame is from film of David Lange speaking at the televised Oxford Union debate in 1985. David Lange successfully argued the proposition that 'nuclear weapons are morally indefensible'. See film of the debate on NZ On Screen - choose clip 3, the debate features about 6 min 40 secs in.

Image copyright Scoop

Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Lange Oxford Union Debate (1985), 1980s compilation disk. Reference no: COMP 3, 1985, tk3

You can hear and read the full Lange Oxford Union debate on the Public Address website.

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Sound clip: David Lange on nuclear ship visits

Prime Minister David Lange talks to an interviewer about the government's nuclear stance and ANZUS (1980).

Transcript

I have absolutely no plan to do that. I have been the subject of much representation by interests from the United States and Australia. In the run-up to the election and since the election, not the slightest sign of that buckling has taken place. As far as I am concerned, it is basic to our policy. It is in the interest of New Zealand security, and it is something which our friends will themselves accommodate to. We don't have, as a matter of an imperative, the duty to receive nuclear armaments into New Zealand or nuclear propulsion, and I know that our partners know that, and they will respect us when we insist on it

Do you believe that we will see the visit of an American nuclear warship to a New Zealand port between now and when we go to the next election?

No I don't. I don't think we will. I don't think we will, and I don't think that'll be the end of ANZUS either.

'Lange on nuclear stance and ANZUS', 1980s compilation disk

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NZHistory, New Zealand history online - david lange

Vogel House and Premier House - housing NZ's prime ministers

Vogel House

Tinakori Street becomes Premier House

David Lange

David Lange celebrating 1984 election victory

Film: first Parliamentary session after 1984 snap election

Still shots and description

Nuclear Free New Zealand

New Zealand's Search for Security 1945–85 Case Study: Nuclear Free New Zealand

Death of David Lange

State-owned enterprises are born

Nuclear-free legislation - nuclear-free New Zealand

Hear an extract from Oxford Union debate

The Oxford Union debate

Sound: Oxford Union debate on nuclear weapons

Transcript

Sound clip: David Lange on nuclear ship visits

Transcript

New Zealand's Search for Security 1945–85
Case Study: Nuclear Free New Zealand