| The Right Honourable Sir Robert David Muldoon GCMG, CH |
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|---|---|
| The Right Honourable Sir Robert Muldoon in 1969. | |
| 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand | |
| In office 12 December 1975 – 26 July 1984 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor General | Denis Blundell Keith Holyoake David Beattie |
| Deputy | Brian Talboys (1975–1981) Duncan MacIntyre (1981–1984) Jim McLay (1984) |
| Preceded by | Bill Rowling |
| Succeeded by | David Lange |
| 34th Minister of Finance | |
| In office 12 December 1975 – 26 July 1984 |
|
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Bob Tizard |
| Succeeded by | Roger Douglas |
| In office March 1967 – 8 December 1972 |
|
| Prime Minister | Keith Holyoake Jack Marshall |
| Preceded by | Harry Lake |
| Succeeded by | Bill Rowling |
| 4th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand | |
| In office 9 February 1972 – 8 December 1972 |
|
| Prime Minister | Jack Marshall |
| Preceded by | Jack Marshall |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Watt |
| 21st Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 4 July 1974 – 12 December 1975 |
|
| Preceded by | Jack Marshall |
| Succeeded by | Bill Rowling |
| In office 26 July 1984 – 29 November 1984 |
|
| Preceded by | David Lange |
| Succeeded by | Jim McLay |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Tamaki |
|
| In office 26 November 1960 – 17 December 1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Bob Tizard |
| Succeeded by | Clem Simich |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 September 1921 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Died | 5 August 1992 (aged 70) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Resting place | Purewa Cemetery, Meadowbank |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Political party | National |
| Spouse(s) | Dame Thea Flyger Muldoon (DBE, QSO) (m.1951) |
| Children | 3 |
| Profession | Accountant |
| Religion | Baptist[1] |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | New Zealand Army |
| Years of service | 1939–1946 |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH (25 September 1921 – 5 August 1992) served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party. During his time as a member of parliament and as Prime Minister, Muldoon was responsible for a number of major changes to the New Zealand economy, including the introduction of decimal currency and the Think Big policies of the third National Government. Despite being something of a polarising figure during his time as Prime Minister, Muldoon's impact on New Zealand society faded after his retirement.
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Robert David Muldoon was born to parents Jim and Amie Muldoon in Auckland in 1921.
At age five Muldoon slipped while playing on the front gate, damaging his cheek and resulting in a distinctive scar.[2] At age eight, Muldoon's father was admitted to hospital, where he died nearly 20 years later.[3] This left Muldoon's mother to raise him on her own. During this time Muldoon came under the strong formative influence of his fiercely intelligent, iron-willed maternal grandmother, Jerusha, a committed socialist. Though Muldoon never accepted her creed, he did develop under her influence a potent ambition, a consuming interest in politics, and an abiding respect for New Zealand's welfare state. A brilliant student at school, Muldoon won a scholarship to attend Mount Albert Grammar School[2] from 1933 to 1936. He left school at age 15, finding work at Fletcher Construction as an arrears clerk.[2]
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| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | |
| 1960–1963 | 33rd | Tamaki | National | |
| 1963–1966 | 34th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1966–1969 | 35th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1969–1972 | 36th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1972–1975 | 37th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1975–1978 | 38th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1978–1981 | 39th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1981–1984 | 40th | Tamaki | National | |
| 1984–1987 | 41st | Tamaki | National | |
| 1987–1990 | 42nd | Tamaki | National | |
| 1990–1991 | 43rd | Tamaki | National | |
In 1939 Muldoon joined the New Zealand Army during the Second World War, and served in the South Pacific and in Italy. While in Italy he served in the same battalion (Divisional Cavalry) as two other future National Party colleagues, Duncan MacIntyre and Jack Marshall. He completed his training as an accountant, sitting his final exams to become an accountant while in Italy. He returned to New Zealand after the war as the country's first fully qualified cost accountant.
In March 1947 Muldoon joined a newly founded branch of the Junior Nationals, the youth wing of the conservative New Zealand National Party. He quickly became active in the party, making two sacrificial-lamb bids for Parliament against entrenched but vulnerable Labour incumbents in 1954 (Mount Albert) and 1957 (Waitemata). But in 1960 he won election as MP for the suburban Auckland electorate of Tamaki, winning against Bob Tizard, who had taken the former National seat in 1957. In 1960, an electoral swing brought Keith Holyoake to power as Prime Minister of the Second National Government. Muldoon would represent the Tamaki constituency for the next 32 years.
Muldoon displayed a flair for debate and a diligence in his backbench work, and in 1963 he became Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Harry Lake. While holding this office, he took responsibility for the successful introduction of decimal currency into New Zealand in July 1967.
When Lake died in 1967, Muldoon seemed the natural (and only obvious) choice to replace him; at 45, he became the youngest Minister of Finance since the 1890s. However, because Holyoake saw Muldoon as too arrogant and ambitious for his own good, he ranked him only eighth in Cabinet. Traditionally Ministers of Finance rank second or third in seniority lists within Westminster-style Cabinets, although his predecessor Harry Lake was ranked at sixth because of his short service in Parliament.
Muldoon opposed both abortion and capital punishment. In 1961 he was one of ten National MPs to cross the floor and vote with the Opposition to remove capital punishment for murder from the Crimes Bill that the Second National Government had introduced. Later, in 1977, he voted against abortion when the issue also came up as a conscience vote.
From his early years as a Member of Parliament, Muldoon became known as Piggy; the epithet that would remain with him throughout his life even amongst those who were his supporters. Muldoon himself seemed to relish his controversial public profile and later claimed that he thought that satirical critics were not hard enough on him.
Muldoon established a considerable national profile rapidly; many historians credit his image, rather than that of the Prime Minister, Holyoake, or of his deputy, Jack Marshall, for the National Party's surprise victory in the 1969 election. He also displayed a flair – lacking in his senior colleagues – for the newly introduced medium of television;[4] commentators still consider him one of New Zealand's most artful practitioners of media manipulation.
When Holyoake stood down in 1971, Muldoon challenged Marshall for the top job; he lost by a narrow margin, but won unanimous election as deputy leader of the National Party and hence Deputy Prime Minister.
Marshall fought the 1972 election on a slogan of "Man For Man, The Strongest Team" – an allusion to Marshall's own low-key style, particularly compared to his deputy. Muldoon commented on Labour's election promises with "They can’t promise anything because I’ve spent it all".[5][6] The party lost control of the House, ending 12 years in power. In the aftermath, Marshall resigned, and Muldoon took over, becoming Leader of the Opposition on 4 July 1974. Many members of the party caucus regarded Marshall as not up to the task of taking on the formidable Labour Prime Minister, Norman Kirk.
Muldoon, on the other hand, relished the opportunity – but had it for only a short time, until Kirk's sudden death on 31 August 1974. In the 1975 election, Muldoon overwhelmed Kirk's more lacklustre successor, Bill Rowling, reversing the 32–55 Labour majority into a 55–32 National majority. His platform offered "New Zealand – The Way You Want It", promising a generous national superannuation scheme to replace Kirk and Rowling's employer-contribution superannuation scheme (which the famous "Dancing Cossack" television advertisement implied would turn New Zealand into a communist state), and undertaking to fix New Zealand's "shattered economy". Economics correspondent Brian Gaynor has claimed that Muldoon's policy of reversing Labour's saving-scheme lost New Zealand the chance of transforming the New Zealand economy.[7]
Labour responded with a campaign called Citizens for Rowling, described by Muldoon as "not even a thinly disguised" attack on himself.[2]
Muldoon had remained National's Finance spokesman when he became party leader, and as a result became Minister of Finance as well as Prime Minister – the last to hold both posts to date[update]. He had a reputation as combative, and many people in political positions and the media feared openly confronting him.
Muldoon led National to victory in 1978 and 1981; however, in both elections, the Labour opposition received more popular votes across the country as a whole. This ambiguous mandate did not dilute Muldoon's agenda, and he became more emphatic and autocratic as his time in power continued.
The "Muldoon Years" featured Muldoon's obstinate and resourceful attempts to maintain New Zealand's "cradle to the grave" welfare state, dating from 1935, in the face of a changing world. The country's economy suffered the aftermath of the 1973 energy crisis, the loss of New Zealand's biggest export market upon Britain's entry to the European Economic Community, and rampant inflation.
Concerned about the use of foreign exchange during the 1970s' oil crises, Muldoon supported a scheme whereby natural gas or a dual-fuel gas–petrol system could power cars. Muldoon's 1979 budget introduced incentives to encourage the conversions, and New Zealand emerged as possibly the first country to have dual-fuel cars as a commonplace sight. However, the projection that oil prices would become ever-higher did not happen during this period.
In 1980 an abortive attempt, known as the Colonels' Coup, took place to replace Muldoon with his more economically liberal deputy, Brian Talboys. However, Talboys proved a somewhat reluctant draftee, and Muldoon saw the plotters off with relative ease. No other serious challenge to Muldoon's authority occurred in his years as Prime Minister.
Muldoon became a Companion of Honour in the 1970s, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1983, only the second New Zealand Prime Minister (after Sir Keith Holyoake) to receive a knighthood while still in office.
As economic pressures continued to build, Muldoon tried to control spiralling wages through a trade-off with the trade-union leadership: a reduction in the tax rate against an agreement not to press for further rounds of wage increases. When this strategy proved unsuccessful, as a last resort, Muldoon imposed a total freeze on wages, prices, interest rates and dividends across the country, against a "sweetener" of a tax cut which cost the New Zealand treasury approximately a billion New Zealand dollars and held the country in that state against the hope that his "Think Big" strategy, in which the government borrowed heavily and pumped the funds into large-scale industrial projects, would create trickle-down benefits in the form of jobs and revenue.
That never happened: most of the Think Big projects yielded minimal profit while Muldoon was still Prime Minister and many were hampered by industrial disputes. With a fiscal deficit and with a billion dollars not now coming into treasury coffers, Muldoon was also obliged to borrow to fund the welfare state and New Zealand's agricultural subsidies. Ultimately the Wage and Price Freeze, which had been intended only to last for a year, remained in force for nearly two years. Years later, Muldoon admitted that the freeze was a political mistake.
Professing a belief that politics should not interfere with sport, Muldoon resisted pressure to bar the 1981 Springbok Tour by the Springboks, the national rugby squad of apartheid-era South Africa. By allowing "the Tour", Muldoon was accused of breaking the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement (to form a common policy on sporting with South Africa amongst the Commonwealth, signed after the boycott of the Montreal Olympics in 1976). Muldoon noted, however, that the Gleneagles Agreement had been amended and, in an article in The Times, that he had not broken the Gleneagles Agreement because "New Zealand and subsequently other countries made it clear that they could not subscribe to an agreement which required them to abrogate the freedoms of their sportsmen and prohibit sporting contacts".[8] "The Tour", as it has become known, provoked massive public demonstrations, the formation of public pressure group Halt All Racist Tours (HART) and some of the worst social schisms New Zealand has ever seen. Muldoon came down firmly on the pro-Tour side, arguing that sport and politics should be kept separate. He argued that his refusal to ban the Springboks was anti-authoritarian, leaving it up to individual consciences whether to play sports with representatives of apartheid. He also argued that allowing their rugby team to tour did not mean supporting apartheid any more than playing a Soviet Union team meant supporting Communism. Despite the turmoil over "The Tour" created within New Zealand, Muldoon's New Zealand National Party won the subsequent election held later that year.
In 1982, Muldoon's government supported the British in the Falklands War. While New Zealand did not directly participate in the conflict, Muldoon undertook to send the frigates HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Waikato to the Indian Ocean to relieve Royal Navy frigates, so that they could in their turn deploy in the conflict. New Zealand also broke off its diplomatic relations with Argentina. In defence of his support for the war, Muldoon wrote an article that was published in The Times, entitled "Why we Stand by our Mother Country".[9] According to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Muldoon said of his stance towards the Falklands: "With the Falkland Islanders it is family"[10] and that he had reminded her: "Don't forget. In New Zealand, we are still a member of the same family."[11]
Muldoon initiated a Closer Economic Relations (CER) free-trade programme with Australia to liberalise trade, which came into effect from New Year's Day 1982. The aim of total free trade between the two countries was achieved in 1990, five years ahead of schedule.
Ultimately, the end of Muldoon's government came following a late-night clash with National backbencher Marilyn Waring over highly contentious Opposition-sponsored nuclear-free New Zealand legislation, in which Waring told him she would cross the floor (giving the Opposition a victory). On 14 June 1984, a visibly drunk[12] Muldoon called a snap election for 14 July that same year. (Historians noted the unfortunate coincidence with Bastille Day).[13] A journalist commented that this did not give him much time to campaign. Muldoon replied "It doesn't give my opponents much time". He was heavily defeated by David Lange's resurgent Labour Party, which won 56 seats to National's 37 with a massive vote splitting caused by the New Zealand Party in particular. Muldoon's drunkenness when announcing the election date led to it being known as the schnapps election.[13]
It is a strong convention in New Zealand politics that a prime minister does not ask for an early election unless he or she cannot govern, or unless they need to seek the electorate's endorsement on a matter of national importance (as was the case in 1951). Muldoon justified the snap election because he felt Waring's revolt impeded his ability to govern. Indeed, it was obvious that Muldoon was finding it hard to pass financial measures with neo-liberal rebels like Ruth Richardson and Derek Quigley voting against the Government on certain issues;[14] however, some historians have been critical of this excuse, as Waring said that she would not have denied Muldoon confidence or supply, and would not have prevented him from governing, as the government still had the constitutional means to govern.
A final controversy occurred during the course of the election and transfer of government: during early 1984 Roderick Deane, then Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, became concerned that the New Zealand dollar (which had a fixed exchange-rate to the US Dollar) had become significantly overvalued and was vulnerable to currency speculation on the financial markets in the event of a "significant political event". This was exacerbated by media speculation following a leak that an incoming Labour administration would be likely to significantly devalue the NZ dollar upon election. The Reserve Bank counselled Muldoon that the dollar should be devalued. Muldoon ignored the advice, owing to his belief that it would hurt poor New Zealanders in the medium term, and in June 1984 announced the snap election mentioned above which, as predicted, caused an immediate run on the dollar.
Following the election the controversy became a constitutional crisis: Muldoon refused to do as the incoming government instructed, causing the currency crisis to worsen. Eventually he relented however, after his position as leader of the National party was threatened by members of his caucus.
After nine years, Muldoon's stewardship of the nation and its economy ceased. The newly elected radically neo-liberal and unexpectedly pro-free market Fourth Labour Government embarked on a series of fundamental free-market reforms known (after Labour's finance minister Roger Douglas) as Rogernomics, and which were then continued from 1990 to 1994 by the succeeding National government's policies known as (after National's finance minister Ruth Richardson) as Ruthanasia. These policies marked a fundamental break with the more interventionist policies of Muldoon's era.
Muldoon's deputy Jim McLay, deposed him as National Party leader shortly after the election. Muldoon remains the only defeated National Prime Minister who did not remain as party leader to lead it in Opposition. McLay lasted two years in the role, with Muldoon and others actively undermining his leadership. In 1986, he was ousted in turn by his own deputy (and Muldoon's preferred candidate), Jim Bolger, who had served as Minister of Labour for the latter half of Muldoon's term as Prime Minister. Bolger made Muldoon spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, pitting him directly against Prime Minister David Lange.[2]
Muldoon remained in Parliament as the MP for Tamaki until shortly before his death. He lived through the Fourth Labour Government's neo-liberal reforms, known as Rogernomics, and to his horror – to see a National government (led by his own man, Bolger, after winning the landslide of 1990) take up the same baton with Ruthanasia, named after Finance Minister Ruth Richardson. Muldoon's conscience tormented him; he could not bring himself to vote with the Labour Party against the Bolger government's benefit cuts, and, looking miserable, abstained.
Muldoon also opposed the legalisation of homosexual behaviour when Labour MP Fran Wilde introduced the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1985. The Bill passed as the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986.
Although he remained iconic to particular segments of society, particularly the elderly, Muldoon faded quickly as a force on the political scene. His biographer, Barry Gustafson – who described himself as not a Muldoon supporter – wrote that he still served as an active MP for his Tamaki electorate, dealing immediately with matters from all walks of life. He continued to write in international economic journals, arguing that the unemployment that had arisen as a result of the free-market reforms was worse than the gains that were made, a view that came to be popular by the time of the Fifth Labour Government in 1999.
Muldoon had a short stage career in a New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show, held at Auckland's His Majesty's Theatre (demolished soon after the production ended),[2] starring as the narrator. He also had minor television appearances on commercials for Panasonic (when it changed its brand name in New Zealand from "National") and in the television series Terry and the Gunrunners (as Arnos Grove) and in The Friday Frights (as the host); he also hosted a talkback radio show entitled Lilies and Other Things, referencing his favourite flower on Radio Pacific.[2]
On this show, on 17 November 1991, Muldoon announced he would stand down from Parliament; he formally retired one month later, on 17 December. His retirement party featured taped speeches from Ronald Reagan (commenting that at Muldoon's age, he was only getting started) and Margaret Thatcher. He fell seriously ill almost immediately, and died in hospital on 5 August 1992, aged 70.
He is buried at Purewa Cemetery, Meadowbank, Auckland, in a plot that faces Auckland City.
Muldoon remains one of the most complex, fascinating, and polarising figures in New Zealand history. He divided people into camps of those who loved him and those who hated him; very few people, except those born after his fall, remained neutral. To his enemies, "Piggy" Muldoon was a dictatorial Prime Minister who nearly destroyed both New Zealand's economy and New Zealand society through his arrogance. To those, known as "Rob's Mob", who revered him, he represented an icon of the New Zealand national character, a supporter of the "ordinary bloke" (his own description of himself) and an international statesman.
Curiously, he also became patron of the Black Power gang for whom he had created work schemes and advised on the better treatment of women and children associated with the gang.[15] Members paid him solemn respect by performing two haka during his funeral in 1992.
Historians like Gustafson and Brian Easton criticise Muldoon because, according to them, he pursued an ultimately unsustainable line of policy.[16][12]
Some argue that he was responsible for much of the pain caused by the free-market reforms of 1984–1993, because by holding on for as long as he did he forced the inevitable reforms to be implemented with unusual speed and severity. However, this view is not universal, and many also argue that the free market reformers of the 1980s and 1990s used Muldoon as an excuse to embark on radical ideological programs.
Muldoon famously declared upon becoming Prime Minister that he hoped to leave New Zealand "no worse off than I found it". He dominated New Zealand politics for over a decade, and still influences the conduct of government today[update]. Gustafson gives him the following epitaph: "By 1992 New Zealand had not become what Muldoon or many other New Zealanders wanted it to be but he was not prepared to take the blame for that. Muldoon died unrepentant and still convinced that his way, even if never perfect, had been a better way."
In 1951 Muldoon married Thea Dale Flyger, by whom he would have three children, and who survives him. Lady Muldoon was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1993) and awarded the Queen's Service Order[17] on Muldoon leaving office.
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bob Tizard |
Member of Parliament for Tamaki 1960–1991 |
Succeeded by Clem Simich |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Harry Lake |
Minister of Finance 1967–1972 |
Succeeded by Bill Rowling |
| Preceded by Jack Marshall |
Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand 1972 |
Succeeded by Hugh Watt |
| Leader of the Opposition 1974–1975 |
Succeeded by Bill Rowling |
|
| Preceded by Bill Rowling |
Prime Minister of New Zealand 1975–1984 |
Succeeded by David Lange |
| Preceded by Bob Tizard |
Minister of Finance 1975–1984 |
Succeeded by Roger Douglas |
| Preceded by David Lange |
Leader of the Opposition 1984 |
Succeeded by Jim McLay |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jack Marshall |
Leader of the National Party 1974–1984 |
Succeeded by Jim McLay |
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