Sir Roger Douglas
Auckland, December 17, 2024
Forty years ago (on December 17, 1984) the Labour Party, under the leadership of David Lange was elected into government.
I became the new government’s Minister of Finance, only to find that the country was nearly bankrupt, with its banks closed.
We were able to fix the problems that the country faced because we were big enough to put politics aside and implement the policies required to do so.
On 17th December 2024, I listened to the Parliamentary debate on the mess (real) the country faces and read some of the Treasury material that the government released.
No long-term policies
As I did so, it became absolutely clear to me that the present National Party-led government (National, Act, NZ First) was not up to the difficult job that they faced. They are clearly not prepared to put in place the long-term quality policies required of them. They may well be better than the Left, but only marginally so, so does it really matter.
Our problems have been 50 years in the making, National started us down the wrong road and show no sign of realising what they have done.
While Act may be better than the other parties in the New Zealand Parliament on most issues, it does not matter when you are the best on those issues when you are sending New Zealand bankrupt.
NZ First – and I never thought I would say it, are showing more understanding of the issues involved than anyone else, or is it limited to Shane Jones?
Current policies are robbing young people of their future, they should revolt. They should stop listening to the left who deliberately designed policies to make them dependent on the government and start a new Party of their own.
The mess of Welfare Reforms
They would be surprised how much support they would get from their grandparents like me (87) two weeks ago.
Welfare Reform 2025 and Beyond- and the mess that New Zealand finds itself in.
The Welfare reform that we require to solve the mess requires a detailed understanding of how we got into that mess, in the first place.
Treasury’s long-term projections from 2021 to 2061 spell out the mess we are in and what is driving it.
Sir Roger Douglas served as a Labour Member of Parliament from 1969 to 1990. During his tenure as Minister of Finance from 1984 to 1988, he implemented significant economic reforms, including floating the New Zealand dollar, introducing corporate practices to state services, selling off state assets, and removing various regulations and subsidies. In 1993, Sir Roger Douglas co-founded the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT), which later became the ACT Party. He continued to influence New Zealand’s political landscape through his advocacy for free-market policies and fiscal responsibility. His contributions to New Zealand’s economic policy have left a lasting impact, and he remains a significant figure in the country’s political history.
