9 posts tagged “robert muldoon”

[Cross-posted] In January 2006, I predicted petrol would hit NZ$2 per litre but attributed it more to the Labour Government’s mishandling of New Zealand currency rather than oil prices. Now that the price has come to pass—consider that when I made it, $1·40 per litre was unheard of—I am surprised that no one in the mainstream media or even politics has brought up the parallels with the 1970s and New Zealand’s solution to the fuel crises.
   It seems a very obvious thing to bring up, so I have to question what people are afraid of.
   Responding to the volatility of international fuel prices, the Muldoon administration of 1975–84 embarked on energy projects in an effort to make New Zealand less vulunerable. The various Synfuel projects and energy exploration resulted in an era where New Zealanders drove around in natural gas vehicles, and we even produced our own petrol after converting it from gas.
   By the late 1970s, the New Zealand Government was subsidizing gas conversions and certainly by the early 1980s, many (most?) petrol stations offered compressed natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas alongside petrol and diesel. It was just considered normal.
   New Zealand was saving its foreign exchange and people were driving environmentally friendly cars.
   In 1984, the right-wing policies of the Labour Government saw most state assets relating to the venture sold off to corporations and Muldoon’s venture was passed off as a folly by the new administration, the technocrats of the Business Roundtable and, shockingly, by the National Party itself as it changed leaders.
   Even a bid to market LPG as an environmentally friendly fuel in the 1990s could not save it as the National Government taxed it tremendously—something that was clearly not done in the national interest.
   The winners of the destruction of this energy venture were the corporations, predominantly foreign-owned, buying in to outmoded, socially irresponsible technocratic thinking that has brought a widening rich–poor gap.
   That gap can only increase today with the cost of petrol, now refined offshore and imported by those same corporations, spiralling out of control.
   There’s not a peep from National, now in opposition, to say that it had been right in the 1970s as the only party prepared to shield a little country, so easily swayed by global economic forces, from oil company greed.
   The only logical and cynical conclusion is that National are as big a sell-out of New Zealanders as Labour and Roger Douglas were in the 1980s. And that they are suckers for monetarist theory, all the time closing their minds to the mere possibility that Muldoon—whose policies were adored by successful national leaders such as Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, who did all right with them—might have been right.
   It’s election year—and National’s John Key is silent. Again.
   There’s a lot Sir Robert Muldoon got wrong but on the alternative-energy policies, I can’t find too much fault.
   First, New Zealand is a little country that is too drastically affected by global economics. Even Malaysia in 1997 could not protect itself properly against them. Hence, the technocratic, monetarist movement cannot be left unguarded.
   Secondly, energy prices are unstable and New Zealanders need to be protected against them.
   Thirdly, environmental policies demand that we look at alternative fuels.
   Fourthly, this is something that needs a governmental push to ensure alternatives are available nationwide, or at least somehow create incentives for the infrastructure.
   Faced with these basic facts, the development of our own energy sources for the long term seemed to be the only way forward.
   Sure it was cumbersome and expensive to develop, and there were missteps along the way, but where would we be today? Certainly not paying $2 a litre.
   Little did Sir Robert foresee that it would be so gleefully dismantled by his successors—with the same arguments of efficiency so cleverly used by the technocrats of the Slater Walker era in the United Kingdom.
   In spite of all the English expats here, we bought the arguments hook, line and sinker.
   One would have hoped that today, we would remain shielded from these energy crises offshore, with our fleet of natural gas-powered cars. That we would be leading the world in showing how alternative fuels worked, and foreign countries would be coming to us to license our technology.
   We gave up that lead, that advantage, in 1996 to follow the American example of gas guzzlers and SUVs.
   The General Election is mere months away, this is the hottest issue on the book, and no one dares bring up Muldoon. It’s because no one dares offend a few rich bastards making money off working New Zealanders by bringing up a leader who dared stand up to foreign corporate interests.

Some more photos to share from around Wellington, New Zealand, and to show it’s not always sunny!

   This is actually Chews Lane but I thought it was strange seeing a second sign, on the opposite side, reading Tow Away Lane—but in the style of a regular street-name sign. Hence the filename Odd Name for a Street. Across the road is the local HQ for the Fairfax Press.    A lot of cities have fleets of so-called “green cabs” and Wellington is no exception. There are these ugly little eggs running around called Toyota Priuses, which may have looked good for about, ooh, one Oscar telecast’s arrivals. After that, they got pretentious.
   This one has the licence plate 0 SMOG. But it’s a hybrid, so when the petrol engine is in play, it does generate something out of the exhaust, surely? I know we have unleaded fuel and catalytic converters, but from what little I know of emissions this still generates more pollution than the regular Ford Falcon LPG cabs that run around Wellington—which, technically, should have this plate. If Wellington’s main taxi company is clever, it can tell us how many LPG Falcons it has running and compare the quantity to the fleet of these Green Cabs.
   I think Green Cabs is doing a good thing, generally, and certainly a Prius’s interior room is sufficient for most journeys, but I can remember the 1980s when most cabs here ran on natural gas, be they Holdens or Fords, and generated far less pollution than modern cars. We have, of course, the National Government of the 1990s to thank for their demise, and the Labour Government to continue its “rival’s” (ha ha) folly.    People my age will remember the Trades’ Hall and how it was the site of a bombing in the mid-1980s. Caretaker Ernie Abbott was the victim of the after-hours blast. I don’t think it was ever solved and I wonder if it qualifies as our first terrorist bombing.
   Trevor Loudon shares some theories on his blog but he admits they are hearsay. He refutes the rumour that it was a right-wing group and instead points to Marxists and various pro-Soviet groups committed to unseating the Muldoon Government. The irony is that the Labour Government that followed proved more anti-union and right-wing than they might have expected. One commenter on Mr Loudon’s blog wrote, ‘If your theory is true Trevor then the irony of the outcome was classic. They got a Labour Government alright, but it contained good’uns like Douglas, Prebble, Bassett, De Cleene, Caygill & Moore.’
   However, Loudon is also right in responding, ‘True Spirit, but the Soviets also got NZ's anti nuclear policies and the destruction of ANZUS. Which do you think the Soviets cared about most?’
   Whatever the case, we began losing a lot of our values and the integrity of our national system that decade, after the change in government. We can trace the growing gap between rich and poor right back to 1984, when we moved from a reasonably egalitarian and fair society to one which has an underclass and domination by foreign corporations.

George W. Bush’s first car was a Triumph. So was mine. Come to think of it, my mother’s first car was a Triumph, too—I sort of wound up with hers when I started driving and she bought another car. Dad bought a Triumph as his first car in New Zealand, but it wasn’t his first in his lifetime.
   Unless you count toy cars, in which case my first was a Chevy, my second was … you guessed it, a Triumph.
   Rob Muldoon used to drive his Triumph 2500S to work when he was Prime Minister (who needs chauffeurs? Get your lazy butts out of the LTDs!).
   A great brand, now owned by BMW, and unlikely to see the light of day again. Shame, really. I still would be happy to get a nice Dolomite Sprint.

During a visit by then-PM Robert Muldoon at New Zealand House, the following were present, as noted in one of his memoirs:

British prime ministers Callaghan, Wilson, Heath and MacMillan
Governors-General Porritt, Ballantrae, Cobham
The son of former Governor-General Freyberg
Gordon Jackson

   Spot the odd one out. Gordon Jackson, the actor.
   Perhaps he was doing research for his role as the head of CI5 in The Professionals? He always did seem rather chummy with the Home Secretary in the series, and it was mentioned that the PM thought highly of him.

‘[S]urely it is a political philosophy to like what one sees of life in this country and to devote oneself to preserving and enhancing all that is good in our multi-cultural heritage, and to combating those influences which would seek to alter or destroy it. It is not necessary to be an obtrusive conservationalist or an obtrusive egalitarian or an obtrusive devotee of a simple lifestyle. It is enough to be a typical New Zealander, because by and large he is all of these, though unobtrustively.’—Rt Hon Robert Muldoon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1977*

* R. D. Muldoon: Muldoon. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed 1977, p. 97.

From Muldoon by Muldoon, the political memoir written by the then-in-office Prime Minister of New Zealand:

The National Party has always been a mass membership Party, and although when we are in Government many of our good people become disgruntled and leave us, either in terms of Party membership or of voting at election time, when we are in Opposition they come back very quickly because they believe that even with all our faults we best epitomise what is most desirable in the New Zealand way of life.

   While the book is still current on many issues, this quote surely is one to which we can say, ‘How times have changed.’
   Squeaky and Head Prefect, I mean, the Leader of the Opposition, John Key and his deputy, Bill English, would kill to have that perception in 2008.
   Right now, it looks very élitist and male.

Again, only the Greens seem to be raising a stink in Parliament (National is silent) about the new BMW limousines on order for governmental use.
   As co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons pointed out, the new BMW 730Lds on order from the Bavarian automaker contravenes even the government’s own directives for fuel economy.
   The cars, at least based on list prices, are essentially twice the price of the Ford Fairlanes they are succeeding. The government’s defence, that the Fairlanes will be deleted from Ford Australia’s range, falls on deaf ears, since the rival Holden Statesman is still being made, and sold at a comparable price.
   The Dog & Lemon Guide has warned that maintaining the cars will be pricey, too.
   I happen to agree with the opinions of both Ms Fitzsimons and the Guide’s editor, Clive Matthew-Wilson. These cars will send the wrong message: that politicians are somehow above the rest of us (consider who normally buys 7-series BMWs). Additionally, the cars are a bad choice environmentally—contravening the country’s green image.
   We know that this Labour Government and the opposition National Party both think they are above the rest of us and that they have no trouble with hypocrisy.
   I predict that what might happen is that everyday motorists will block these BMW limousines out of a sense of injustice.
   I still remember the days when Prime Minister Robert Muldoon drove his own Triumph 2500S to work and got stuck in traffic like the rest of us.
   Security might deem that unsafe but as the Irish newspaper points out today, even Ms Fitzsimons drives to work in her own 1·3-litre car.
   There has to be a happy medium, maybe having a diplomatic protection police officer accompany the PM if she wishes to drive to work.
   This is spending at a time when we should be more prudent with taxpayer funds, especially in upcoming years.
   While Mr Matthew-Wilson believes a Toyota Crown or Lexus would be a better bet, I was remarking to myself how the diesel Škoda Superb would be quite good today.
   The Superb is one of the most economical diesels I have tested and the legroom—more than an old Mercedes-Benz S-class—is more than suitable for our MPs.
   I have wondered why even taxi fleets have shied away from the Czech-built car here as it affords far more comfort than the Toyota Camry that is fast becoming the choice of cabbies in Wellington.
   And at NZ$59,990 for the current model (to be replaced next year), it makes infinitely more sense than the BMW.
   If the Superb is good enough for the President of the Czech Republic, it is more than enough for our ministers—which reveals that the decision to go with BMW could not have been motivated by proper policy considerations. Something is rotten in Denmark, but we’ve known that for years.
   Choosing a long-wheelbase BMW at this point makes us look more like Red China—oh, hang on—maybe that is the message.
   What a pity National is not taking the opportunity to use this against Labour—again John Key has not been able to see the massive bullseye target painted on the Internal Affairs’ Minister.

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of New Zealand’s decimalization day. And I think we all agree, given how incapable our kids are of doing sums in their heads, that it is better that there are not 20 shillings to a pound and 12 pence to a shilling, and that a half-crown was two and six.
   Still, not a mention of Finance Minister Robert Muldoon, whose triumph this was, in the telecasts I saw. I take it that the media continue to hate the man here, or misunderstand the role of such figures in our history. This is such a young nation.

[Cross-posted] An excellent episode of Good Morning today, as we had Capt Ian Bradley (retired) of the Royal New Zealand Navy join Barry, Paul and me, as we broadcasted outside. He is a fan of our ‘You’ve Got Male’ segment and was so happy to be with us. We enjoyed his yarns hugely, too.
   For those wondering, Ian is Sarah Bradley’s father, and he has written an autobiography, which I will write about over the weekend. I saluted when I met him off-set.
   For those watching online, fast-forward to 1.07 in the show, as we were on after the news again.
   As it was a Father’s Day special, Ian played a huge part in the show, and even cooked in place of our chef. I managed to get in a pro-Robert Muldoon quip, which must have been the first one uttered on New Zealand television since decimal currency was introduced here in 1967, and remarked that the best way to run Wellington was to conduct a séance with a former mayor—a joke that didn’t seem to get much reaction. Watch it for Ian’s stories today: they make Barry’s, Paul’s and mine pale in comparison.