Jim Bolger

The Right Honourable Jim Bolger ONZ
Bolger at a foundation of KiwiRail press conference, July 2008
35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 2 November 1990 – 8 December 1997
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Don McKinnon (1990–96) Winston Peters (1996–97)
Governor-General	Paul Reeves Catherine Tizard Michael Hardie Boys
Preceded by	Mike Moore
Succeeded by	Jenny Shipley
25th Leader of the Opposition
In office 26 March 1986 – 2 November 1990
Deputy	George Gair
Preceded by	Jim McLay
Succeeded by	Mike Moore
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for King Country Taranaki-King Country (1996–1998)
In office 1972–1998
Succeeded by	Shane Ardern
Personal details
Born	James Brendan Bolger (1935-05-31) 31 May 1935 Opunake, Taranaki, New Zealand
Political party	National
Spouse(s)	Joan Maureen Riddell (m. 1963)
Children	9
Parents	Daniel Bolger Cecilia Doyle
Profession	Politician, businessman

This article is part of a series about Jim Bolger
Early life MP for King Country Electoral history Leader of the National Party 1986 leadership election Leader of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet Prime Minister Fourth National Government Ruthanasia Mother of all Budgets Sealord deal 1993 MMP referendum Tainui settlement General elections 1990 1993 1996

James Brendan Bolger ONZ PC (/ˈbʌldʒər/ BUL-jər; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand politician of the National Party who was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997.

Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Opunake, Taranaki. Before entering politics, he farmed in the Waikato and was involved in Federated Farmers, a nationwide agricultural association. Bolger won election to Parliament in 1972, and subsequently served in several portfolios in the Third National Government. Following one unsuccessful bid for the party leadership in 1984, Bolger was elected as National Party leader in 1986. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1986 to 1990.

Bolger led the National Party to a landslide victory—the largest in its history—in the 1990 election, allowing him to become Prime Minister on 2 November 1990. The Fourth National Government was elected on the promise of delivering a "Decent Society" following the previous Labour government's economic reforms, known as Rogernomics. However, shortly after taking office, his government was forced to bail out the Bank of New Zealand and as a result reneged on a number of promises made during the election campaign. Bolger's government essentially advanced the free-market reforms of the previous government, while implementing drastic cuts in public spending. National retained power in the 1993 election, albeit with a much-reduced majority.

Bolger's second term in office saw the introduction of the MMP electoral system in 1996. In the subsequent 1996 election National emerged as the largest party but it was forced to enter into a coalition with New Zealand First. Bolger continued as Prime Minister, however his critics argued that he gave the inexperienced NZ First too much influence in his Cabinet. On 8 December 1997, Bolger was effectively ousted as leader by his party caucus, and was replaced as Prime Minister by Jenny Shipley.

After resigning as a Member of Parliament in 1998, Bolger became Ambassador to the United States and remained in this post until 2002.

Early life

Bolger was born in 1935 in Opunake in Taranaki. He was born into an Irish Catholic family; Bolger was one of five children^[1] born to Daniel and Cecilia (née Doyle) Bolger^[2] who emigrated together from Gorey, County Wexford, in 1930. He left Opunake High School at age 15 to work on the family dairy farm.^[3]

In 1963 he married Joan Riddell, and they moved to their own sheep and beef farm in Te Kuiti two years later.^[1] During this time Bolger became involved in local farmer politics. In the late 1960s he was asked to accompany the then Minister of Finance Robert Muldoon to see for himself the difficulties faced by farmers in the area. As Bolger travelled around the district, he became experienced with Muldoon's adversarial style.^[1]

Political career

Prime Minister

Main article: Fourth National Government of New Zealand

Bolger in 1992

Three days after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Bolger's government needed to bail out the Bank of New Zealand, then the largest bank in the country. The cost of the bail out was $380 million, but after rewriting its budget, the government needed to borrow $740 million.^[7] This had an immediate impact on Bolger's direction in government, with the first budget of his premiership being dubbed the "Mother of All Budgets".^[8] Bolger's Finance Minister, Ruth Richardson, implemented drastic cuts in public spending, particularly in health and welfare. The first budget specifically reversed National's election promise to remove the tax surcharge on superannuation.^[8]

The economic reforms, dubbed "Ruthanasia", proved massively unpopular with National's traditional voter base. As a result, the government came extremely close to losing the 1993 general election. Following the close of the election Bolger demoted Richardson to the back benches and appointed Bill Birch, who was seen as more moderate. During Birch's tenure, spending on core areas such as health^[9] and education increased. His government passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994. His government also introduced the Building Act 1991, which is seen by some as the most crucial factor leading to the leaky homes crisis in the decade following its introduction.^[10] Bolger's government passed the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Act 1992. In 1993, Bolger was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.^[11] During the 1994 Address-in-Reply debate, Bolger argued in favour of a New Zealand republic. Bolger denied that his views related to his Irish heritage.^[12]

Proposals to end the status of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the country's highest court of appeal failed to gain parliamentary sanction during Bolger's premiership (however Helen Clark's Fifth Labour Government would replace the right of appeal in 2003 when it set up the Supreme Court of New Zealand). Bolger's government ended the awarding of British honours in 1996, introducing a New Zealand Honours System. At a conference on the "Bolger years" in 2007, Bolger recalled speaking to the Queen about the issue of New Zealand becoming a republic: "I have more than once spoken with Her Majesty about my view that New Zealand would at some point elect its own Head of State, we discussed the matter in a most sensible way and she was in no way surprised or alarmed and neither did she cut my head off."^[13]

Electoral reform and MMP politics

Bolger opposed electoral reform,^[6] but despite his party's opposition held a referendum on whether or not New Zealand should change from the British-style electoral system of 'first past the post' to one of proportional representation. In 1992, New Zealanders voted to change to the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. This was confirmed in a binding referendum held at the same time as the 1993 general election, which National won. Bolger had originally proposed a return to a bicameral system, with a Senate elected by Single Transferable Vote,^[6] but this proposal was dropped in the face of support for electoral reform.

In 1996 New Zealand had its first election under MMP. Bolger's government stayed in office in a caretaker role while negotiations began for a coalition government. Although National remained the largest single party, neither Bolger nor Labour leader Helen Clark could form a government on their own. The balance of power in the new House rested with New Zealand First, a party that had only been formed three years earlier. Its leader, Winston Peters, had left the National Party to form his own party, and opposed many of the free-market reforms implemented by National, and Labour before it.

Ultimately, in December, Peters decided to go into coalition with National. Bolger had to pay a very high price in order to stay in power, however. As part of a detailed coalition agreement, Peters became Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer (senior to the existing post of Finance Minister, which was retained by Birch). Although Bolger had previously sacked Peters from a National cabinet, the two initially seemed to work well together.

Resignation

Jenny Shipley mounted a coup against Bolger in December 1997

Growing opposition to Bolger's slow pace led Transport Minister Jenny Shipley to stage a caucus room coup in 1997. Bolger was out of the country at the time, and when he returned he found that he did not have enough support in his caucus to remain as party leader and prime minister. Rather than face being voted out, he resigned on 8 December, and Shipley became New Zealand's first woman prime minister. As a concession, Bolger was made a junior minister in Shipley's government.^[14]

Bolger remains National's second-longest-serving leader. Retiring politician journalist Peter Luke said that Bolger was "[t]he most under-estimated prime minister I have come across. He made up for his lack of education by having an innate ability to relate to the aspirations of ordinary Kiwis. And, as many civil servants discovered to their cost, his image of being a simple King Country farmer did not mean that he would not understand their reports and unfailingly point to the flaws in them."^[15]

Life after politics

Bolger presides over a student's graduation at the University of Waikato, 2008

Bolger retired as MP for Taranaki-King Country in 1998, prompting the 1998 by-election and subsequently became New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States.^[14] On his return to New Zealand in 2001, he was appointed Chairman of the state-owned New Zealand Post and of its subsidiary Kiwibank. He also chairs Express Couriers Ltd, Trustees Executors Ltd, the Gas Industry Company Ltd, the Advisory Board of the World Agricultural Forum, St. Louis, USA, the New Zealand United States Council, and the Board of Directors of the Ian Axford Fellowships in Public Policy.^[14]

Bolger became a member of the Order of New Zealand in December 1997.^[16] Bolger was elected Chancellor of the University of Waikato on 14 February 2007, succeeding John Jackman.^[17]

On 1 July 2008, almost 15 years after his National government sold New Zealand Rail Ltd, the Labour-led government repurchased its successor Toll NZ Ltd (less its Tranz Link trucking and distribution arm), having repurchased the track network in 2003. Bolger became chair of the company, renamed KiwiRail, a position he held until 1 July 2010. Some people, including Winston Peters, view this as hypocritical. In response, Bolger acknowledged his involvement in privatising New Zealand Rail, remarking that "my life is full of ironies."^[18]

On 5 June 2018 Bolger was announced as the head of a government employment working group, tasked with reporting back with a review on the design of Fair Pay Agreements by the end of the year.^[19]

Personal life

Bolger and his wife Joan are Roman Catholics. The couple has nine children. Bolger voted pro-life whenever the issue came up in a parliamentary conscience vote. He is a member of Collegium International.^[20]

Some have made reference to Jim Bolger – ironically or affectionately – as the "Great Helmsman".^[21][22]

See also

• Electoral history of Jim Bolger

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jim Bolger.

• Prime Minister’s Office Biography