New Zealand Listener – August 10, 2019

AUGUST 10 2019 LISTENER 51

Zealanders visited the Centen-
nial Exhibition, they ogled
at the 37,000 lights display-
ing the wonder of electricity.
New Zealanders at that time
believed wholeheartedly in
material progress.
This was understandable.
In the previous 20 years, their
lives had been transformed

by electricity, yes, but also the

automobile, the refrigerator,

the telephone, the radio, not

to mention aircraft. The suf-

ferings of the Depression had

made the material comforts

of modern life more valued.

Yet there was an unresolved

tension in the New Zealand

value system. New Zealanders

also firmly believed that their

country was “the most beauti-

ful in the world” and there was

pride in our distinctive trees,

birds and alpine scenery.

There were a few, such as

members of Forest & Bird, or

isolated intellectuals such as

future Listener editor Monte

Holcroft, who pointed out

January 1, 1973. The drift away from Britain had begun during
World War II, but this was when the Mother Country really cut
the apron strings and – economically, culturally – we suffered.
In 1940, when we were “Britain’s farm”, 87% of our exports went
“home”. By the end of the century, it was a mere 6%, and we had
learnt the hard way that we were a South Pacific nation, not an
island off the Kent coast. Not that we should have been surprised.
Britain had flagged its intentions a decade before, and even after
1973, we had years of grace before full European Economic Com-
munity (EEC) regulations kicked in. In 1970, the Listener reported
concerns from government advisers that we could lose $150 million of dairy income overnight,
and a correspondent in London pointed out “the Common Market needs New Zealand butter
like a dose of cholera”. “It really kicked New Zealanders in the guts,” said historian David Thom-
son. In the end, diversification came hard and late in the form of Rogernomics.

November 28, 1979. The nation spent its longest night waiting for news of its worst disaster
when Air New Zealand Flight 901 slammed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica. All 257 passengers
and crew were killed. Until then, Air New Zealand had been as much an institution as an airline.
But a 1981 inquiry headed by Justice Peter Mahon blamed the airline for effectively aiming
the aircraft straight at the mountain by changing the route on the plane’s computer without
telling the pilots. He accused the company of trying to hide its blunder with an “orchestrated
litany of lies”. The phrase now lies deep in the national consciousness. Mahon himself became
a further casualty. His findings were criticised by appeal courts and denounced by Prime Minis-
ter Robert Muldoon. He resigned as a High Court judge soon afterwards and died in 1986.

March 4, 1985. Critics and defend-

ers identify the floating of the

dollar as having the greatest

impact of any Rogernomics

policy. No longer was the value

rigidly fixed to another currency,

but found its own level, reflecting

those who wanted to buy or sell

it. It was a logical consequence of

the 1971 Smithsonian Agreement

that ended the world’s fixed rate

regime, but a totally free-floating

policy (reversed in March 2004)

was unusual. The dollar floated

up, to the joy of consumers

(who got cheaper imports) and

the financial sector (who liked a

“strong” dollar). But it devastated

the export sector, business and

jobs were depressed and per

capita economic output fell for

six successive years. As Finance

Minister from 1984-88, Roger

Douglas (above)

began disman-

tling the welfare

state – a policy

continued by

Ruth Richardson

• as subsidies
  were elimi-
  nated, import
  duties reduced
  and state
  assets sold.

Mt Erebus plane crash

Britain joins the EEC

Freeing the dollar

Our enthusiasm

for material

progress

contradicted

our worship

of the “scenic

wonderland of

the Pacific”.

New Zealand: set adrift.

NEW

SPI

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AG
ES