Jim Bolger

Bolger entered politics in 1972 as the New Zealand National Party Member of Parliament for King Country, a newly created electorate in the rural western portion of North Island. This electorate is traditional National territory, and Bolger won easily.[6] He represented this electorate, renamed Taranaki-King Country in 1996, until his retirement in 1998. In 1974 he was appointed National's spokesperson for Rural Affairs by incoming leader Robert Muldoon.[7]

At the formation of the Third National Government in 1975 Bolger was designated as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and to Minister of Maori Affairs.[8] In 1977, Muldoon promoted him to Cabinet, first as Minister of Fisheries and Associate Minister of Agriculture. Following the 1978 election, he became Minister of Labour and Minister of Immigration.[9]

In late 1980 Bolger was a leading member of 'the Colonels' (alongside Derek Quigley, Jim McLay and George Gair) who attempted to dump Muldoon as leader and put the party back into line with traditional National Party policies after feeling they were being abandoned.[3][10] In what became known as the Colonels' Coup. The agitators intended to replace Muldoon with his deputy, Brian Talboys, who was more economically liberal and in tune with traditional National Party philosophy than Muldoon. The Colonels waited until Muldoon was out of the country before moving against him. However, Talboys was reluctant to openly challenge and the scheme failed with Muldoon reaffirming control after he returned to remain leader.[11]

After the defeat of National at the 1984 general elections Bolger remained on the frontbench as Shadow Minister of Labour and Employment.[12] Both he and deputy leader Jim McLay challenged Muldoon for the leadership of the party. McLay succeeded but Bolger was elected as deputy leader (and hence Deputy Leader of the Opposition).[13] McLay also designated Bolger Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry before switching him to Shadow Minister of Agriculture.[14][15] In December 1985 he attempted an abortive leadership coup against McLay.[16]

In 1986 Bolger successfully challenged McLay's leadership.[16] Initially Bolger pursued a pro law and order approach, with a focus on critiquing Labour's perceived reluctance to combat "lawlessness" and offering a referendum on the reintroduction of capital punishment.[17] Following an unsuccessful election in 1987, National under Bolger capitalised on public anger at the Labour government's highly unpopular economic policies to win National's biggest ever majority (and by extension the largest in New Zealand history) at the 1990 general election. Bolger became Prime Minister at age 55.[18]

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.[19] 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".[20] Bolger's Finance Minister, Ruth Richardson, implemented drastic cuts in public spending, particularly in health and welfare. The unemployment benefit was cut by $14.00 a week, sickness benefit by $27.04, families benefit by $25.00 to $27.00 and universal payments for family benefits were completely abolished.[21] Richardson also introduced many user pays requirements in hospitals and schools, services previously free to the populace and paid for by the government.[22] The first budget specifically reversed National's election promise to remove the tax surcharge on superannuation and the retention of promises to abolish tertiary fees.[20]

Another major controversial piece of legislation was the 1991 Employment Contracts Act which effectively dismantled the industrial relations settlement that had persisted since 1894. Immediate effects of this law change saw union membership fall dramatically in the decade following its passage.[23] His government also introduced the Building Act 1991, which is seen by some as a crucial factor leading to New Zealand's later leaky homes crisis.[24]

Bolger opposed electoral reform,[18] 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 alongside 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,[18] but retreated from this in the face of support for electoral reform.[25]

At the 1993 election, National narrowly retain government, owing partly to a slight economic recovery and his opposition being split between three competing parties; Bolger himself expected a comfortable election win, exclaiming "bugger the pollsters" upon the election result. National's unprecedented eighteen-seat majority had virtually disappeared and the country faced an election night hung parliament for the first time since 1931, with National one seat short of the required 50 seats to govern. Final special votes counted over the following days revealed National had retained Waitaki which it had lost on election night together with holding Wellington Central the only electorate National had won from Labour. This allowed it to form a government with the majority of one seat but required the election of a Speaker from the opposition benches (Peter Tapsell of the Labour Party) to hold a working majority in the House.

Following this election result Bolger expressed the need to work with other political parties and decided to demote Richardson from her post, appointing Bill Birch who was seen as more moderate. During Birch's tenure, spending on core areas such as health[26] and education increased. His government passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994. During the 1994 Address-in-Reply debate, Bolger argued in favour of a New Zealand republic, but denied that his views related to his Irish heritage.[27]

In April 1995 the Cave Creek disaster gained public attention after a scenic viewing platform collapsed, killing fourteen people. The platform had been erected by the Department of Conservation (DOC) in 1994 and later inquiries found that many of those who constructed it did not have prerequisite qualifications for building the platform. Despite DOC taking responsibility for its collapse, there would be no prosecutions (as the Crown is unable to prosecute itself) but $2.6 million worth of compensation was paid to the victims' families. Bolger initially attacked the report produced by the Commission of Inquiry, arguing that the platform failed "essentially because it lacked about $20 worth of bolts to hold it together". The Minister of Conservation, Denis Marshall, was criticised in the media for his management of the department. Many people blamed Marshall, although there was also wide criticism of the whole government's policies on management of the conservation estate. Marshall eventually resigned in May 1996, just over a year after the accident occurred. A new Minister, Nick Smith, was appointed, and a full review of the department was conducted by the State Services Commission.

Bolger's second term would also see France resume nuclear testing on Moruroa, prompting swift condemnation from New Zealand and other Pacific nations. Bolger vocally supported anti-nuclear protests by New Zealand yachters. His government dispatched HMNZS Tui to provide support for the flotilla.

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."[28] With the new MMP environment some National Party MPs defected to a new grouping, United New Zealand in mid-1995, whilst other splinter parties emerged.

The 1996 election saw New Zealand First, led by Winston Peters, holding the balance of power after the 1996 election. 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 by Winston Peters, a former minister under Bolger. Neither party could govern without the support of New Zealand First, leaving Peters in a position where he could effectively choose the next prime minister.

Ultimately, in December 1996, 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. The latter post was created specifically for Peters, and was senior to the existing post of Minister of Finance, which was retained by Birch.

Jenny Shipley mounted a coup against Bolger in December 1997

Growing opposition to Bolger's slow pace and perceived exaggerated influence of New Zealand First 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.[29]

Bolger remains National's third-longest-serving leader. Retiring political 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."[30]