Sir Roger Douglas, former Labour Finance Minister and co-founder of the Act Party, is unimpressed with modern politics.
“Look at the last 20 years, you tell me anyone, any government that’s done anything,” he says.
Douglas, now 86, probably has more right than most to make that claim, having been the key driver of an economic revolution in his four years as Finance Minister, from 1984 to 1988.
To many Kiwis it was a revolution that saved the country from bankruptcy, pulling it out of a spiral of debt and depression.
But others see the reforms - “Rogernomics”, they were dubbed - as a right-wing coup which sought to dismantle the welfare state.
Actually, Douglas wouldn’t argue with the second part of that statement.
He still advocates what some would describe as radical reform of the welfare system.
But Douglas says that back in the 80s, there was never a grand plan that he and his Labour colleagues were following.
“I think it was more organic,” he tells the Money Talks podcast. “We were faced with a problem, we needed to fix it. Had I been tribal in the sense of Labour right or wrong, I don’t think we would have necessarily done it.”
So where did the term Rogernomics come from? He laughs: “From one of you guys! The media.”
Originally Posted by Logen Ninefingers
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