Entry 208, on 2005-08-15 at 15:39:14 (Rating 2, News)
In this age of political correctness and spin its nice to reflect on a true character in New Zealand politics, who had genuine wit, and morals which went beyond the dullness we see today. I'm talking about David Lange, of course, the ex prime minister who lead the country through the traumatic years of 1984 to 1989, and who died recently. But did he really lead us? Maybe not, but he was the theoretical leader of the Labour government - even if the real control was coming from "behind the scenes."
In 1984 we are told New Zealand was in serious economic trouble and modernisation of our economy was essential. How bad things really were is debatable, but for the next 15 years New Zealand was going to follow the free market, privatisation, laissez-faire agenda to an extent beyond most other countries. Only in the last 5 years has New Zealand politics returned to a more centrist form, and we seem to be doing much better - whether its because we now have a moderate center-left government, or because of the new right politics of the past, who knows?
Maybe Lange wasn't really interested in economics, but figures such as Roger Douglas ensured the ideology was followed as much as possible. It was only resistance by Lange later on that saved us from the full force of this change. This conflict eventually lead to his early departure from politics.
So, the economic changes of the 80s will be a major part of our memory of his contribution, but another would be how he introduced our anti-nuclear policy, which still prevents US war ships visiting. This was quite a courageous stand, and showed New Zealand did hold principles above profits in some fields, at least.
So we don't really have anyone quite as intelligent and witty as Lange in politics here now. Listening to political debates without his irreverent, self-deprecating wit isn't really quite the same.
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