NZ: From Post-Dominion to Global Player (1968-1990)

NZ: From Post-Dominion to Global Player

NZ: From Post-Dominion to Global Player

Miles Hayvice

Copyright 2014 by Miles Hayvice

Smashwords Edition

Introduction

This is the first instalment of a two-part miniseries focusing on modern New Zealand. This period covers the years 1968 to 1990, whilst the second book examines the years 1991 to 2012.

The forty-four years from 1968 to 2012 have involved some of New Zealand’s most important economic, political and social changes, which irrevocably altered the dynamic of the country, and will further influence developments into the 2010s and beyond. This was a period of monumental division, redesign and re-definition of the Shaky Isles, which would result in a new identity and way-of-life. Never before, in its 130-170-year history, and possibly never again would New Zealand experience such upheaval, questioning of its identity, its economic, societal and political norms than from 1968 to the Millennium and beyond. The shaping of a nation and creation of its identity almost always occurs in times of stress and upheaval, as has been the case with America, France and many other countries; In 1972 twenty of the previous twenty-three years’ conservative National Party rule was terminated with the election of the NZ Labour Party, coinciding with the election of the Australian Labor Party, albeit lasting only three years. This was another common aspect of New Zealand-Australian politics - same-party rule simultaneously in each country since the early twentieth-century, not to be broken until the 1990s. Norman Kirk, the new Labour Prime Minister was to have a sweeping social and political agenda which was not to be realised, and New Zealand progressed more by its social, people and community revolution than its government could ever expect to achieve. Despite a fever for change, brought on by the late sixties hippie and social revolution, New Zealand was not ready for mass hysteria such as occurred in the US and Europe, and there was simply a disenchantment with a new Labour government that promised change, too much change, didn’t deliver and couldn’t manage the changing economy of the early seventies.

This changing economy was shifting at speeds never seen before, as witnessed by Britain all but abandoning its traditional markets in the Antipodes as it became part of the new EEU concurrently with the oil crisis of 1973, never-before seen levels of inflation and unemployment; even greater than during the Great Depression- Stagflation- plus a freeing-up of controls by the Government, such as New Zealand travellers being permitted to take unlimited quantities of funds and credits overseas, until then regulated at fixed amounts. Buying real estate or a car overseas was impossible prior to the 1980s for New Zealanders; this all changed, and now as well as having financial freedom at large, they had also become part of the global economy, which was a term not coined until the 1980s.

Under the prime-ministership of Robert Muldoon, from 1975 to mid-1984, the economy underwent another earth-change: from a large victory, mirroring the Australian repudiation of Gough Whitlam’s Labor Government, a number of domestic events took place: The Treaty of Waitangi Act, 1975: this historic piece of legislation was passed by the New Zealand Parliament’s House of Representatives by both government and Opposition, and promised the Maori community redress for any land and property ownership issues from the year 1975 onwards. This was to be furthered by an amendment by Parliament in 1985.

User-Pays and the price-freeze in 1982, which was supposed to last for one year, but continued until 1984, were complete failures from both political points-of-view: the wage, price and rent freeze was unsuccessful, and amazingly didn’t stop inflation or interest rate rises, although the latter were however quite limited. Whether they were responsible for halts on the cost of living, it is questionable that they halted the general march of economic excesses and difficulties into the 1980s. Whilst low to middle income earners were restricted in what they could afford, there was no stopping property hikes, overseas travel increases or shares and bond prices. Despite a willing electorate, the late seventies and early eighties found the Muldoon years little to be admired or lauded; it was a case of New Zealand Labour didn’t know how to govern, but National knew the stuff of government, but couldn’t deliver.

The 1980s in New Zealand would see the nation’s biggest shake-up in its history, socially, politically, and economically, especially the latter. Lange and Rogernomics were to be the words to be remembered in New Zealand and abroad long after the eighties, even at time of writing, in 2012, seven years after Lange’s death and twenty-three years since standing down as Prime Minister, more people outside of New Zealand recognise his name than any other Prime Minister of NZ.

Commencing with Sesqui 1990, the 1990s saw a further maturing of New Zealand and its globalisation. Since the Millennium the country has adopted a transnational way-of-life, whilst merging it with nationalistic Kiwi ideals. The new century, like the rest of the world has seen a mind-boggling adoption of technology, mostly in the form of computer, mobile phone, television and photography advancements. New Zealanders have been proud to be not only part of the formative stages of new technology, but significant proponents of it.

The reason why the first chapter 1968-70 is only a three-year period, whereas most contain five years, is that this was a time of such major societal and cultural change that I feel it deserved its own section. It also includes a reasonable-length discussion of one of New Zealand’s most significant, but little-understood, disasters: the Wahine sinking.

I have chosen the forty-four-year period early 1968 to 2012 for two reasons. One is purely personal, namely that the first twenty years were the ones I was born and raised in New Zealand, until my parents decided to immigrate, with my sister, across the Tasman. These were my formative and most influential years also, and the changes in NZ culture and society shaped my life from then on. I have more knowledge and understanding of this area than any other.

The second and more pressing reason that I decided to compose a book about New Zealand history, and specifically chose these years is that the country experienced greater and more far-reaching social, economic, political change, which also fundamentally and irrevocably altered the landscape more than in any time in its previous 130-year history, more so than the Great Depression, World War Two, or the post-war boom (and conservatism) of the 1950s and early sixties. The involvement in Vietnam occurred during this period and indeed was to be a major contributing factor to societal changes and different values as it occurred during the period the book encompasses, but was just one factor as part of many, which will now be examined. I also recognise that there is a dearth of literature on modern-day New Zealand, although this is happily changing. Even though a small nation and one that is not prominent on the world stage, this country has a colourful and powerful history, and is therefore deserving of a serious discussion. Thank you for purchasing this book; I hope you find it enjoying and thought-provoking, and that I don’t let you down!

Miles Cheifetz,

Sydney, March 2012.

New Zealand: from Post-Dominion to Global Player

A Social, Political and Economic History of New Zealand from 1968 to 2012

Book One: 1968-1990

Chapter 1: 1968-70

Wearing mini-skirts, flares, buffed-up hair, long hair and lamb-chop sideburns, New Zealand progressed, if not slowly, then surely, into the 1960s… 1968. These fashion statements represented a microcosm of radical social change, and these changes were simultaneous with the ‘Mother Country’, England. Auckland had started the movement, but Wellington was eager to follow, and Christchurch and Dunedin would soon copycat. Also occurring in the suburbs of the major centres was the phenomenon of the Beatles, who were King, Mick Jagger and Elvis, who were also royalty, and in some homes, also kings.

New Zealand was starting to lose its conservativeness and rock ‘n’ roll 1950s feel, and there were many in the community that would intensely dislike this change, not only from the older generations but also to some extent from the new baby-boomers.

The National Party of New Zealand had now been in power for sixteen of the last nineteen years, and as what many believed to be the natural Party of government, it had what some believed to be the royal assent from Britain and was completely accepted by many New Zealanders as the party that was born-to-rule, in the Crown’s best ex-dominion, and although not as British and patriotic as Australia, probably more loyal and reserved. New Zealanders, however, were also more ready for significant change and possibly less rigid than their counterparts across the ‘ditch’.

Speaking of Australia, this was the most British and conservative of countries towards the end of the decade, and New Zealand, was not. New Zealand was a proud outdoor-living, rugby-playing, obstreperous, fresh nation that, although not dissimilar to its trans-Tasman neighbour, was perhaps more fiercely independent.

On 10 April 1968 an unusual weather event occurred in Wellington, which created extremely high winds. This wind is a phenomenon peculiar to the capital, which occurs most days of the year, but on this particular day there was a conflagration of a tropical cyclone from the east of Papua New Guinea and a fierce winter storm from the West Coast of the South Island, originating in the Antarctic. Even on the windiest days in Wellington, and they were responsible for the nickname Windy Wellington, even more so than Chicago, this day’s winds seemed fiercer. In fact they would grow so fierce that gusts of 275 km/h would later be recorded. As it was a weekday morning there were men working in high-rise office blocks and skyscrapers and many wives and mums looking after the family home, a sizeable portion of the latter group after they had dropped off their kids to school. Many simply thought it a slightly wilder Wellington day than was usual, but no predictions in Wellington’s recorded history would prove what was about to transpire.

Cyclone Giselle was heading sou’ sou ’east from the Solomon Islands/Vanuatu region of the Melanesian tropics, and had already hit Northland, creating much damage and destruction. Simultaneously there was a frigid storm heading north from the West Coast of the South Island, originating in Antarctica, which collided with Giselle in Wellington, creating winds far in excess of what even Windy Wellington had ever experienced. This was now a mega storm and had, by mid-morning already ripped off the roofs of one-hundred houses in the capital. Worse was to come. As three ambulances and a truck were travelling to rescue injured people, they were blown onto their sides. The usual southerly gusts in Wellington, and often equally-strong northerly gusts were nothing new or unexpected for Wellington. Warm days, as well as cold days, would produce winds that were considered wild for other cities in New Zealand, but were hardly worth a mention in the capital. In fact, wind was normal for Wellington, but on this day it was far from normal. The deadly combination of the typical cold southerly gusts in tandem with the also-typically warm northerly gusts was about to create a debilitating disaster that would herald the worst weather event in Wellington history and the worst maritime event, and one of the worst national disasters in New Zealand history.

At 8:40 pm the night before, the Wahine interisland ferry, travelling from Lyttleton Harbour in Christchurch to Wellington had just departed on its regular journey. The Wahine (2) was one of three large ferry vessels owned by the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand which plied the Cook Strait between Wellington and the South Island, and was the largest ship of its kind when completed two years earlier, weighing 1844 tonnes. It was equivalent in size to a cruise liner, and could carry upwards of 800 passengers. The other two inter-island vessels in Union Steamship’s fleet consisted of the Aramoana and the Aratika. On board were 734 passengers and crew. Even though storm warnings had been issued by the NZ Meteorological Office, rough seas were definitely not a new phenomenon in Cook Strait. Little could anyone know that the Wahine was about to sail into one of the worst storms ever recorded in New Zealand history? As the vessel reached Cook Strait the point of conflagration of tropical cyclone Giselle and the Antarctic storm occurred, and this combination of warm tropical air with frigid air produced an extremely violent and deadly turbulence. Captain Hector Gordon Robertson, aged fifty-seven was a master mariner with the NZ Steamship Company, and commanded seventeen ships over fourteen years until his appointment as Master of the Wahine on 31 October 1966. Throughout the 1950s he was master of a succession of cargo vessels and colliers most notably the 3,543 tonne Komata, first of a number of freighters built for the Union Steam Ship Company after World War Two for moving export cargoes to Australia. Captain Robertson was undoubtedly the first choice by Union Steamship for commander of the Wahine on 10 April 1968. Experienced as a seaman, and experienced as a sea liner master, even the real possibility of a storm situation didn’t faze Robertson when he entered the bridge of the Wahine, and at 8:40pm on 9 April 1968 navigated from Christchurch to Wellington on this rougher than usual night.

Rest of the night and morning up until 5:50 am was fairly routine sailing, but at this time as he entered the narrow funnel entrance to Wellington Harbour the wind had increased to 50 knots (90 km/hr). Suddenly the wind speed raced up to 100 knots (180 km/hr), which was now dangerous for maritime operations and at shortly after 6am the Wahine’s radar system failed. Simultaneously a massive wave smashed into the side of the hull and knocked many passengers off their feet. Now the vessel was being pushed gradually towards the notoriously-grievous Barrett’s Reef, a sizable grouping of rocks protruding above the surface of the ocean and closer to the Seatoun side than the Pencarrow side. At 6:40am the ship reversed onto the Reef, and this knocked off the starboard propeller and stopped the port engine.

Now both engines were inoperable and Captain Robertson made order that all watertight doors be closed and the two anchors dropped. Passengers had now become aware of the grounding and Beacon Hill signal station was informed of the state of the ship. As the crew prepared lifeboats four of the compartments and the vehicle deck became flooded. As the Wahine continued to drift with its anchors dragging due to the immensely strong current, the first tug Tapuhi departed