Steady as she goes

The neoliberal agenda didn't sit comfortably with our 1990s leader whose true colours were always a paler shade of blue.

- BY DENIS WELCH

It may seem a strange thing to say, but I reckon you can trace the progress of neoliberalism in New Zealand through the political career of Jim Bolger. The man was a living litmus test of how this ideology has affected us since the 1980s.

Until the mid-80s, Bolger was a typical representative of the National Party as it had functioned for pretty much its entire existence. (In fact, born in May 1935, he was virtually the same age as the party, which was founded the following year.) That's to say, he believed in a moderate form of capitalism in which the forces of business and finance lived in more or less comfortable association with the state: a so-called “social contract” allowed all sides (including trade unions, much more powerful then) to cooperate in running a country that was far less unequal and divided than it is now.

As Minister of Labour in the late 70s and early 80s, Bolger used to take part in negotiations over industrial disputes, sitting down with employers and union representatives. Ministers did that then. It's a sign of how far we've moved from the interventionist state model that the very idea of a cabinet minister taking part in industrial negotiations these days would cause palpitations from the top of the Beehive to the bottom.

Bolger was, in short, a social democrat, as indeed were most politicians of any party up to 1984. And in truth, he remained one through to the end of his parliamentary career in 1998. But the world around him changed dramatically in the 80s, and he was smart enough to realise that if he was to survive and succeed in politics, he had to bend with the wind. (Helen Clark did the same.)