Free Republic

As the New Zealand Labour government's Minister of Finance between 1984 and 1988, SIR ROGER DOUGLAS was responsible for introducing radical and wide-ranging economic reforms dubbed 'Rogernomics' that liberalised the economy and laid the basis for a revival in the country's flagging fortunes. The author of There's Got to be a Better Way (1981), Unfinished Business (1993) and Completing the Circle (1996), he is now Managing Director of Roger Douglas Associates, an international consulting firm specialising in advice on economic restructuring and structural adjustment. He spoke here with Susan Windybank about the new reform agenda in New Zealand. Susan Windybank:...

Delivered at the ACT New Zealand 10th Annual Conference Christchurch 6 March 2004 Don Brash has put the cat firmly in the middle of the political pigeons. How should ACT respond? Firstly by acknowledging that Brash was right in what he said. We have to ask ourselves why this one speech overshadowed 7 years of similar statements by ACT; why it reduced Peters from being a threat to National to being a non-entity. Answer - voters believed Brash meant what he said. That comes from having a consistent message which leads to credibility and ultimately confidence. Richard, in difficult circumstances,...