1. Robert Muldoon rose in the Second National Government to serve successively as Minister of Tourism, Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister.
112 Facts About Robert Muldoon
1. 2.
The early death of prime minister Norman Kirk severely weakened the Labour Party, and Robert Muldoon soon led National to a decisive victory in the 1975 general election.
3.
Robert Muldoon came to power promising to lead "a Government of the ordinary bloke".
4.
Robert Muldoon's tenure was plagued by an economic pattern of stagnation, high inflation, growing unemployment, and high external debts and borrowing.
5.
Economic policies of the Robert Muldoon Government included national superannuation, wage and price freezes, industrial incentives, and the Think Big industrial projects.
6.
Robert Muldoon reintroduced and intensified the previous government's policies of the Dawn Raids, which racially targeted Pasifika overstayers.
7.
In foreign policy, Robert Muldoon adopted an anti-Soviet stance and re-emphasised New Zealand's defence commitments to the United States and Australia under the ANZUS pact.
8.
Robert Muldoon led his party to two additional election victories in 1978 and 1981, with the first-past-the-post electoral system keeping him in power despite losing the popular vote in each election except 1975.
9.
At the 1984 snap election, which Robert Muldoon infamously announced while intoxicated on live television, National finally suffered a significant defeat to Labour.
10.
Shortly before leaving office, amid a constitutional crisis, Robert Muldoon was forced by the incoming Government to devalue the New Zealand dollar.
11.
Robert Muldoon died shortly thereafter; the gang Black Power performed a haka at his funeral.
12.
Robert David Muldoon was born in Auckland on 25 September 1921 to parents James Henry Muldoon and Amie Rusha Muldoon.
13.
Robert Muldoon's father's family, the Muldoon family, were of Irish descent; his grandfather was an Irish-born Scouser who emigrated from Liverpool.
14.
At the age of five, 'Rob' Robert Muldoon slipped while playing on the front gate, damaging his cheek and resulting in a distinctive lopsided smile that remained with him for life.
15.
When Robert Muldoon was aged eight, his father was admitted to Auckland Mental Hospital at Point Chevalier, where he died of parenchymatous syphilis nearly 20 years later in 1946.
16.
Robert Muldoon won a scholarship to attend Mount Albert Grammar School from 1933 to 1936.
17.
Robert Muldoon left school at age 15, finding work at Fletcher Construction and then the Auckland Electric Power Board as an arrears clerk.
18.
In 1951 Robert Muldoon married Thea Dale Flyger, who he had met through the Junior Nationals.
19.
Lady Robert Muldoon, who died at age 87 in 2015, was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 New Year Honours and made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order in the 1986 New Year Honours.
20.
Robert Muldoon was protective of his family life and, in particular, his wife.
21.
Robert Muldoon said that people could comment about him but his family was off limits.
22.
Robert Muldoon joined the New Zealand Military Forces in November 1940 during the Second World War, and served in the South Pacific with 37th Battalion.
23.
Robert Muldoon was later sent to Italy and served with the same unit as two other future National Party colleagues, Duncan MacIntyre and Jack Marshall.
24.
Robert Muldoon completed his training as an accountant, sitting his final exams to become an accountant while in Italy, from Jack Marshall's tent.
25.
Robert Muldoon then worked in a chartered accountancy firm in the United Kingdom for a year.
26.
In March 1947 Robert Muldoon joined the newly founded Mount Albert branch of the Junior Nationals, the youth wing of the conservative New Zealand National Party.
27.
Robert Muldoon quickly became active in the party, making two sacrificial-lamb bids for Parliament against entrenched but vulnerable Labour incumbents in 1954 and 1957.
28.
Robert Muldoon would represent the Tamaki constituency for the next 32 years.
29.
From his early years as an MP, Robert Muldoon became known as Piggy; the epithet that would remain with him throughout his life even amongst those who were his supporters.
30.
Robert Muldoon was appointed in 1961 to the Public Accounts Committee, which in 1962 became the Public Expenditure Committee.
31.
Robert Muldoon was well informed on all aspects of the government, and could participate in many debates in Parliament.
32.
Robert Muldoon displayed a flair for debate and a diligence in his backbench work.
33.
However, Robert Muldoon was passed over as a new Cabinet minister following the election, with fellow Young Turks Duncan MacIntyre and Peter Gordon appointed ahead of him.
34.
Robert Muldoon was to remain Minister of Finance for 14 of the next 17 years; at 45, he became the youngest Minister of Finance since the 1890s.
35.
Robert Muldoon cut and held public expenditure and increased indirect taxes to reduce demand.
36.
Robert Muldoon established a considerable national profile rapidly; Holyoake would later credit his image, rather than that of his deputy, Jack Marshall, for the National Party's surprise victory in the 1969 election.
37.
Robert Muldoon displayed a flair for the newly introduced medium of television.
38.
When Holyoake stood down in 1972, Robert Muldoon challenged Marshall for the top job; he lost by a narrow margin, but won unanimous election as deputy leader of the National Party and hence Deputy Prime Minister.
39.
Robert Muldoon commented on Labour's election promises with "They can't promise anything because I've spent it all".
40.
Marshall resigned after longtime colleague George Gair told him he stood no chance in a leadership vote, and Robert Muldoon was elected unopposed as Leader of the Opposition on 9 July 1974.
41.
Robert Muldoon mastered television and packed public meetings with loyal supporters dubbed "Rob's Mob", who included many blue collar conservatives.
42.
Robert Muldoon promised a generous national superannuation scheme to replace Kirk and Rowling's employer-contribution superannuation scheme, and promised to fix New Zealand's "shattered economy".
43.
Robert Muldoon was sworn in as New Zealand's 31st Prime Minister on 12 December 1975, at the age of 54.
44.
Robert Muldoon felt that the dissolution would be immediate, and he would later introduce a bill in parliament to retroactively make the abolition legal.
45.
Therefore, Robert Muldoon's actions were not only illegal, but unconstitutional, as they violated the rule of law and the sovereignty of parliament.
46.
Robert Muldoon's government inherited a number of economic and social challenges.
47.
The "Robert Muldoon Years" were to feature Robert Muldoon's obstinate and resourceful attempts to maintain New Zealand's "cradle to the grave" welfare state, dating from 1935, in the face of a changing world.
48.
Robert Muldoon is the last to hold both posts to date.
49.
Robert Muldoon continued his Labour predecessor Prime Minister Norman Kirk's policy of arresting and deporting Pacific Islander overstayers which had begun in 1974.
50.
Robert Muldoon claimed that the Labour government's immigration policies had contributed to the economic recession and undermined the "New Zealand way of life" by causing a housing shortage.
51.
Robert Muldoon's government accelerated and increased the Kirk government's police raids against Pacific overstayers.
52.
Robert Muldoon later said that he had not been obliged to resign, but had done so because "the whole thing just made me sick".
53.
The head of the prime minister's department, Gerald Hensley, wrote that Robert Muldoon had told later him outing Moyle was the thing he regretted most in his life.
54.
Robert Muldoon sent a message to the Queen on 15 December 1976 putting forward former prime minister Sir Keith Holyoake as his appointee, which the Queen approved.
55.
Robert Muldoon was succeeded in his seat by John Falloon.
56.
Robert Muldoon initially opposed indirect consumer taxation on the basis that it would penalise poor people and increase inflation due to compensatory wage increases.
57.
Robert Muldoon was critical of Communist influence in New Zealand's trade union movement.
58.
Robert Muldoon viewed the Moscow-aligned Socialist Unity Party, a break-away faction from the Communist Party of New Zealand, as a Soviet fifth column that was trying to subvert New Zealand and the South Pacific island states.
59.
Robert Muldoon would join the United States President Jimmy Carter and other Western leaders in condemning the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics.
60.
Robert Muldoon's favoured candidate was Sue Wood, at the time National's Vice President and later party President.
61.
Robert Muldoon blamed Brash and the party organisation for the defeat, but was strongly rebuked by the party for this stance.
62.
Robert Muldoon, who was overseas at the time, saw the plotters off with relative ease, especially since Talboys himself was a reluctant draftee.
63.
Robert Muldoon noted that the Gleneagles Agreement had been amended and, in an article in The Times, that he had not broken the Gleneagles Agreement because "New Zealand and subsequently other countries made it clear that they could not subscribe to an agreement which required them to abrogate the freedoms of their sportsmen and prohibit sporting contacts".
64.
Robert Muldoon came down firmly on the pro-Tour side, arguing that sport and politics should be kept separate.
65.
Robert Muldoon argued that his refusal to ban the Springboks was anti-authoritarian, leaving it up to individual consciences whether to play sports with representatives of apartheid.
66.
Robert Muldoon argued that allowing their rugby team to tour did not mean supporting apartheid, any more than playing a Soviet Union team meant supporting Communism.
67.
Economic pressures continued to build: Robert Muldoon tried to control spiraling increases in wages and inflation through a trade-off with the trade-union leadership: a reduction in the tax rate in exchange for an agreement not to press for further rounds of wage increases, similar to The Accord reached in Australia in 1983.
68.
The Federation of Labour's President Jim Knox, who Robert Muldoon did not get along with, refused to co-operate.
69.
Robert Muldoon had to be persuaded not to make the Springbok Tour an issue in the election, and the National Party's campaign instead focused on Think Big.
70.
Again, Robert Muldoon's Government received fewer votes than the opposition Labour Party.
71.
Robert Muldoon had fallen out with former supporter and millionaire businessman Bob Jones, who made good on a threat to create his own party in protest at Robert Muldoon's economic policies.
72.
Years later, Robert Muldoon admitted that the freeze was a political mistake.
73.
The second recession during Robert Muldoon's premiership hit in September 1982.
74.
In 1982, Robert Muldoon's government supported the British in the Falklands War.
75.
In defence of his support for the war, Robert Muldoon wrote an article that was published in The Times, entitled "Why we Stand by our Mother Country":.
76.
Robert Muldoon initiated a Closer Economic Relations free trade agreement with Australia to liberalise trade, which came into effect from New Year's Day 1982.
77.
Ultimately, the end of Robert Muldoon's government came following a late-night clash with National backbencher Marilyn Waring over highly contentious Opposition-sponsored nuclear-free New Zealand legislation, in which Waring told him she would cross the floor.
78.
On 14 June 1984, a visibly drunk Robert Muldoon called a a snap election for 14 July that same year; historians noted the unfortunate coincidence with Bastille Day.
79.
Robert Muldoon was heavily defeated by Lange's resurgent Labour Party, which won 56 seats to National's 37 with massive vote splitting caused by the New Zealand Party in particular.
80.
Robert Muldoon justified the snap election because he felt Waring's revolt impeded his ability to govern.
81.
Indeed, it was obvious that Robert Muldoon was finding it hard to pass financial measures with neo-liberal rebels like Ruth Richardson and Derek Quigley voting against the Government on certain issues.
82.
Robert Muldoon had several close relationships with foreign leaders, such as British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, American President Ronald Reagan, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
83.
The elder statesman, Robert Muldoon was blatantly patronising and rude to Fraser, and even bullied him on repetitive occasions.
84.
Robert Muldoon made bigoted remarks towards Australians in Fraser's company, and was known to repeatedly claim that New Zealanders migrating to Australia "raised the IQ of both countries".
85.
Robert Muldoon often boasted to Fraser about the slow and costly process of Australia importing New Zealand goods, claiming on one occasion that New Zealand had "screwed the Aussies again" and would always get the upper hand.
86.
Fraser recalled that Robert Muldoon had demanded that Fraser change the meeting venue in the hotel from the front to the back, to avoid a group of young, female reproductive rights protestors.
87.
Fraser, likely considering how Robert Muldoon had physically attacked political demonstrators before, understood that giving him a hostile welcome would be a poor decision.
88.
Robert Muldoon ignored the advice, owing to his belief that it would hurt poor New Zealanders in the medium term, and in June 1984 announced the snap election mentioned above which, as predicted, caused an immediate run on the dollar.
89.
Robert Muldoon was deposed as National leader shortly after the election by his deputy, Jim McLay.
90.
The relationship between the two bottomed out when Robert Muldoon criticised the entire party leadership, forcing McLay to demote him to the lowest rank in the National caucus.
91.
Robert Muldoon continued to undermine McLay until 1986, when McLay was ousted in turn by his own deputy, Jim Bolger, who had served as Minister of Labour for the latter half of Robert Muldoon's term as prime minister.
92.
Robert Muldoon remained as the MP for Tamaki until shortly before his death.
93.
Robert Muldoon was a staunch critic of Richardson's and the Bolger government's policies.
94.
Robert Muldoon opposed the legalisation of homosexual behaviour when Labour MP Fran Wilde introduced the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1985.
95.
Robert Muldoon continued to write in international economic journals, arguing that the unemployment that had arisen as a result of the free market reforms was worse than the gains that were made, a view that came to be popular by the time of the Fifth Labour Government in 1999.
96.
Robert Muldoon was furious with New Zealand Party founder Bob Jones for splitting the vote in 1984; Robert Muldoon labelled Jones a spoiler and took him to court.
97.
Robert Muldoon had minor television appearances on commercials for Panasonic and in the television series Terry and the Gunrunners and in The Friday Frights ; he hosted a talkback radio show entitled Lilies and Other Things, referencing his favourite flower on Radio Pacific.
98.
On his Radio Pacific show, on 17 November 1991, Robert Muldoon announced he would stand down from Parliament; he formally retired one month later, on 17 December.
99.
Robert Muldoon fell seriously ill almost immediately after his retirement, and died in hospital on 5 August 1992, aged 70.
100.
Robert Muldoon is buried at Purewa Cemetery, Meadowbank, Auckland, in a plot that faces Auckland CBD.
101.
On 18 March 1981, Robert Muldoon was bestowed with the matai, or Samoan chiefly title, of Leasapai.
102.
Robert Muldoon is the first New Zealand Prime Minister to have been awarded this honour.
103.
Robert Muldoon was appointed an Additional Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1977 Queen's Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1984 New Year Honours.
104.
Robert Muldoon was a polarising figure while in power, and remains one to this day.
105.
Robert Muldoon became the first prime minister to use television as a medium to gain widespread support, and eagerly used it to attack and insult his opponents.
106.
Robert Muldoon openly used homophobic language, and he refused to legalise male homosexual activity and abortion, both crimes at the time.
107.
However, after the New Zealand Truth attempted to out his youngest MP Marilyn Waring, the 26-year-old Baby of the House, Robert Muldoon moved swiftly to minimise publicity and protect her.
108.
Robert Muldoon famously declared upon becoming prime minister that he hoped to leave New Zealand "no worse off than I found it".
109.
Historians such as Gustafson and Brian Easton criticise Robert Muldoon because, according to them, he pursued an ultimately unsustainable line of policy.
110.
Robert Muldoon enjoyed engaging positively with criminal gangs such as Black Power, and made uncouth public statements that emphasised "blokeiness".
111.
Robert Muldoon became patron of the Black Power gang for whom he had created work schemes and advised on the better treatment of women and children associated with the gang.
112.
Robert Muldoon's shunning of intellectualism in favour of intimidating, raging against so-called "elites", and blatant, manipulative populism has led him to be called a forerunner to the likes of Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Silvio Berlusconi.