75 Facts About Roger Douglas

Sir Roger Owen Douglas was born on 5 December 1937 and is a retired New Zealand politician, economist and accountant who served as a minister in two Labour governments.

Roger Douglas is most recognised for his key involvement in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 1980s, when the Fourth Labour Government's economic policy became known as "Rogernomics", which implemented neoliberal economic policies.

Roger Douglas's supporters defended the reforms as necessary to revive the economy, which had been tightly regulated under National's Robert Muldoon.

Roger Douglas returned to Parliament as an ACT backbencher in 2008 before retiring in 2011.

Roger Douglas's family had strong ties with the trade-union movement, and actively engaged in politics.

Roger Douglas grew up in a state house in Ewenson Avenue, One Tree Hill, Auckland.

Roger Douglas attended Ellerslie Primary School, excelling in arithmetic and sports.

Roger Douglas attended Auckland Grammar School between 1950 and 1955, where he was a prefect and an avid cricket and rugby player.

Roger Douglas had a summer job at the Auckland accounting firm Mabee, Halstead and Kiddle, accepting a job there at the end of 1952.

Roger Douglas gained a degree in accountancy from Auckland University College in 1957.

Roger Douglas married Glenis June Anderson and moved to Mangere in 1961, becoming President of the Manukau Labour Electorate Committee.

Roger Douglas began to run the Bremworth division individually after the company's sale to UEB in the mid-1960s.

Roger Douglas served as campaign manager for successful Labour candidate Colin Moyle in 1963.

Roger Douglas gave his maiden speech in the Address-in-Reply debate on 7 April 1970.

Roger Douglas devoted the greater part of his speech to the case against foreign investment in the domestic economy.

Roger Douglas became involved in the party's policies on industry and economics.

Roger Douglas served as the MP for Manukau from 1969 to 1978, and then for Manurewa from 1978 to 1990.

Roger Douglas remained Minister of Broadcasting until 1975, when the portfolio was disestablished.

Roger Douglas was Minister of Housing and Minister of Customs until Labour's defeat by the National Party under Robert Muldoon in the 1975 election.

Roger Douglas was the most junior member of Cabinet, but soon earned a reputation for hard work and competence.

Roger Douglas was an early and enthusiastic promoter of the government's plans for a compulsory contributory superannuation scheme that would supplement the old age pension.

In Cabinet, Rowling, who was then Minister of Finance, and Roger Douglas were largely responsible for a 1973 White Paper setting out the government's proposals for superannuation.

Roger Douglas was among the designers of the Dependent Minders' Allowance, which was part of Labour's platform in the 1975 election.

Roger Douglas was one of the most interventionist and pro-state figures around: as a minister, he even wanted women to be given what became known as baby bonuses, effectively extra cash from the state for producing children, which all seems very Eastern bloc, looking back.

Roger Douglas was critical of Labour's performance in government between 1972 and 1975.

In opposition after 1975, Roger Douglas became successively Labour's spokesperson on housing, special projects, consumer affairs and transport.

Roger Douglas argued that the Labour Party's approach to economic policy was fragmented and based on unrealistic promises.

Roger Douglas believed that the party leadership should be revitalised, and supported David Lange's unsuccessful bid for the leadership in 1980.

In informal Labour caucus politics, Roger Douglas became a member of the so-called "Fish and Chip Brigade", which included Rowling's leading caucus opponents.

Roger Douglas identified his closest colleagues as Richard Prebble, Mike Moore, and Michael Bassett.

The failure of Lange's leadership bid, continuing dissatisfaction with Labour's approach to economic policy, and his difficult relationship with leading figures in the party led Roger Douglas to declare his intention to retire from Parliament at the 1981 general election.

Roger Douglas saw Douglas as sometimes obstinate and limited, but in Lange's view he had drive, and the ability to break from the traditions that had kept Labour so long in opposition.

At the time of his appointment, Roger Douglas had a reputation as a radical but his thinking on economic issues remained within the boundaries of Labour's Keynesian approach to economic management.

In late 1983, Labour's Caucus Economic Committee adopted a paper that Roger Douglas named the economic policy package.

Roger Douglas acknowledged that devaluation was not part of Labour policy and accepted responsibility for the mistake.

Lange became Prime Minister and Roger Douglas became Minister of Finance.

Roger Douglas responded by agreeing to the publication of Treasury's briefing to the incoming government, which appeared under the title Economic Management.

Roger Douglas took a limited part in the Economic Summit Conference that began on 11 September 1984 because he was already at work on his first budget.

Roger Douglas saw the summit as preparing the country to accept change, but noted the possibility that it might heighten expectations of continued consensus and involvement.

Roger Douglas answered criticism that the government's intentions had not been made clear to the electorate by saying that he had spelled out his whole programme to the Policy Council, which, he said, had understood and endorsed his intentions.

Roger Douglas maintained that the detail was not made available to the public because it did not have the capacity to absorb it in the short time available.

Roger Douglas did not concede that his advocacy of these views placed him on the right of the political spectrum.

Roger Douglas maintained that the government's social goals were the same as those of the First Labour Government and that changed circumstances required Labour to use different economic means to achieve its ends.

Roger Douglas defended Treasury from the charge that its advice was at odds with Labour policy by arguing that its role was to give advice based on the interests of the nation as a whole.

Roger Douglas was reappointed to the finance portfolio after Labour's victory in the 1987 general election and remained finance minister until December 1988.

The conflict between Lange and Roger Douglas mirrored the inconsistency at the heart of the government.

Roger Douglas did not convey the money he raised to the Labour Party organisation, but chose to manage it himself, allocating funds for purposes like television advertising.

Lange's campaign was lacklustre, and Roger Douglas appeared to have contributed more to Labour's victory in 1987.

Mike Moore, then a senior member of Cabinet, said that Lange had won the 1984 election, but Roger Douglas won in 1987.

Roger Douglas wrote later that he no longer trusted Douglas and wished to use the reallocation of portfolios to put some restraints on him.

Roger Douglas continued to work on the radical proposals he signaled earlier in 1987.

Roger Douglas refused to accept Lange's contention that his proposals were unworkable.

Roger Douglas, believing that he had the support of a majority of Cabinet, immediately returned from Europe, and the rift between prime minister and finance minister became a matter of public knowledge.

In December 1988, Roger Douglas wrote to Lange to tell him that he intended to tell the Labour caucus he could no longer serve in a government led by him.

Roger Douglas himself continued his campaign against Lange through public statements, the unauthorised release of cabinet papers and on 21 December 1988 an unsuccessful challenge against Lange's leadership in the Labour caucus.

Lange, who saw the vote as a choice between him and Roger Douglas, resigned his office almost immediately afterwards.

Lange insisted that policy differences were behind his disagreement with Roger Douglas, telling a press conference following his resignation that "Now is the time for the principle to replace the personality".

Roger Douglas did not stand for Parliament at the 1990 election, which Labour lost.

Roger Douglas's policies continued under the aegis of Ruth Richardson, the Minister of Finance in the new Fourth National Government of New Zealand.

In 1993, Roger Douglas co-founded the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers with Derek Quigley.

The nascent party's manifesto was based upon a book written by Roger Douglas entitled Unfinished Business.

Roger Douglas served as ACT's first leader, but soon stood aside for Richard Prebble.

Roger Douglas remained a strong supporter of ACT, although he became somewhat unhappy with the party's alleged lack of focus on pure economic policy.

In particular, Roger Douglas criticised what he saw as populism within the party, claiming that some of its MPs seemed more committed to grabbing headlines than to developing policy.

On 21 February 2008, Roger Douglas renewed his involvement with ACT by signing a letter inviting supporters to the 2008 ACT conference, and appearing in television and newspaper interviews endorsing ACT for the 2008 general election.

At ACT's 2008 annual conference in Auckland, Roger Douglas announced his intention to stand for Parliament again, as an ACT candidate.

Roger Douglas finished a distant third in Hunua, taking only 9.6 percent of the vote.

ACT's 3.65 percent of the party vote entitled it to five seats, allowing Roger Douglas to re-enter Parliament as a list MP.

On 18 February 2011, Roger Douglas announced that he would retire at the end of the 49th New Zealand Parliament.

In early 1992, Roger Douglas gave a schedule of speeches on economics in Russia, which was transitioning from a command economy to free-market capitalism, as part of a privatisation advisory committee organised by the World Bank.

Later in 1992, Roger Douglas was appointed to the inaugural board of the Auckland Warriors by the Auckland Rugby League.

Roger Douglas later served as chairman before being replaced in 1996.

Roger Douglas served as the managing director of Roger Douglas Associates, an international consulting firm.

In 1977, Roger Douglas was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.

Roger Douglas's supporters contend that he was responsible for rejuvenating the New Zealand economy while his opponents argue that Rogernomics was responsible for a vast increase in inequality between rich and poor, among other things.