More on Mike Moore
Stuff reports:
There is a telling line from Mike Moore in the RNZ series The 9th Floor. When talking about getting credit for the transformation of New Zealand during the fourth Labour government, he says, “I go to Aussie to feel comfortable. Well, I used to, I’ve got some good mates there”
This, he said, is because the “Australians are different. Whitlam was honoured, Hawkie was honoured because they did what they could for their country”
Moore was a gregarious leader with a salty sense of humour, who enjoyed a beer and was never short a word. In a way, this made him a better cultural fit into Australian politics than he was here at home.
At different times, he was close to Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, a similarly working-class self educated Australian Labor Treasurer and Prime Minister. Both men opened up the Australian economy from 1983 onwards.
Moore was the last working class leader of the Labour Party. He may be the last one ever, considering more working class voters support National than Labour now.
He was an excellent trade minister in the 4th Labour Government. His support of freeing up trade was done with conviction, not grudging acceptance. A former labourer and unionist, he knew that trade is good for jobs.
It would have been interesting if he had become leader after David Lange, instead of Geoffrey Palmer. I think Labour would have still lost in 1990, but less badly. Making him leader and PM 59 days before the election was too late.
The last poll under Palmer had National at 63% and Labour 28%. They were facing total annihilation. The election result was National 48% and Labour 35% so he saved them.
After the 1990 election, the assumption was Labour had been so decimated they would have no chance of winning in 1993 or 1996. Moore almost pulled off the impossible and reduce National’s majority to 1 seat. This required a Labour MP to become Speaker so National could govern.
For his efforts in both 1990 and 1993, he was axed and replaced by Helen Clark. There were rumours they would have rolled him, even if he had won in 1993. He understandably remained bitter about his treatment by Labour for decades. In fact National treated him far better by supporting him to become WTO Director-General and later Ambassador to the US.
I recall CTU head Ken Douglas telling a Young Nats conference in the early 1990s that Mike Moore had a brilliant idea almost every day. The challenge was that he would have 100 ideas a day, and working out the one brilliant one from the 99 nutty ones was the challenge.
That seemed to sum him up well. A man of immense ideas and energy.