Roger Douglas

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Roger Douglas

Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born December 5, 1937 in Auckland ) is a New Zealand politician . He was finance minister under the Labor government of David Lange and was known for his free- market economic and financial policy, also known as rogernomics . He later co-founded the ACT New Zealand party .

Live and act

Early years

Roger Douglas was born in Auckland on December 5, 1937 . His father was Norman Douglas , Labor politician, as was his grandfather, and was a member of the House of Representatives for Auckland Central . Douglas himself stated that his family connections go back to the time of the labor movement in England at the time of Keir Hardie and Ramsay MacDonald .

Douglas attended the Auckland Grammar School and later the University of Auckland , where he graduated in Accountancy in 1957 . In 1961 he married Glennis June Anderson . The marriage had two children, a son and a daughter.

Douglas worked for over nine years as a secretary at Bremworth Caerpet Co. Ltd , served on Manakau City Council for over three years before being elected to the House of Representatives for Manakau constituency and the Labor Party in 1969 .

In government responsibility

During the third Labor government (1972-1975) he was Postmaster General (chief of the postal service) from 1972 to 1974, Minister of Broadcasting from 1972 to 1975 and Minister of Housing for a short time in 1975 and Minister of Customs . After losing the 1975 election, Douglas went into the opposition with the Labor Party and, when David Lange was elected opposition leader of Labor in 1983 , became party spokesman for the finance department .

As Labor again came in government in 1984 ( fourth Labor -Regierung ), joined Douglas as finance minister in the cabinet of David Lange one. New Zealand was in a financial crisis at the time, was heavily indebted, had high inflation and the economy stagnated. Douglas lifted the restrictive financial policy of the previous government under Robert Muldoon , devalued the New Zealand dollar and released the currency at a flexible exchange rate . He cut subsidies , halved the tax rate and introduced the Goods and Services Tax of 10%. Furthermore, he made sure that state-owned enterprises, which were run as State-Owned Enterprises , were prepared for privatization and later sold.

Douglas's changes in fiscal policy were so radical and untypical for Labor that journalists for New Zealand Listener magazine introduced the term rogernomics , a combination of Roger and Economics and, based on Reaganomics, for Ronald Reagan's economic policy. A designation that prevailed and with which Douglas financial and economic policy was unmistakably linked to his person forever and is still used today as a term .

Douglas was heavily criticized for his policies in public and within his party. The union wing of his party in particular mobilized against him. At the end of 1988 there was a break between him and Prime Minister David Lange , which immediately led to his dismissal by Lange.

Later, however, a Labor party conference called for Douglas to return to the cabinet. Lange, bound by this decision, was in conflict with his party and resigned as Prime Minister in 1988. His successor, Geoffrey Palmer , brought Douglas back into the cabinet. Douglas became Minister of Police and Minister of Immigration . But Douglas did not run for the parliamentary elections in July 1990, in which Labor lost the government majority . He left Labor sometime between 1990 and 1993 .

Professional commitment after Labor

After losing his parliamentary mandate, Douglas moved into business , founded his own company, Roger Douglas Associates , an international consulting firm specializing in advising on economic restructuring measures, became director of Brierley Investments Ltd in 1990 and moved in as chairman in 1998 the company's board of directors. He stayed there until 1999. In 1997 he also took over the post of director of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd for two years. Douglas worked for and with the World Bank in Washington, DC and for clients in many countries around the world.

Political engagement after Labor

In 1993, Douglas founded the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers with Derek Quigley , a former Minister of the National Party , which became ACT New Zealand in 1995 . Douglas came up with the idea of ​​founding the Association in mid-1991 after meeting activists from the Backbone Club , a group within the Labor Party . The formation of the association only took shape in 1992 after Douglas traveled to Canada and had contact with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation . So he formed the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers based on the Canadian organization.

Douglas took over the party chairmanship in ACT New Zealand after its establishment, but gave the office in March 1996 to Richard Prebbie , an old companion from Labor days. In the same year, ACT New Zealand won eight seats in the general election. But Douglas was not satisfied with the party's development. He criticized the, in his opinion, too populist demeanor of some members of parliament. In December 2004 he withdrew from the party.

For the general election in 2008, Douglas turned back to the party and ran as a candidate. He won one of ACT New Zealand's five parliamentary seats on the list. For the election in November 2011, he could no longer stand up. On September 29, 2001, Roger Douglas , now 73 years old, gave his farewell speech in Parliament.

Awards

Works

  • There's Got to be a Better Way . Fourth Estate Books , Wellington 1981, ISBN 0-908593-13-9 (English).
  • Towards Prosperity . David Bateman , Auckland 1987 (English).
  • Unfinished business . Random House New Zealand , Auckland 1993, ISBN 1-86941-199-4 (English).
  • Completing the Circle . Seascape Press , Auckland 1996, ISBN 0-473-03987-7 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography . Roger Douglas , archived from the original on August 8, 2011 ; accessed on September 9, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
  2. ^ A b Ray Knox, Desney Jackson : Notable New Zealanders: The Pictorial Who's Who . Ed .: Paul Hamlyn Pty. Ltd . Auckland 1979, ISBN 0-86832-020-X (English).
  3. ^ A b Bridget Gourlay : Balancing acts - Sir Roger Douglas . Academy Publishing, Christchurch , archived from the original on February 7, 2013 ; accessed on May 10, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  4. ↑ In the Revolution's Twilight - The Ascendance of Roger Douglas . The Free Radical , accessed November 21, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Sir Roger Douglas, politician . The Douglas Archive , accessed November 21, 2011 .
  6. ^ Political Career . Roger Douglas , archived from the original on August 8, 2011 ; accessed on September 9, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
  7. ↑ Speaker Details - Hon. Sir Roger Douglas KB . Saxton Speakers' Bureau , accessed November 20, 2011 .
  8. ^ Act Party history - Formation of a pressure group . Liberation by Bryce Edwards , accessed November 20, 2011 .
  9. ^ General elections 1996-2005 - seats won by party . Electoral Commission New Zealand , September 9, 2013, accessed January 20, 2016 .
  10. ^ Act's problem - Roger, not Roy - Roger Douglas' part in the coup . Liberation by Bryce Edwards , accessed November 20, 2011 .
  11. ↑ Official Count Results - Successful Candidates . Elections New Zealand , accessed November 20, 2011 .
  12. ↑ Sir Roger Douglas bows out of Parliament . Television New Zealand (TVNZ) , accessed November 20, 2011 .
  13. ↑ Hon. Sir Roger Douglas . New Zealand Parliament , accessed November 19, 2012 .
  14. ^ Freedom Prize - Winner 1979–2003. Max Schmidheiny Foundation, accessed on November 20, 2011 .
  15. ^ Ludwig Erhard Prize for Business Journalism - Prize Winner. Ludwig-Erhard-Stiftung eV, accessed on November 20, 2011 .
  16. ↑ Hayek Medalist. In: Friedrich A. von Hayek Gesellschaft eV February 26, 2017, accessed on November 25, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Douglas, Roger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Douglas, Roger Owen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 5, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Auckland