Robert Muldoon

Early life and family

Robert David Muldoon was born in Auckland on 25 September 1921 to parents James Henry Muldoon, a government inspector, and Amie Rusha Muldoon (née Browne). His father's family, the Muldoon (Irish: Ó Maoldúin) family, were of Irish descent; his grandfather was an Irish-born Scouser who emigrated from Liverpool. His grandfather was a Methodist evangelist and social worker.

At the age of five, 'Rob' Muldoon slipped while playing on the front gate, damaging his cheek and resulting in a distinctive lopsided smile that remained with him for life.

When 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. This left Muldoon's mother to raise him on her own. During this time Muldoon came under the strong formative influence of his maternal grandmother Jerusha, a committed socialist. Though Muldoon never accepted her creed, he did develop under her influence a potent ambition, a consuming interest in politics, and an abiding respect for New Zealand's welfare state. Muldoon won a scholarship to attend Mount Albert Grammar School from 1933 to 1936. He left school at age 15, finding work at Fletcher Construction and then the Auckland Electric Power Board as an arrears clerk. He studied accountancy by correspondence.

In 1951 Muldoon married Thea Dale Flyger, who he had met through the Junior Nationals. The couple had three children. Lady 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. Muldoon was protective of his family life and, in particular, his wife. He said that people could comment about him but his family was off limits.

Early career

Muldoon joined the New Zealand Military Forces in November 1940 during the Second World War, and served in the South Pacific with 37th Battalion. He was later sent to Italy and served with the same unit (Divisional Cavalry Regiment) as two other future National Party colleagues, Duncan MacIntyre and Jack Marshall. Muldoon completed his training as an accountant, sitting his final exams to become an accountant while in Italy, from Jack Marshall's tent. Muldoon then worked in a chartered accountancy firm in the United Kingdom for a year. According to Muldoon, Muldoon's 1977 autobiography, he returned to New Zealand after the war as the country's first fully qualified cost accountant, though there are no other sources confirming this.

Member of Parliament

In March 1947 Muldoon joined the newly founded Mount Albert branch of the Junior Nationals, the youth wing of the conservative New Zealand National Party. He quickly became active in the party, making two sacrificial-lamb bids for Parliament against entrenched but vulnerable Labour incumbents in 1954 (Mount Albert) and 1957 (Waitemata). But in 1960 he won election as MP for the suburban Auckland electorate of Tamaki, winning against Bob Tizard, who had taken the former National seat in 1957. In 1960, an electoral swing brought Keith Holyoake back to power as Prime Minister of the Second National Government. Muldoon would represent the Tamaki constituency for the next 32 years.

Muldoon, along with Duncan MacIntyre and Peter Gordon who entered parliament in the same year, became known as the "Young Turks" (a common nickname for a group of young rebels) because of their criticism of the party's senior leadership. From his early years as an MP, Muldoon became known as Piggy; the epithet that would remain with him throughout his life even amongst those who were his supporters. Muldoon himself seemed to relish his controversial public profile.

Muldoon opposed both abortion and capital punishment. In 1961 he was one of ten National MPs to cross the floor and vote with the Opposition to remove capital punishment for murder from the Crimes Bill that the Second National Government had introduced. In 1977 he voted against the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 when the issue also came up as a conscience vote.

Muldoon was appointed in 1961 to the Public Accounts Committee, which in 1962 became the Public Expenditure Committee. He was well informed on all aspects of the government, and could participate in many debates in Parliament.

Entry into Cabinet

Muldoon displayed a flair for debate and a diligence in his backbench work. Following the re-election of Holyoake's government at the 1963 general election, Muldoon was appointed as Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Harry Lake. While holding this office, he took responsibility for the successful introduction of decimal currency into New Zealand. Initially there was some controversy over the design of the new coins and notes of the New Zealand dollar, but the issues were overcome in time for the new currency's introduction in July 1967.

Minister of Finance

The Holyoake government was again re-elected at the 1966 general election. However, 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. Holyoake appointed Muldoon as Minister of Tourism and Minister Assistant to the Minister of Finance three months later.

When Harry Lake died suddenly of a heart attack in February 1967 (only days after Muldoon had joined the Cabinet), Prime Minister Keith Holyoake appointed Muldoon over Tom Shand (who himself died unexpectedly in December 1969) and Jack Marshall who had declined the post. 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. At the time there was a serious economic crisis due to a down-turn in the price of wool.

In response to this crisis, Muldoon introduced mini-budgets instead of annual budgets, the first being presented on 4 May 1967. He cut and held public expenditure and increased indirect taxes to reduce demand. As a result, Muldoon was credited with the better economic performance New Zealand enjoyed, raising his profile among the public.

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. He displayed a flair for the newly introduced medium of television (broadcasts began in New Zealand in 1960).

Deputy Prime Minister

When Holyoake stood down in 1972, 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.

Marshall fought the 1972 election on a slogan of "Man For Man, The Strongest Team" – an allusion to Marshall's own low-key style, particularly compared to his deputy. Muldoon commented on Labour's election promises with "They can't promise anything because I've spent it all". Labour, led by the charismatic Norman Kirk, was swept into office, ending 12 years in power for National.

Leader of the Opposition

Many members of the party caucus regarded Marshall as not up to the task of taking on the formidable new prime minister Norman Kirk. In July 1974, less than a year before a statutory general election, the caucus voted to hold a new leadership election. Marshall resigned after longtime colleague George Gair told him he stood no chance in a leadership vote, and Muldoon was elected unopposed as Leader of the Opposition on 9 July 1974. A day later, Muldoon's first autobiography, The Rise and Fall of a Young Turk, was published. The book was to be reprinted four times and sell 28,000 copies. Muldoon mastered television and packed public meetings with loyal supporters dubbed "Rob's Mob", who included many blue collar conservatives.

Muldoon relished the opportunity to match up against Kirk – but had it for only a short time, until Kirk's sudden unexpected death on 31 August 1974. Kirk was replaced as prime minister by Bill Rowling shortly afterwards. In the 1975 election, National ran on a platform of "New Zealand – The Way YOU Want It", a slogan Muldoon came up with himself. He promised a generous national superannuation scheme to replace Kirk and Rowling's employer-contribution superannuation scheme (which the "Dancing Cossacks" television advertisement implied would turn New Zealand into a communist state), and promised to fix New Zealand's "shattered economy". Labour responded with a campaign called Citizens for Rowling, described by Muldoon as "not even a thinly disguised" attack on himself. At the election, Muldoon overwhelmed Rowling, reversing the 55-32 Labour majority to a 55–32 National majority.

Prime Minister (1975–1984)

First term: 1975–1978

Muldoon was sworn in as New Zealand's 31st Prime Minister on 12 December 1975, at the age of 54. A populist, he promised to lead "a Government of the ordinary bloke". His government immediately faced problems with the economy; a recession from June 1976 to March 1978 caused New Zealand's economy to shrink 4.1% and unemployment to rise 125%.

One of Muldoon's first actions was to issue a press release stating that he would advise the Governor-General to abolish Labour's superannuation scheme without new legislation. Muldoon felt that the dissolution would be immediate, and he would later introduce a bill in parliament to retroactively make the abolition legal. The Bill of Rights 1689 was then invoked in the case of Fitzgerald v Muldoon and Others, The Chief Justice, Sir Richard Wild, declared that Muldoon's actions were illegal as they had violated Article 1 of the Bill of Rights, which provides "that the pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution of laws by regal authority...is illegal." Ultimately Muldoon, as a member of the executive branch, was acting beyond his prescribed powers, as only parliament has the power to make and unmake laws. Therefore, Muldoon's actions were not only illegal, but unconstitutional, as they violated the rule of law and the sovereignty of parliament. This is encapsulated in Sir Richard Wild's judgment, in which he stated that "The Act of Parliament in force required that those deductions and contributions must be made, yet here was the Prime Minister announcing that they need not be made. I am bound to hold that in so doing he was purporting to suspend the law without consent of Parliament. Parliament had made the law. Therefore the law could be amended or suspended only by Parliament or with the authority of Parliament."

Economics correspondent Brian Gaynor has claimed that Muldoon's policy of reversing Labour's saving scheme cost him a chance to transform the New Zealand economy. The National superannuation scheme was one of Muldoon's 1975 election promises: it was described as a "generous" policy, and was effective in realigning Muldoon's support from elderly voters. However, the high cost of the scheme had an immense impact on the budget; Margaret McClure determined that the scheme's superannuation was substantially higher than that of similar policies elsewhere in the world. The United States' superannuation for a married couple was effectively 49% of the average wage rate, and 40% in Australia and 38% in Britain; however, New Zealand's was set at 80%. Therefore, by 1981 the spending on this scheme had doubled, and made up 17.3% of the government's budget. This resulted in other social policy programs, particularly education, being deprived of funds during this period. Justice Stephen Kós has also stated that the "increase, without contribution, was utterly unsustainable."

Second term: 1978–1981

Muldoon initially opposed indirect consumer taxation on the basis that it would penalise poor people and increase inflation due to compensatory wage increases. However, in May 1979 he attempted to increase tax revenue by levying 10% to 20% taxes on a wide range of goods, including petrol, lawnmowers, caravans and boats. The taxes were criticised for being discriminatory, ineffective, and a "quick fix" that precluded necessary fundamental reform of the taxation system (as there were no income tax cuts to reflect the shift to indirect taxation). The boat and caravan levies, in particular, crippled both industries, as potential buyers could not afford the 20% tax on top of the construction costs, resulting in additional unemployment as workers were laid off.

As with other conservative governments during the Cold War, Muldoon adopted an anti-Soviet stance. As a long-time National Party activist, Muldoon rejected Communism as an "alien" collectivist philosophy. During the television programme Gallery in the later 1960s, he also rebuked left-leaning clergymen who had criticised apartheid in South Africa for failing to oppose Soviet communism. Muldoon was critical of Communist influence in New Zealand's trade union movement. He also viewed the Moscow-aligned Socialist Unity Party (SUP), 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. In various speeches and press releases, he would accuse the SUP and other Communist groups of instigating strikes and organising protests against US naval visits and New Zealand's sporting contacts with South Africa.

As prime minister, he accepted both the American and Chinese views that the Soviet Union was an aggressive power with hegemonic ambitions in the South Pacific. Muldoon would also 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. However, his government did not participate in the US-led trade boycott against the Soviet Union because it would have hurt New Zealand's predominantly agricultural export economy. In 1980, the National government also expelled the Soviet Ambassador, Vsevolod Sofinski, for providing funding to the SUP. Despite his antagonism towards the Soviet Union and domestic Communist movements, Muldoon's government still maintained economic relations with the Soviet Union.

After David Yallop drew Muldoon's attention to the case of Arthur Allan Thomas, twice convicted for the murders of farming couple Harvey and Jeannette Crewe, Muldoon asked Robert Adams-Smith QC to review the case. Adams-Smith reported 'an injustice may have been done', and Muldoon pushed through a royal pardon for Thomas. A subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry exonerated Thomas and recommended he be paid $950,000 as compensation for the time he served.

Third term: 1981–1984

Muldoon's third term was tumultuous. With a one-seat majority he faced an increasingly restless backbench who wanted the National Party to adopt a more economically liberal stance. Early in 1982 Derek Quigley, a junior minister who had been demoted for his role in the Colonel's Coup of 1980, spoke out against Think Big, casting doubts on its benefits. As a result, Muldoon asked him to apologise or resign from Cabinet; Quigley chose to resign. Muldoon had also fallen out with former supporter and millionaire businessman Bob Jones, who made good on a threat to create his own party in protest at Muldoon's economic policies. In 1983 the New Zealand Party was formed by Jones and took a significant share of the vote at the 1984 election.

With Think Big failing to deliver on its promise, Muldoon imposed an incomes policy: a freeze on wages and most prices (items excluded included fresh meat, frozen meat, items sold at auction and "women's fashion clothing other than standard lines"), interest rates and dividends across the country in April 1982. Against this he offered a "sweetener" of a tax cut which cost the New Zealand treasury approximately a billion New Zealand dollars. Ultimately the Wage and Price Freeze, which had been intended only to last for a year, remained in force for nearly two years and was repealed by the incoming Labour Government. Years later, Muldoon admitted that the freeze was a political mistake.

The second recession during Muldoon's premiership hit in September 1982. New Zealand's economy contracted again by 3% and unemployment hit 5.1% by 1983, and net emigration remained high.

In 1982, Muldoon's government supported the British in the Falklands War. While New Zealand did not directly participate in the conflict, Muldoon undertook to send the frigates HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Waikato to the Indian Ocean to relieve Royal Navy frigates, so that they could in their turn deploy in the conflict. New Zealand also broke off its diplomatic relations with Argentina. In defence of his support for the war, Muldoon wrote an article that was published in The Times, entitled "Why we Stand by our Mother Country":

We are a free and independent nation but in time of trouble we stand with our mother country...New Zealand's decision to break off diplomatic relations with Argentina over the Falklands, immediately after Britain had done so, was not because of Britain's support on the sporting issue. The reason goes much deeper than that. It is in the context of the statement made by a Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1939: "Where Britain goes, we go." We see the Falklands as British territory and the Falklands Islanders as subjects of our Queen. We live at the end of the line and we know the feeling of isolation...With the Falklands Islands, it is family. Historically, Britain has so often on great occasions thrown up the leader that the occasion demanded. I regard Margaret Thatcher as one of the finest and straightest politicians I have ever met...In 1939 we learned the folly of appeasement. A great catastrophe was the price that was paid. The military rulers of Argentina must not be appeased. New Zealand will back Britain all the way.

Later life

Muldoon was deposed as National leader shortly after the election by his deputy, Jim McLay. After being defeated in the ballot Muldoon was asked whether he was going to be a thorn in McLay's side, to which he replied "More like a little prick." He refused McLay's offer of a front bench post, instead opting to return to the backbench for the first time in over two decades. However, he continued to openly agitate against McLay, refusing to withdraw into an "elder statesman" role as McLay wanted. The relationship between the two bottomed out when Muldoon criticised the entire party leadership, forcing McLay to demote him to the lowest rank in the National caucus.

Muldoon continued to undermine McLay until 1986, when McLay was ousted in turn by his own deputy (and Muldoon's preferred candidate), Jim Bolger, who had served as Minister of Labour for the latter half of Muldoon's term as prime minister. Bolger returned Muldoon to the front bench as spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, pitting him directly against Prime Minister David Lange.

Muldoon remained as the MP for Tamaki until shortly before his death. He lived through the Fourth Labour Government's neo-liberal reforms, known as "Rogernomics", and to his dismay – to see his own man, Bolger, take up the same baton after winning the landslide election of 1990 in the form of "Ruthanasia", named after Finance Minister Ruth Richardson. Muldoon was a staunch critic of Richardson's and the Bolger government's policies.

Muldoon also opposed the legalisation of homosexual behaviour when Labour MP Fran Wilde introduced the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1985. The Bill passed as the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986.

Although he remained iconic to particular segments of society, particularly the elderly, Muldoon faded quickly as a force on the political scene. His biographer, Barry Gustafson, who described himself as not a Muldoon supporter, wrote that he still served as an active MP for his Tamaki electorate, dealing immediately with matters from all walks of life. He 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.

Financial troubles, media career, and split from National

After his tenure as prime minister, the Muldoons were heavily in debt. Muldoon was furious with New Zealand Party founder Bob Jones for splitting the vote in 1984; Muldoon labelled Jones a spoiler and took him to court. A series of court battles with the millionaire, in which each sued the other for defamation, had left Muldoon with considerable legal fees to pay. As a result of his financial desperation, he capitalised on his abrasive persona by having a short stage career, appearing in a New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show. Held at Auckland's His Majesty's Theatre (demolished soon after the production ended), Muldoon played off his novelty and starred as the narrator, starring alongside a young Russell Crowe, then going by the stage name of "Russ Le Roq". He also had minor television appearances on commercials for Panasonic (when it changed its brand name in New Zealand from "National") and in the television series Terry and the Gunrunners (as Arnos Grove) and in The Friday Frights (as the vampiric host 'Count Robula'); he also hosted a talkback radio show entitled Lilies and Other Things, referencing his favourite flower on Radio Pacific.

In his later years Muldoon's health declined as he suffered from a number of ailments, and became increasingly opposed to his successor, Jim Bolger. Alienated from National and disenchanted with government's new neoliberal economic policies (dubbed "Ruthanasia" after Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson), Muldoon announced his resignation to the party caucus on 10 November 1991.

On his Radio Pacific show, on 17 November 1991, Muldoon announced he would stand down from Parliament; he formally retired one month later, on 17 December. His retirement party featured taped speeches from Ronald Reagan (commenting that at Muldoon's age, he was only getting started) and Margaret Thatcher. One of the people organising the party was Bob Jones, who had forgiven Muldoon for their previous falling out. A by-election was held in February 1992, and was won by National's Clem Simich on a reduced majority.

Death

Muldoon fell seriously ill almost immediately after his retirement, and died in hospital on 5 August 1992, aged 70. After a state funeral in the Auckland Town Hall on 7 August 1992, he was buried at Purewa Cemetery, Meadowbank, Auckland, in a plot that faces Auckland CBD. His wife, Dame Thea Muldoon, died on 24 February 2015, at the age of 87.

Honours

On 18 March 1981, Muldoon was bestowed with the mātai, or Samoan chiefly title, of Leasapai. He is the first New Zealand Prime Minister to have been awarded this honour.

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. He was only the second New Zealand prime minister (after Sir Keith Holyoake) to receive a knighthood while still in office; at the time he said, "If anyone thought it was a signal of an early retirement, it is not."

Public image and legacy

Muldoon was a polarising figure while in power, and remains one to this day. During his time in power he regularly eschewed formality, even punching political demonstrators. Praised for his populist appeal, he shaped his reputation as a rough, tough, and thoroughly cantankerous politician through his self-determination, even at the risk of his own political longevity. He 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. Muldoon openly used homophobic language, and he refused to legalise male homosexual activity and abortion, both crimes at the time. However, after the New Zealand Truth attempted to out his youngest MP Marilyn Waring, the 26-year-old Baby of the House, Muldoon moved swiftly to minimise publicity and protect her.

Muldoon declared upon becoming prime minister that he hoped to leave New Zealand "no worse off than I found it". Historians such as Gustafson and Brian Easton criticise Muldoon because, according to them, he pursued an ultimately unsustainable line of policy. Former Cabinet Minister Hugh Templeton argued Muldoon's lack of "strategic vision" denied New Zealand a careful, measured economic restructuring that paved the way for Rogernomics.

Muldoon enjoyed engaging positively with criminal gangs such as Black Power, and made uncouth public statements that emphasised "blokeiness". Both his physical appearance (with his distinctive facial scar) and personal style led to the nicknames "Scarface" and "Piggy" – both of which he appropriated himself. 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. Members paid him solemn respect by performing a haka during his funeral in 1992. For his acrimonious behaviour he was also dubbed a "bully", and posthumously he was said to have "run the country like a gang" himself.

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. Both Muldoon and Trump pursued populist protectionist methods aimed at creating both full employment and self-sufficiency and promoted anti-immigration policies, while demonstrating aggressive and tactless personal behaviour.

In popular culture

Muldoon was frequently lampooned in the TVNZ-produced satire show McPhail & Gadsby during the 1980s.

American President Ronald Reagan would sometimes mistake the last name of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to be Muldoon after changes in government in both New Zealand and Canada in 1984, with many Canadian political cartoonists taking up on this error and referring to Mulroney as 'Muldoon'.

In 1995, actor Ian Mune played Sir Robert Muldoon in the made-for-television mini-series Fallout, depicting the end of the Muldoon National Government.

A corner on the Remutaka Hill Road section of State Highway 2 has been named after the former prime minister. Safety work carried out between 2009 and 2012, costing NZ$16.5 million, included realignment to ease the corner.

On 8 January 1977 when he was at Piha Beach for the re-opening of the Piha Surf Life Saving Club club-house after the Project 40 rebuild, he joined the Auckland Rescue Helicopter lifeguards jumping into the surf from the helicopter. He was lifted out of the water and transported back to the beach slung under the helicopter using the rescue strop connected into the cargo hook.

During Robert Muldoons term there were a few songs that charted that referenced him the first in 1975 was "The Ballad of Robbie Muldoon" by Gray Bartlett and Brendan Dugan which reach number four on the NZ top 50. Another charting single was "Culture" by The Knobz in 1980 it peaked at number five. It was a protest song based on Robert's refusal to remove a 40% tax on locally recorded music. The subsequent year the tax was lifted. In 1981 the song by Blam Blam Blam called "No Depression in NZ" peaked at number 11. The song was a jab at the Muldoon government as well as the Springbok tour of the time.