Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand

Significant policies

Economic

• A range of economic reforms collectively known as Rogernomics. These included:
• *Floating the New Zealand dollar.
• *Removing all agricultural subsidies.
• *Introducing GST.
• *New banks were allowed.
• *Reducing income and company tax.
• *Removing controls on foreign exchange.
• *Abolishing or reducing import tariffs.
• *Corporatising many State owned enterprises such as the Post Office, Telecom and Air New Zealand to be more like private businesses. Some of these were later privatised.
• *Disestablishing the NZ Forest Service and sold the forests.
• *Abolishing price controls and interest rate control.
• *Privatised state assets, such as New Zealand Steel.
• *Enabling the Reserve Bank to autonomously pursue an inflation target.
• *Improving the reporting and accountability for government expenditure.

  Foreign policy

Defence

• In 1989, New Zealand withdraws all forces of the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment from Dieppe Barracks, Singapore.

  Constitutional

• Created the Royal Commission on the Electoral System.
• Constitution Act 1986 – codified important constitutional conventions in one enactment.
• New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – enumerated civil and political rights.

Social policy

Justice

• Legalised sex between males over the age of 16.
• Passed the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, introducing Family Group Conferences.
• The death penalty was fully abolished.
• Rape within marriage was criminalised.
• Road safety standards were improved through tighter law enforcement of substance-affected drivers.

  Social development and welfare

• Spending on education and health was significantly increased from 1985/86 to 1988/89, by 24% and 9.6% respectively.
• Disability benefits were increased, with the 1985 budget raising the Handicapped Child's Allowance by 31% and the disability allowance by 80%. A special earnings exemption of $20 per week was also introduced for severely disabled beneficiaries as an incentive to personal effort.
• A new family support benefit raised the incomes of some poor families.
• The Social Assistance programme was reformed with the introduction of a guaranteed minimum family benefit. This fixed an income floor above the statutory minimum wage for persons with dependant children in full-time employment. Known as the Guaranteed Minimum Family Income, it guaranteed working families roughly 80% of the average post-tax wage, although its impact on participation rates was limited by rising unemployment and high effective marginal tax rates.
• The abatement level for most benefits was raised to make it easier for social security beneficiaries to enter the workforce without fear of losing their benefits until they were more established.
• Social assistance programmes were expanded and consolidated.
• A Ministry of Women's Affairs was established to promote equality for women; the first minister was Ann Hercus.
• The Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 extended coverage to women and their partners or spouses to take unpaid leave from their employment.
• Skills training programme were continuously developed, as characterised by the Access programme, which trained 60,000 people a year by 1990.
• The 1985 Tax Reform Package reduced the tax burden for low and middle-income households and left most New Zealanders better off.
• The 1985 Budget made the benefits system fairer by introducing more generous income exemption limits and benefit abatement. Although benefits became taxable, the budget also gave price compensation to beneficiaries for the introduction of GST and included them in Family Support payments. Altogether, these measures meant that beneficiaries were actually better off on the introduction of GST and this in turn reduced inequalities.
• Liberalised immigration to New Zealand in 1987, particularly for skilled migrants.
• The government set out to encourage the Broadcasting Corporation to provide appropriate facilities and to recruit and train sufficient staff already fluent in the use of Maori and Pacific Island languages. TVNZ's commitment to the development and strengthening of an independent and indigenous production presence on screen was demonstrated "in the appointment of a Commissioning Editor to pursue an increase in the acquisition of independent productions, and in the setting up of a Maori Programmes Department whose Head had a special involvement in establishing a training scheme for Maori broadcasters." Similar encouragement was also provided for Pacific Island broadcasting with Tagata Pasifika first screening in 1987 with Pacific Island staff involved in its production.
• Accommodation Benefit was increased.
• Superannuation and other benefits were increased.
• Universal payment of the Family Benefit was abolished to target families most in need.
• Family Benefit capitalisation limits for first-home seekers were increased.
• Changes were made to National Superannuation by ensuring that "all new superannuitants would be paid the same rate, regardless of age of spouse".
• Increased assistance was provided to veteran pensioners and single superannuitants.
• Annual indexation of war-related pensions, social security benefits, and National Superannuation was restored due to falling inflation.
• A Special Accommodation Benefit for low-income earners struggling with rents was introduced.
• Tax concessions were introduced for low-income families within the Guaranteed Family Income and Family Support schemes.
• Income limits for Family Benefit capitalisation were increased for modest-income earners.
• New policies were developed to address the needs of women and senior citizens, together with general diverse housing needs.

  Industrial relations

• The 1987 Labour Relations Act was passed with the intention of increasing unions' relative power while at the same time decentralising bargaining to the 'enterprise' level. Unions were bolstered by the passing of this legislation.
• The closed shop for private sector unions was reinstated.
• Social service spending for public sector unions was expanded.

  Education

• In tertiary education, the Fourth Labour Government introduced charges equalling 10 percent of tuition costs, although students on low incomes were compensated with targeted allowances.
• Public funding of day care was increased substantially and maternity and paternity leave were extended.
• Improvements in education were made, as demonstrated by the expansion and strengthening of early childhood education, significant increases of teaching staff at kindergarten, enhancement of teacher education, attention to special education and support for Taha Maori, and funding for a measure which allowed for the universalisation of three year integrated childcare and kindergarten teacher training.
• The Education Amendment Act 1987 amended the 1964 Education Act so that persons with special educational needs had the same rights to enrol and receive education at institutions established under the Act as persons without such needs.
• Multi-cultural education was encouraged via increased levels of recruitment of teachers from minority cultures, and this policy resulted in a considerable increase in the number of applicants accepted for training as well as in more minority teachers for primary, secondary, and multicultural schools.
• Access to extramural study was significantly expanded.
• The fee for overseas students was reduced from $1,500 to $1,000 in 1984 and then abolished in 1987.
• Vocational opportunities for school leavers were significantly expanded, as characterised by the merging of various vocational programmes into a single Training Assistance Programme.
• Early childhood teacher training was extended.
• The University Entrance examination was abolished, which had a far-reaching significance for the education of students in the senior forms of secondary schools. "Instead of being seen solely as preparation for university study, the courses leading to Sixth Form Certificate provided a wider and more general education. This award more satisfactorily accommodated the diverse needs of students in Form 6, and thus recognised the changing, broader composition of the student population at that level".
• In 1985, the National Film Library initiated "a video cassette loan service alongside its traditional 16 mm film services.* This measure provided schools with "access to the wide range of programmes being produced in video and television format".
• Funding was allocated to early childhood education, which allowed for the universalisation of three-year integrated childcare and kindergarten teacher training.
• The Education Amendment Act 1987 altered the 1964 Education Act so that persons with special educational needs had the same rights to enrol and receive education at institutions established under the Act as persons without such needs.
• Four-minute reading and reading recovery, the teaching procedure which reduces the incidence of reading failure among 6-year-old children, was extended to a further 200 schools between 1985 and 1986.
• Five new Kura Kaupapa schools were commissioned as a means of raising Maori educational achievement.
• Spending on full-time primary, secondary, polytechnic and area sector school teaching/tutoring/teachers college positions was increased.
• Spending on preschool education was increased.
• Extra funding was provided for the mainstreaming of special education students.

  Health

• The Nurses Amendment Act ensured that midwives regained autonomy as independent practitioners and provided them with the same levels of pay as doctors who practised obstetrics.
• The government subsidy of general practitioner care was increased in 1988 and again in 1990 for the elderly, children, and the chronically ill. From September 1990 onwards, practitioners were provided with the option of joining "a contract scheme which offered an inflation-adjusted subsidy for all consultations in return for limits on user charges and the provision of patient information for a national database". This scheme was abandoned by the Fourth National Government
• Spending on the General Medical Services and immunisation benefits was increased.

  Housing

• The Homestart programme gave families and individuals on low to middle incomes a first home start with subsidised assistance to bridge the deposit gap.
• The housing package in the November 1984 budget introduced flexible loans levels which reflected individual family circumstances and regional differences in house prices thus granting access to mortgage finance on a fairer basis.
• The housing package in the November 1984 budget introduced flexible loans levels "reflecting individual family circumstances and regional differences in house prices thus granting access to mortgage finance on a fairer basis".
• Changes to loan and formal experience requirements for settlement and other land purchase made it easier for young and new farmers to acquire land.
• A pilot fund was put aside for financing housing projects aimed to help low-income women and families.
• Encouragement was given to local authorities to purchase existing homes for modernisation and re-sale. Purchase and rehabilitation loans authorised for local authorities increased by over 3465% between 1985–7.
• The government proposed to lodge bond money with an independent authority which would invest it in authorised institutions rather than it being held by landlords, and claimed that: "Interest on this money will be used to cover the costs of the tenancy tribunal." The subsequent Residential Tenancies Act 1986 "legislated for all interest paid out of the bond fund to be used in payment of all salaries, wages, fees, allowances, expenses, costs, and disbursements payable to the Tenancy Tribunal".
• The Residential Tenancies Act provided new guarantees for tenants.
• The income tax abatement scheme for interest payments on first homes was abolished.
• Income-related mortgage repayments were introduced.
• Expenditure was increased for Maori Affairs department lending, Housing Corporation loans, refinancing of home loans, and the construction of state rental units.
• A new housing package was introduced, designed to target housing assistance to those in greatest need.
• More flexible Housing Corporation lending was introduced, with interest rates adjusted to take into account a person's ability to pay.
• Increased expenditure was allocated to increasing the construction or acquisition of the Housing Corporation's rental units.
• Family Benefit capitalisation for modest-income first-home seekers was increased.
• A Special Accommodation Benefit for wage and salary earners having problems with paying their rent was introduced.
• The Rent Limitation Regulations were abolished to encourage new investment in the private rental sector.
• Income-related rates and rents were introduced.
• The Old People's Home Regulations required that bathrooms, kitchens, sanitary fittings and laundries in Old People's Homes have an approved sink with an adequate supply of hot and cold water.
• Expenditure was allocated for New Zealanders unable to find accommodation in the private sector, together with expenditure for state housing rental stock.
• The special lending programme was expanded to help community and welfare organisations to provide support housing.

  Institutional reform

• The Department of Conservation was established to "…manage endangered, vulnerable, rare, and protected plants, animals, and ecosystems to ensure their long term viability".
• A Ministry of Consumer Affairs was established "to advise the Government on matters affecting consumers; to promote and participate in the review of consumer related legislation, policies and programmes; to promote awareness among consumers and the business sector of their rights and obligations in the market place; and to support and co-ordinate non-Government involvement in consumer issues".
• Government departments were required to meet the "demand for the placement of people with disabilities in the Public Service." Sixty places were "allocated for the Employment of Disabled Persons scheme" and by the end of the government's first term, 57 had been filled.
• The government introduced ‘A New Deal in Training and Employment Opportunities’ which represented a shift "to an active longer term labour market approach, centred on training and skill development and integration into the workforce".
• Government departments were required to meet the "demand for the placement of people with disabilities in the Public Service." Sixty places were "allocated for the Employment of Disabled Persons scheme" and by the end of the Fifth labour Government's first term, fifty-seven had been filled.
• In 1988/89, OSH sought to emphasise health in the workplace by "enforcing compliance with the standards established by regulation or in Codes of Practice."
• The 1988 State Sector Act and the 1989 Public Finance Act established private sector-style wage and work disciplines in the traditional welfare state and in those ‘non-commercial’ agencies still overseen by the State Services Commission, leading to "more customer-friendly service delivery in many instances".

  Treaty of Waitangi and Maori policy

• Enabling the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate Treaty claims dating back to 1840.
• Making Te Reo Māori an official language of New Zealand, with the Māori Language Act. The act also established the Maori Language Commission, which amongst its objectives include the maintenance and promotion of the Māori language.
• Responded to the 1987 New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General ruling of the Court of Appeal by setting out its own principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1989.
• The Papakainga housing scheme was introduced, which enabled people to borrow money to construct or purchase housing on Maori land in multiple ownership.
• The Maori attestation scheme, He Tohu Matauranga, was extended to the primary service. The attestation process was administered by the trustees of a marae. It confirmed the candidate's fluency in the Maori language and understanding of Maori culture. Applicants for primary teacher training could use attestation as an additional criterion for entry to a three-year training course. As a result, "Maori enrollments at colleges of education increased by 175 from 1988 to 1989".
• The Runanga Iwi Act of 1990 empowered tribal authorities to deliver government programmes. It was repealed by the incoming National government.
• The Māori Loan Affair was exposed by Winston Peters on 16 December 1986, and continued into January and February 1987.

  Environmental policy

• The Environment Act 1986, which created the Ministry for the Environment, and,
• The Conservation Act 1987, which created the Department of Conservation.

Formation

The 1987 election

Division over Rogernomics

Defeat and legacy

Election results

Prime ministers

Cabinet ministers