A film on Rogernomics: In a Land of Plenty

The world from New Zealand's point of view in the early 1980s was a very different place to today. We were a world of award rates; regulation; highly unionised labour; wages, not bonuses; where getting more than a few dollars in international currency was difficult; and where the banks closed at 3 on a Friday afternoon and didn't open again until 9 on a Monday; and where wives had to have their husband's signature to borrow money from the bank. Our currency, the New Zealand dollar, or NZD - had its value fixed to the USD until 1971, when the US dropped the gold standard. From 1971 until 1984, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) fixed the New Zealand dollar value against a mix of trade-weighted currencies, including the Japanese Yen, which was going through an amazing growth period. Why would we have done that? Because our Prime Minister, Sir Rob Muldoon, was also the president of the World Bank at the time, and - for a very right-wing man - had the arrogance of the 'always right'.

However, the left is often not much better. 

With record inflation, growing unemployment, solid unions and a declining manufacturing sector, change was coming our way, whether we wanted it or not.  The full-length documentary, In a Land of Plenty, by Alistair Barry (2002) is effectively the story of unemployment in New Zealand. This documentary takes its starting point as the 1930s Depression, and works towards the 'Rogernomics' economic policy which focused on achieving full employment by the mid-1980s Labour Government. Exploring how the 1984 Labour government shifted focus, and followed the policies of Finance Minister Roger Douglas, dubbed ‘Rogernomics', the Director's perspective takes a humanist lens to illustrate the resulting negative impacts on society, "as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed".  

 

This documentary helps us to understand how employment relations have developed over the past forty years in Aotearoa, showing how government policy has influenced our views on employment.

At least ten of 'levers' - used to monitor and control employment, business growth, and inflation - are outlined in the documentary. 

See how many you can spot!

Sam

References:

Barry, A. (Director). (2022). In the Land of Plenty (documentary film). NZ Onscreen. https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/in-a-land-of-plenty-2002

New Zealand History. (2022). The 1980s. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-1980s/overview