A brief
history of protests in New Zealand
This is a
brief account of New Zealand’s long history of protests, some that were
successful and some that failed, some that were worthy and some that were not.
New Zealanders as a nation have always been ready to speak up and take
appropriate action, usually lawful, when they see an imminent new law as
something they won’t like. Similarly, changes in business, foreign ownership,
banking, education, welfare, health, labour, immigration, and practically any
other change in society that they suspect will be harmful in some way, will
bring determined protest action.
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Sir Walter Nash was New Zealand's
oldest Prime Minister |
Many
protesters are of the one-protest type. They go about their daily lives rarely
making waves, until some imminent change has a galvanising effect on them, and
they join, even lead, the marchers. When it is all over, win or lose, they go
back to their previous lives, living quietly below the radar. A small number of
protestors are more of the career type and can be seen actively engaged in an
array of protests. Whenever there is protest, they will be there. Some of these
career protestors have another overriding, perhaps hidden agenda, and may be
political party activists or at least sympathisers. Many protest movements have
within their ranks both kinds of protesters. The career types are usually a
tiny minority, but often in a commanding role because of their experience and
ability to organise.
So when
did protesting start in New Zealand? The most likely date would have to be 18
December 1642, when the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sent some men to collect
fresh water on the South Island’s north-west coast. The coastal area was an
important agricultural place for local Maori and fearing that the foreigners
were about to plunder their crops, they protested by killing four members of
Tasman’s crew. Tasman subsequently called the place Murderers Bay, and sailed
away never to return to New Zealand. It wouldn’t be a stretch of the
imagination to say that the first known protest was highly successful, although
somewhat misguided, and certainly a gross over-reaction. In later centuries,
Maori would prove time and again that they were fully capable of mounting
effective, determined protests, usually in a peaceful manner and within the
law.
Having
been born in New Zealand some little time after Tasman’s fiasco, this writer’s
memory of protests goes back only to the late 1940’s. I was at primary school
in Warkworth when Mr Biro invented his famous ball-point pen to replace
ink-wells and nibs, and the scratching sound of sharp instruments on delicate writing
paper. Every parent in the district and, I discovered later, in the country and
around the world, didn’t want a bar of the ball-point pens. It was claimed that
the new pens would spoil children’s hand-writing if they were allowed into
schools. Others claimed that the whole education system would break down, kids
would grow up illiterate, and Kiwis would be the laughing stock of the world.
Some people claimed that introducing ball-point pens was a conspiracy to
destroy society so that the already rich and powerful people of the world would
have complete world dominance. Some parents threatened to pull their children
out of school. How stupid was that! But, as time went by, people got to like
their new ball-point pens, schools eventually accepted them, and even the
famous Parker Pen Company that had been producing upmarket fountain pens since
1888, came into line in 1960 and started producing ball-points. Meanwhile, the protesters melted out of sight and out of mind.
Before we
leave education there is the case of Helen Connon (1859-1903). The Connons
staged what was pretty much a one family protest as they railed against the
exclusion of girls from many schools. This was in the day when a woman’s place
was in the bedroom and the kitchen only, and they didn’t need to be educated
for that. The Connons had to move to a new town to find a school that would
accept Helen. Helen not only got into a school, but she excelled and went on to
become the first New Zealand female university graduate (1881), and she
graduated with honours, which was a first for a woman in the British Empire.
Later she was a school principal.
Almost
every invention has met with determined protest action before its launch onto
the market. The telephone was no exception and even now, 135 years on, a very
small number of people refuse to have anything to do with it.
Motor
vehicles were widely objected to for a variety of reasons. People sited noise,
pollution, and safety. Others objected because they saw motor vehicles as play
things of the rich and famous. Still others objected because they feared that
motor vehicles would frighten their horses. Even now many people believe that
motor vehicles are the world’s greatest curse. But if they cared to think about
the state of a world now without motor vehicles, they would realize that
without them the world would be in a truly frightful state as we walked knee
deep in horse manure, died early, and were mostly unemployed. The standard of
living that we take for granted in the 21st century would not have
been possible without motor vehicles. That protest was wrong, even though it
may be right to campaign for safer vehicles and safer driving.
Then
there was the protest mounted by one man alone. Samuel Duncan Parnell arrived
in New Zealand in 1840 and became self-employed because his conditions of
employment were unacceptable to employers who could have given him work. He
refused to work more than 40 hours a week. Parnell found little support during
his lifetime and had been dead 46 years when the first Labour Government
introduced the 40 hour working week as standard.
Changes
to New Zealand’s voting system, however minor, have always attracted widespread
protest. In the first general election in 1854 only male land owners over the
age of 21 were qualified to vote. Non-land owning residents protested, but in
vain. It wasn’t until 1874 that all males over 21 were able to vote. It took
many years of highly organized protest to have women accepted as voters in 1893,
the first country in the world to do so.
A minor
change that involves fewer people has been the question of votes for prisoners,
and their voting status has changed countless time. Labour usually changes the
law to include prisoners and National changes the law to exclude them, and each
time the debate gets heated.
The
campaign for the introduction of Mixed Member Proportional Representation goes
back a long way and started as a protest movement, with government and
conservative business interests leading the opposition to change. As pressure
mounted the government agreed to hold referendums on the question, and
subsequently there was a change and the first MMP election was held in 1996.
But even now the system, although supported by a majority of electors, remains
controversial.
In the
early 1960's a decision was made to change New Zealand’s currency from pounds,
shillings and pence (£.s.d.) to a decimal system of dollars and cents. Instead
of 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound, New Zealand was to
have 100 cents to a dollar. The protest ran on for years. As I remember, it was
probably only exceeded in fiery debate and action by the Vietnam War and 1981
Springbok tour protests, both of which I support in hindsight. It is difficult
to identify the main objection to the currency change, but one that springs to
mind was the disrespect for our British heritage. It didn’t matter that the UK
and Australia were also preparing to change. Another objection was that it was
too American. People said that children would lose their mathematical skills
because the new currency would be too easy to work with. Many people said that
they would refuse to accept the new currency. Inflation was another reason for opposing the
new currency because half-pennies were going to disappear, and items priced at
11 pence would become 10 cents which was previously 12 pennies. The 1960s were
comparatively good times economically for New Zealand, but people said it
wasn’t the right time to change, and that it would cost millions of dollars
(sorry pounds) to replace all the coins and banknotes. But in the end, the
coins and notes were replaced as required over many years, and New Zealanders
got on with life and other issues.
Coming
hard on the heels of decimal currency was the negotiations between New Zealand
and Australia for a free trade agreement, which became known as CER (Closer
Economic Relations). Of necessity the negotiations were conducted behind closed
doors, but both governments were unfairly criticized for that. As it was every
industry on both sides of the Tasman Sea wanted special consideration, and to
negotiate publicly would have created a shambles that would have destroyed any
possibility of agreement. Union leaders were particularly vocal in their
conviction that unemployment would rise. The people of both countries were
convinced that the other country would be the only one to gain any
advantages. But the politicians and
departmental advisers beavered away for years before finally signing an
agreement that did justice to the people of both countries. CER has been a
success, and was a small step in the direction of trans-Tasman union, a future
possible step that could also benefit both countries.
EFTPOS
(Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) was created in the USA in 1981 as
a secure and immediate system of payment using debit and credit cards. It was
one of the greatest advances in retailing since the beginning of time, but it
was bitterly opposed everywhere. In New Zealand the main objections included;
it’s too American and the CIA is behind it, it will allow retailers and others
to empty bank accounts with a simple zap of the card, and it will allow
criminals access to your money. Most people said that they would refuse to have
anything to do with EFTPOS. But by 1982 the first EFTPOS terminals were
installed in New Zealand, and gradually the protesters faded away. Soon EFTPOS
was so common that people started closing their cheque accounts, and even
stopped carrying large amounts of cash. EFTPOS was an absolute winner, and
today most people wouldn’t know how to shop without it.
In the
early part of the 20th century, New Zealand was a small colony with
a lot of insecurity. The British had already sent a strong message urging us to
find our own way in the world. They sent us a flag with a small union flag in
one corner along with the stars of the Southern Cross. In 1907 they went a step
further with the passage of the Statute of Westminster (an Act officially
bestowing independence). But New Zealanders, led by farmers, resisted. They
wanted to stay British. Without British citizenship, families would be torn
apart, farm produce would rot at the farm gate, and the country which
considered itself more English than England would be plunged into bankruptcy.
The people spoke and the government listened. It took another 40 years for the
New Zealand government to finally ratify the Statute of Westminster (Dominion
Day, 26 September 1947), but the event went almost unnoticed and our most
important day constitutionally is not even a national holiday, nor was a new
flag adopted in recognition of independence. Meanwhile, generations of Kiwis
have been born, lived and have died without understanding that their country is
fully independent. As a protest, the resistance to independence was highly successful.
As an exercise in national esteem, it has been New Zealand’s greatest failure.
Of less
constitutional significance, and now also largely forgotten in the mists of
time, was the Middle Island Association of Dunedin, which in the 1870’s
demanded separation of the South Island from the rest of New Zealand. The
meetings, protest marches and demands to Parliament went on for years before
the protesters gave up. Just as surely as Tasmania is Australia’s smallest and
poorest state, if the Middle Islanders had got their way they would only have
succeeded in creating two Tasmania’s. The Middle Island protest failed in every
way possible, except perhaps that they may have created a lineage that now
includes some Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement protesters, who time will
prove are entirely on the wrong track. Some people are so anti-free trade that
they don’t even like one town trading with another town.
Even the
medical profession has not been above making out-of-step protests. A 1913
medical conference held in Auckland set up a committee to lobby the government
about the dangers of educating girls.
Although
largely forgotten now, and pretty much ignored at the time, was the sit-in
peaceful protest of the Parihaka Maori in Taranaki in the 1870’s and 1880’s. It
was their land, but the government and land-hungry white settlers wanted it too.
So the government had 400 protesters arrested and imprisoned without trial for
16 months. Their descendants had to wait 130 years for redress in the form of
compensation and an apology. The land was never returned to them. That protest
was admirable, but largely futile.
Public pressure
and protest action stirred the government of the day to hold a referendum on
the sale of alcohol in 1911. The result was that 55% of New Zealanders wanted a
total ban on alcohol sales, but the government had already set the bar at 60%,
so the protesters failed nationally but achieved some local dry areas. The
three-yearly liquor licencing poll became a permanent feature of general
elections for almost 100 years, but gradually the support for prohibition
slipped away and all areas eventually became wet again. Had the protesters succeeded, it would have just needed an Al Capone to move in, and the crime
rate and drunkenness rate would have soared. It was a protest that was
determined and well-meaning, but sadly lacking in sound reasoning.
In 1972,
New Zealand’s Equal Pay Act became law, making women legally entitled to the
same pay as men for the same work. But in spite of bitter opposition and
protests by business leaders and male working-class voters, the National Government
of the day pressed ahead. It was claimed that equality would put businesses
into liquidation, destroy the economy and be detrimental to the status of
working men. But in the end, life went on and the standard of living was raised
a notch for everyone. However, it has to be said that even today there are
still some pay inequities involving female workers.
In the
post WWII years, there was a perceived ‘juvenile delinquency’ epidemic as a crime
spree gripped the opinion maker’s imagination. The cry went out loud and strong
to imprison the offenders for longer terms with hard labour and bread and water,
and to put them in the military to give them some discipline and training. In
1949, Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser finally acted by announcing a
referendum on compulsory military training (CMT) for all males aged 18. The
voters scooped up the opportunity (18 year-olds didn’t get a vote) and voted
77.9% in favour to 22.1% against. It was probably the most overwhelming vote
ever affecting youth. But CMT did nothing to reduce crime and turned out to be
one of New Zealand’s most expensive failures. A later Labour Government led by Norman
Kirk, allowed CMT to slip quietly into oblivion. The protesters had been 100%
wrong. However, in a footnote to the demise of CMT, people in the military were
said to be ‘On Her Majesty’s Service’ and letters from the government carried
the OHMS message on the envelope. But then there was a protest movement called
OHMS which was Organisation to Halt Military Service, and they won their war without
firing a single shot.
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After
eight years in power (1949-1957) the National Government (Holland and Holyoake)
lost power to Labour led by Walter Nash, the oldest person to hold the office
of prime minister in New Zealand. After electing a Speaker, Nash had a majority
in the House of only one seat. He had the very able Arnold Nordmeyer as his
Minister of Finance, and Nordmeyer could see that some economic reforms were
needed to keep the country on the straight and narrow. In his first budget,
Nordie as he was known, increased the tax on tobacco and alcohol. There was
immediate and widespread protest and Nordie is only remembered now for his 1958
Black Budget. At the next general election Keith Holyoake’s National Party was
swept to power with 46 seats to Labour’s 34. The beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking protester got their way and defeated a government that had faced up to its
responsibilities, in spite of the obvious repercussions that lay ahead.
Also, in
the year of the Black Budget, New Zealand’s first supermarket, Foodtown, opened
in Otahuhu, after locals protested to stop it going ahead. Fearing the effect
on small businesses, many people said that they would refuse to shop at
Foodtown, claiming that by a combined effort they could send it broke and put a
stop to all future supermarkets. Needless to say, Foodtown quickly became New
Zealand’s busiest shop and branches opened throughout the country. Since 1958
the number of owner operated shops, and the number of wage earners in retailing,
has continued to outstrip population growth.
The
introduction of television in 1960 tells a similar story. Thousands of people said
they would refuse to buy a television, and if everyone did that, the problem
would go away. They were probably the sons and daughters of the people who said
they would refuse to have a telephone in the house.
Much has
been written about French nuclear testing in the Pacific, the 1981 Springbok
Rugby Tour, the sale of government assets, the Vietnam War, and many other
issues and protests. For that reason they have not been included here. This is
about other protests that were important in their own way, but are now largely
forgotten.
Forgotten
now, is the bail-out of Air New Zealand. The airline had been government owned
from its inception in 1940, but in 2001 it was a public company listed on the
stock exchange with many Kiwis holding small share parcels alongside corporate
investors. But due to changing markets and some not so wise strategies, the
airline hit head winds in 2001 and was in danger of collapse. The government of
the day offered to buy into the company. They could see that a failed Air New
Zealand would have ramifications beyond the airline itself, creating a domino
effect that could cause a major economic downturn and large-scale unemployment.
Almost to a man, the public were up in arms at the proposal. It was a waste of
money. The airline should be allowed to fail. However, the Clark Government
went ahead and acquired 75% of the increased capital of the airline at 25 cents
a share and Air New Zealand survived to fly another day. However, the protesters were out in force again in 2014 when the Government sold part of its
stake at $1.65 a share. To some people, government can do no right.
One of
the longest and most bitter protests reached a peak in the 1970’s and 1980’s
led by the unions and churches, unlikely bedfellows in the eyes of many. In
1936 it had become illegal to operate a retail business on a Saturday or
Sunday. But with the introduction of supermarkets and generally larger retail
shops, the movement to extend trading hours picked up some steam. The protesters came out in force declaring that weekend trading would spell the end
of orderly society, workers’ rights, and about a million other lame reasons. In
1980, the law changed to allow shopping until midday on a Saturday, and in 1989
all day Saturday and Sunday became the rule. Now, the people who were going to
boycott shops that changed to the new hours, can be seen filling the checkout
lines in every shop and supermarket in the country. Seven day shopping is now popular and
convenient. But like so many other protests, before and after this protest, it
is now conveniently forgotten.
As usual,
when all the hoo-hah dies down, life goes on.
