Juggernaut: The Story of the Fourth Labour Government
The Spinoff
Forty years ago a brandy-soaked snap election set in motion a seismic chain of events in New Zealand politics. Across a series of extraordinary scenes, Aotearoa...
Ross Vintiner was right by David Lange's side in opposition and in government as his head of press. If you enjoyed the Juggernaut series on the fourth Labour government, you'll enjoy his insights into the singular figure of Lange and the whirl of the ninth floor across those wild years.
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
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1:10:29
6. Breakup
The Lange-Douglas relationship frays further as the prime minister unilaterally pulls the pin on a flat tax package signed off by cabinet. A furious Douglas flies back from Europe, but the split only deepens, as Lange declares it’s time for radical reforms to pause and calls for a “cup of tea” and the two Beehive offices go to war, with Douglas loyalists putting the blame on Lange’s lover, Margaret Pope. Something has to give, and soon it does.
New and exclusive interviews with Roger Douglas, Stephen Mills, Richard Prebble, Geoffrey Palmer, Hekia Parata, Gary McCormick and Margaret Wilson.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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51:40
5. Nine Day Wonder
At the urging of the gay community, Fran Wilde takes the homosexual law reform bill to parliament in 1985. The campaign encounters fierce resistance from MPs on both the National and Labour sides of the house. Is it fair for Labour today to claim it as a party triumph? At the same time, strides are being taken in introducing the Treaty of Waitangi into political and legal structures, as part of a blizzard of reforms. In one crucial example, change will come after David Lange misreads his notes.
New and exclusive interviews with Fran Wilde, Bill Logan, Hekia Parata, Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble and Margaret Wilson.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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51:00
4. Quantum Leap
Roger Douglas’s radical overhaul of the NZ economy kicks through the gears. A new investor class gets high on champagne and shares. What could go wrong? A bonfire of subsidies leaves farmers on their knees. Corporatisation sends thousands of state workers to the dole queue. Labour is returned to power in 1987 despite a campaign with starkly contrasting messages. For Lange, victory is bittersweet. When the global crash smashes New Zealand, Douglas seizes the opportunity to go harder, and go faster.
New and exclusive interviews with Richard Prebble, Rudi Robinson-Cole, Kevin Geddes, Kim Workman, Bob Harvey, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Prebble and Margaret Wilson.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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43:48
3. Uranium on Your Breath
In a tense and divided cold war world, David Lange emerges as an anti-nuclear champion, despite being out of contact, deep in the Pacific when the crisis strikes. The Americans are furious: didn’t the NZ PM pledge to smooth the waters in Labour to allow a US ship visit? They become even angrier when he takes the stage at the Oxford Union, to global acclaim. When an act of state terrorism sees a Greenpeace ship sunk and a photographer killed in Auckland harbour, the public mood on nukes only solidifies.
New and exclusive interviews with Geoffrey Palmer, former US assistant secretary of state Richard Armitage, Fran Wilde, Richard Prebble and Margaret Wilson.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
About Juggernaut: The Story of the Fourth Labour Government
Forty years ago a brandy-soaked snap election set in motion a seismic chain of events in New Zealand politics. Across a series of extraordinary scenes, Aotearoa lurches from crisis to crisis, with strongman prime minister Rob Muldoon replaced by a Labour Party led by the charismatic David Lange and a finance minister, Roger Douglas, determined to shift the country from the developed world’s most regulated economy to the most embracing of the free market.
An economic revolution comes alongside a battle with the US over nukes on the global stage, a terrorist attack in Auckland harbour, and sweeping social and cultural shifts. The reverberations are still being felt today – for many, the impacts remain raw.
In a new six-part series, Toby Manhire interviews more than 20 people at the heart of those changes, dives deep into the archives, and presents compelling audio of David Lange that has never been heard publicly, to tell the story of an incredible, whiplash chapter in New Zealand history.
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
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