Douglas advises speed in reform
PA > Wellington The former Minister of Finance, Mr Roger Douglas, says his only regret after his sacking last year is that economic reforms have not gone fast enough or far enough. Mr Douglas, who was in Sydney to address a chartered accountants’ conference, said the Government had no option but to move fast on hardline economic reform. “What has happened in New Zealand was that for 30 years we’ve basically not dealt with fundamentals,” Mr Douglas told the Australians. “I think, if you look back 30 years ago, New Zealand had the third highest standard of living in the world. “In those 30 years we’ve slipped from about third in the world to about twenty-fifth. “Our decline was because we stopped doing the things that we do best, or we tried to buy prosperity. We protected privilege and a lot of people against change.” Mr Douglas said in 1984 the Labour Government had to come in and dismantle protectionism and privilege that had built up over 20 to 30 years.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890403.2.16
Bibliographic details
Press, 3 April 1989, Page 2
Word Count
175Douglas advises speed in reform Press, 3 April 1989, Page 2
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.