Labour 1990 campaign open Music: “Work together, grow together, the future is ours to make together.” Gary McCormick (TV personality): Good evening. With an election coming up there are some very important questions which require answers. I’ve got two very important people coming in to provide those answers. Here they are now!” McCormick: “Well you look like a bit of a tough guy on television, you do have that look about you, but I have heard rumours that you are not really as tough as you look. Mike Moore: “Well I can’t help how I look, but if I had my way I’d look slightly differently wouldn’t I. McCormick: “Well I’ve no idea, it doesn’t come from me, but anyway. I hear you have a weakness when it comes to small animals and defenceless creatures. Mike Moore: “Yes, I’m a softie as far as animals are concerned. I love animals. McCormick: “He is getting emotional now. Yvonne: “A really good example is when he was a child, and he went to the local picture theatre in Kawakawa, do you want to recount that story. Mike Moore: “Oh yes, Old Yeller, if you haven’t seen it, it is a magnificent Walt Disney movie about an old Labrador who has got to be put down, you see, it is very sad. And when I was a kid, I saw this and I was so upset I vomited in the theatre, got my leg caught down the back of the seat. And it was very moving, poor old Yeller actually. Yvonne Moore: “It was only because we actually got the video tape out, a couple of months ago for our nephews who were four and six, because Mike wanted to show them Old Yeller. Because I’m more interested in animated cartoons and that sort of thing. Yes, death robots, and we were sitting there watching it and he had to get up and go out of the room. You know, the bottom lip started going, the eyes were … they were only acting Mike.” McCormick: “I know, I know, people looking at our Prime Minister and his wife would probably say these people are a cut above us, they’ve not really human like us, I mean have you got many good stories to tell against yourselves that would heighten your humanity. Yvonne Moore: “I’ve got a wonderful story, actually it happened a couple of days ago and we were doing an industrial launch, and after the formalities were over, I went and sat with some Pacific Island women, we started talking and they were asking what I had done during the day, and I said we had a launch, we were at a brewery, we did a meeting there and they said “that is interesting” and I said look it was really good couple of beer, put them in the boot, took them home for my dad. And one of the ladies looked at me, and said “your dad, you know, what is he really like?”. And I said oh, he is quite nice, but I didn’t realize you know my dad. “You know, Mike Moore, what is he really like?” So that made me feel really good.” McCormick to Mike Moore: “How did that make you feel, this story has been related on national television.” Mike Moore: “I don’t mind, I always joke I was born at 40, they reckon I’m the youngest Prime Minister ever, also the ugliest.” McCormick: “There must be moments when, I know you’ve related in your own books, instances in politics, I think you had an argument, one of probably several with Norman Kirk, you said you went back to your office a bit tearful and then he called you on the phone, I mean, this is the side of things that people don’t see. Mike Moore: “I think the people are very generous. They don’t ask much from politicians, what they simply want Norman Kirk said people want somewhere to live, somewhere to work, something to dream of, and someone to love. And that is pretty simple. McCormick: “Has he changed since he became Prime Minister, I mean Yvonne, I mean when you go up in live people often go instead of wearing the underpants with the elastic that has gone they, do your expectations rise, do you think? Mike Moore: “Seven day underpants” Yvonne Moore: “No, no. He is basically the same as he has been ever since I’ve known him, he is not going to change, not going to change at all.” McCormick: “What would be your most embarrassing moment?” Mike Moore: “When I was in Poland we were trying to shift some meat and the Polish government of the time, it has changed now, and that is a good thing, we had this room and there were deputy Prime Ministers and there were interpreters and it was a huge room and they were asking us about ANZUS and our nuclear policy and I was stating the New Zealand position, but I really wanted to shift it across to shifting this product and joking I said look, New Zealand is a threat to nobody, we are just talking about food, we are only a threat to your waist line. Suddenly the interpreter said “Iceland, New Zealand is a threat to Iceland?” right around the room, “Iceland, New Zealand is a threat to Iceland?”. That is one, we have to remember the barbeque, Christmas a year ago with the nephews and I said look, got to go and put the beer in the wheelbarrow for the barbeque. Now that is a pretty simple thing, I wish, even Treasury would say “go and put the beer in the wheelbarrow” for the barbeque. Yvonne Moore: “But the reason to put the beer in the wheelbarrow was because it was full of ice and we didn’t have enough room in the fridge for the refreshments. Mike Moore: “It seems simple. Go and put the beer in the wheelbarrow that is full of ice, because we were having this barbeque with a whole pile of friends coming around. We go around the back and there are these little guys pulling the cans, pulling the cans’ tops off and pouring the beer in the wheelbarrow. When you think about it they were exactly right weren’t they, I did say that, and it was quite hilarious. Yvonne Moore: “We just stood there and laughed, but we couldn’t do anything about it.” Mike Moore: “My fault. Just like Treasury.” McCormick: “Well it was, I wasn’t going to push the point, but it was your fault, quite right. Mike Moore: “Put beer in the wheelbarrow with the ice, and they did it.” McCormick: “This is the realization of a dream for you, I mean you’ve been aiming for this job for some time, it would be fair to say.” Mike Moore: “Yes, this is the chance to do things. I make no apology for that some people want you to wimp around, of course I want an opportunity to do more. What is wrong with that. I mean in the United States kids grow up and want to be the President. I don’t expect people to fall over with a ton of respect. I know that Buck Shelford has done more for New Zealand than most politicians; these are our heroes. It is a good sort of thing, I don’t resent that. It would be a terrible thing if 30,000 people turned up in a stadium to see a politician, it is very dangerous. And that is part of the New Zealand thing. And some people are treating us differently, aren’t they and its some, but most people, what I really like is I can go into the RSA or into a factory and talking to people there and people say “How are you Mike?”. And they call me Mike, and why shouldn’t they, that is my name, and I really think that is something about New Zealand that is good.” McCormick: “It is also quite possibly something about you. We are just about to take a short commercial break, there is no point in changing channels because we’re on all three. After the break we’ll come back and discuss some of the very real issues which face New Zealand.” Music: “Work together, grow together, the future is ours to make. Together, one family, in New Zealand. Have faith, stand up, be tough, be strong, Labour is leading us into the future.” Mike Moore: “Look, I am proud to be a kiwi. I care deeply about this country of ours. That is why I’ve been working so hard to help create a better future for all of us. It is only by building together and working together can we make New Zealand as great as it should be.” Music: “Have faith, stand up, be tough, be strong. Labour is leading us into the future.” Text: Labour: Leading us into the future. McCormick: “Welcome back. I’m here with the Prime Minister to ask some rather important questions that need answers. Take, for example, the fact that New Zealanders have been hearing for a number of years now about how we have to go through the pain and then everything is going to be alright. And it hasn’t been, and it isn’t.” Mike Moore: “It will never be alright, that is not the condition. It can be improved, but it will only be improved if we keep working together and seize the opportunity, and we show some energy and enterprise, and enthusiasm about the future. It will never be alright. She’ll be right is an old New Zealand cliché. She’ll never be right again. It is a question of always improving, always working harder and making it better. Any politician who promises to you it is going to be alright, hasn’t thought about the way the world is moving and what the future will unfold. McCormick: The thing is, if you will forgive, me for saying so, we’ve heard a lot of increased productivity, this, that, and the other thing, people have been listening to Treasury reports and reading press releases, it doesn’t seem to have made any difference. How are you going to make a difference?” Mike Moore: “It certainly has made a difference and I will make the difference.” McCormick: “When can we blow the whistle on you, I mean at what point can we say listen Mike, we’ve heard all this and nothing has improved, how long do you want?” Moore: “I want a couple of terms. I’m not going to promise you that by the middle of next year it is going to be a different world because we’ve borrowed a billion dollars to pay your pension. I’ll promise steady improvements that are solid, are consistent, that are real. But I, it is not me, it is you, it is people out there, all of us have got to do it better. That is what leadership is about. I’m not going to borrow against your grandchildren to give you a better benefit today. That is a credit card theory, didn’t work before, no reason why it should work now. McCormick: “In terms of health, for example, you think our health services are going to improve over three years?” Mike Moore: “Oh yes, they are improving with the new health boards, more funding is going in, there is tighter management and better return, we are putting more people through the hospitals. McCormick: “Are you saying what we hear about waiting lists and so on are figments of someone’s imagination.” Mike Moore: “Oh no, waiting lists are bad. You could argue the calculation. Waiting lists are bad. But if people are waiting now, imagine how they’ll be waiting if Ruth Richardson keeps her promise of taking six hundred million dollars out of health in efficiencies. And I believe in a public health system. Of course, it ought to be improved. Of course, we ought to put more in. And we are. McCormick: “What about education? Do you think that will be better in three years’ time?” Mike Moore: “Better now, and it will be better then. But we’ve already budgeted, this is real, this is not a promise, it is happening, we’ve got the budget in the Parliament, for an extra 12,000 young people in higher education next year. Not enough, we want to do more. Of course, we want to do more, we’ve got to keep going. It is not time to pause, have a smoko, and say oh well she’ll be right, she’ll never be right as it was in the 50s and the 60s, in your time and my time. McCormick: “And what about the aged, we’ve just had a Telethon that celebrated the aged, are we going to be able to sustain the level of benefit levels and services available to elderly people?” Mike Moore: “Well, we’ve put through Parliament how our pension system is going to evolve and we’ve got to look after the old people, they looked after us, now it is our turn to look after them. But I cannot promise to spend another two hundred million dollars, and what we’ve done is hard. But I tell you something, when you and I get to be sixty, there’ll be 50 percent more people over sixty than there are now, the population triangle is going like that, that has to be faced and we are the first government to face it. Now I don’t expect anyone to throw roses at me for that. But we need to ensure, as we have, that the most vulnerable, those with nothing else but the pension, because of the depression, the war, what they went through, they are protected as much as possible. McCormick: “It would appear that in certain breakdown law and order figures, and other areas of social concern, there are tensions here that are not easily resolved. Mike Moore: “Of course there are tensions. We ask too much of the police sometimes. The community has got to do it as well as the police. We’ll back them, we’ve increased the penalties, in the old days people got out of prison because there wasn’t enough room, but that is not the only answer: increased penalties. We’ve brought back the neighbourhood policeman, they were closing them down, we are opening new neighbourhood stations. But the real strength is, in the towns themselves, this is remarkable, no where in the world, we now have 23,000 groups, not people, groups, neighbourhood groups, starting to look after each other. And that helps the police, and we have got to back them. Everybody has a responsibility, I could put a policeman with a machine gun on every corner, that will not solve the problem. McCormick: “So, in a nutshell your leadership will provide?” Mike Moore: “I can provide an opportunity for everybody to help make that difference and to help this country grow, I think there is a stark contrast, I believe in a cooperative way of doing things, that is my form of management, that has been my life. I don’t think you can bully and punch co-operation, you can’t force people to cooperate, you can only provide an opportunity for them to do so. And I think there has been, there is tremendous generosity, in this country, and people need to hope and they’ve got to, and we can do it. And look there are so many that are. There are so many that are. McCormick: “We’ll now take a short break, go to another commercial, and be right back with the Prime Minister, Mike Moore, addressing the nation.” Advertisement (announcer): “New Zealand has one of the world’s best negotiators. A man whose record of winning for New Zealand can’t be matched. This man is Mike Moore. Mike Moore made friends with the Americans (Evening Post headline: We’re friends again, Moore shaking hands with Baker) and kept us nuclear free. Mike Moore opened up Australia to New Zealand businesses, five years ahead of time, giving our businesses 16 million more customers. And Mike Moore made sure our farmers can still sell to Europe, while opening up new profitable markets. Now, as Prime Minister, Mike Moore has got New Zealanders working together, and this can lower interest rates, can create jobs, and make us more competitive overseas. Mike Moore: “We have to go for growth and create jobs, real jobs. That is why I am proud of the growth agreement, that is why I’m proud we have opened markets overseas for our products. That means jobs, real jobs at home for kiwis. We have to keep this momentum going. We’ve got to work together. And we’ve got to grow together.” Text: Labour: Leading us into the future. Announcer (15.00): “Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.” Mike Moore: “We know that these are troubled times in the world, but oil shocks and dairy problems they come and go. And I know there is real opportunity waiting to be seized by our hard-working people. To create new jobs, to earn more, pay our people more, and lift us all. I’m going to help New Zealanders seize those opportunities, to inspire the best, and to nourish the rest. I’m not going to tolerate those who would whinge, and knock our achievements and our country. “Those who are too busy, fighting each other to care about our people, or to put New Zealand first. I’m sick and tired of those who seem committed to pulling our country down. It is time New Zealanders with ideas, who achieve, turned their backs on those knockers, who confuse their own limitations with New Zealand’s. I believe that New Zealand’s potential is limitless. When New Zealanders get behind a project or a cause we have proven nothing can stop us. Look what happens at Telethon. We are a generous people. That is why, more than ever, New Zealand needs strong leadership. More than ever, we need to maintain confidence in ourselves. More than ever, we need a government and a Prime Minister who will fight for New Zealand, rather than talk it down. After all, this election, is about leadership. For me leadership is about having the experience to know what is right and having the courage, commitment and energy to make it happen. Of course, a Labour government led by Mike Moore is different, different from the Labour governments that preceded it. But more importantly, completely different from any National alternative. My kind of Labour listens to people. My kind of Labour puts people before ideology. My kind of Labour believes New Zealanders must have a say about the kind of community they want, the kind of nation they want. Throughout my life, I’ve fought for the ordinary kiwi. I draw my strength and my sense of purpose from you. That is where I come from, I’m on your side. Leadership is not about offering a grab bag of promises. That is bribery, not solid government. I’m not going to hide behind balloons and ribbons, I’m going to tell you as it is. The only way we are going to make this country better is to work together, face our challenges together, and work for a better future together. The biggest challenge we face is to put our people back to work, to raise our standard of living. I have a plan to do this. It is based on the simple proposition that if we work together we can achieve anything. That is why I have worked so hard to get an agreement for growth at home. That is why I’ve been pushing for world trade reform for the past six years. Two weeks ago, I negotiated an agreement for growth between the unions and the Reserve Bank, and when this election is over, the growth agreement will stabilize and then lower interest rates, it will spark new investment, which in turn will create new jobs. Creating jobs is what the growth agreement is all about. Our political opponents have called the growth agreement a shabby backroom deal. They are the same people who knock our country and tell us what we can’t do, rather than offering positive solutions for the future. That growth agreement is New Zealand’s best chance and best hope. It is one of the most generous acts in our nation’s history. “Where working people have said, we’ll do our best to help make this country grow, and create jobs for the future. This agreement is the first step towards an economy in which the major players come together in a way that has made the West German and Japanese economies the strongest in the world. The second step will come after the election. Straight after the election we’ll bring together the major partners: unions, industry, enterprise, working people. They will give us their view on the economy and we’ll listen, then we’ll act. We’ll control that deficit, as we always have, but it will be done fairly and properly. It is this spirit of working together, not of continuous knocking, that will make this country as good as it can be. It is time for every New Zealander to join in that spirit of generosity and teamwork, to help New Zealand go for growth and create jobs and a better future for our people. Then, thirty days, after the elections world leaders will meet in Brussels to determine the future of world trade. The result of those discussions is critical to New Zealand’s future. In fact, there have been no discussions more important for this nation’s economy than the final meeting of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. Over the past four years I’ve been negotiating to get countries around the world to open their markets for New Zealand products, because that means jobs at home. Because I know, that if our smart, hard-working, efficient business-people and workforce get a fair go, they’ll produce better, less expensive products that all the world wants. And we are going to get half of what we want in Brussels. That means thirty thousand extra jobs in New Zealand, and over the past six years I’ve built strong personal relationships with world leaders and negotiators. And on election day you’ll have to decide who will speak for New Zealand at this critical meeting. There is no second chance, there is no second chance. You must decide who is tough enough, who is experienced enough, for Brussels. Mr Bolger, or myself. Then after the GATT negotiations have concluded, this country must go to work to take advantage of those new open markets. To double our export earnings within twenty years. That is our challenge, if we want to produce more jobs, a fairer society, and create the revenue to pay for our dreams in health and education. We must build this country together; I cannot do it on my own. Government can’t, we simply hold out our hand and others must grasp it and do it with us. Jobs are created, a nation is sustained, by the will, by the confidence and by the enterprise of its people. So be prepared to accept responsibility and give it a go. I intend to give it a go. I want you to give it a go. Don’t tell me New Zealand can’t do it. I’ve been out in the world, I know we can do it. You will decide whether New Zealand moves forward, under an energetic and strong leadership, or whether our country crosses its fingers and takes a gamble, and looks backward. It is your choice, what kind of country you have. I know what I want, I want us to have a country where every child you yearns to learn will receive a world class education. A country where the elderly and the ill will always know that free public health will be a right not a privilege. A country where working people do as well as the companies they work for. A country of equal opportunity, where discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere, of all kinds, is a thing of the past. A country that enjoys the greenest policies of any country in the world. And a country with its own, independent, non-negotiable, non-nuclear, policy. So, let there be no mistake. This is what we stand for. On election day you’ll have a clear choice, a stark contrast, the stakes could not be higher. And in the judgement of history, when the children look back, and say at this time, and this place, we had the courage and the confidence to work together. To build together, to do what is right. That we gave the next generation a fair go, and a better future because we did what was right for New Zealand. Music: “Work together, grow together, the future is ours to make together, one family in New Zealand. Have faith, stand up, be tough, be strong, Labour is leading us into the future.” Mike Moore: “Look I’m proud to be a kiwi. I care deeply about this country of ours. That is why I’ve been working so hard to help create a better future for all of us. It is only by building together and working together that we can make New Zealand as great as it should be. Music: “Have faith, stand up, be tough, be strong, Labour is leading us into the future.” Text: Labour. Leading us into the future.