SIR ROGER DOUGLAS was Finance Minister in New Zealand’s Labour Government from 1984 to
1988. Sir Roger was responsible for one of the most comprehensive restructuring program ever
attempted by a government anywhere. The program included cutting income tax rates in half,
deregulating wide sectors of the New Zealand economy, ending farm and business subsidies, and
restructuring and privatizing most state owned enterprises. Most significantly, Sir Roger overhauled the operating philosophy of government agencies and departments to make them run as competition oriented, bottom line business enterprises that are fully accountable for resources they receive from taxpayers. Sir Roger retired from politics in 1990 and now operates an international consulting firm based from Auckland, New Zealand where he lives.
Sir Roger was AIMS guest for a series of meetings held across Atlantic Canada in 1995 and 1996 in
Halifax, Saint John and St. John’s. Here is the transcript of his talk, given in Halifax in January 1995.
Sir Roger Douglas, accompanied by AIMS Director Hon. John Crosbie and Institute President Brian Lee Crowley at Sir Roger’s talk at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1996.