Robert Muldoon - Legacy

Legacy

Muldoon remains one of the most complex, fascinating, and polarising figures in New Zealand history. He divided people into camps of those who loved him and those who hated him; very few people, except those born after his fall, remained neutral. To his enemies, "Piggy" Muldoon was a dictatorial Prime Minister who nearly destroyed both New Zealand's economy and New Zealand society through his arrogance. To those, known as "Rob's Mob", who revered him, he represented an icon of the New Zealand national character, a supporter of the "ordinary bloke" (his own description of himself) and an international statesman.

Curiously, he also became patron of the Black Power gang for whom he had created work schemes and advised on the better treatment of women and children associated with the gang. Members paid him solemn respect by performing two haka during his funeral in 1992.

Historians like Gustafson and Brian Easton criticise Muldoon because, according to them, he pursued an ultimately unsustainable line of policy.

Some argue that he was responsible for much of the pain caused by the free-market reforms of 1984–1993, because by holding on for as long as he did he forced the inevitable reforms to be implemented with unusual speed and severity. However, this view is not universal, and many also argue that the free market reformers of the 1980s and 1990s used Muldoon as an excuse to embark on radical ideological programs.

Muldoon famously declared upon becoming Prime Minister that he hoped to leave New Zealand "no worse off than I found it". He dominated New Zealand politics for over a decade, and still influences the conduct of government today. Gustafson gives him the following epitaph: "By 1992 New Zealand had not become what Muldoon or many other New Zealanders wanted it to be but he was not prepared to take the blame for that. Muldoon died unrepentant and still convinced that his way, even if never perfect, had been a better way."