4 episodes
Juggernaut: The Story of the Fourth Labour Government The Spinoff
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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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I Love You, Mr Lange
Fuelled by brandy and fury, Sir Rob Muldoon calls a snap election, sparking a 1984 campaign of contrasts – the menacing, protectionist National PM against the fresh, upbeat Labour leader, David Lange. The pretext for the election is the decision by Marilyn Waring, a young, gay MP, to back an anti-nuclear bill and quit the National caucus, prompting an earful from Muldoon. Lange, meanwhile, is joined at the hip by a hungry would-be finance minister, Roger Douglas. They are about to confront a profound crisis, and launch a revolution.
Includes previously unheard interviews with David Lange from the 84 campaign trail, and new and exclusive interviews with Marilyn Waring, Roger Douglas, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Prebble, Peter Harris, Margaret Wilson, Bob Harvey and Gary McCormick.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air. -
The Nation Is at Risk
Victory for Lange in 1984 comes with a cluster of crises – economic and constitutional. In a pair of spellbinding TV interviews, the bellicose outgoing PM Rob Muldoon refuses to devalue and Lange responds, enraged. The deputy PM, Jim McLay, summons senior ministers, who plot a high-wire response. Out of the maelstrom, Roger Douglas launches a revolution, to transform New Zealand’s creaking economy from the developed world’s most regulated to its most market embracing.
Including new and exclusive interviews with Jim McLay, Richard Harman, Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Stephen Mills, Hekia Parata 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. -
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. -
Juggernaut – out now
The Spinoff presents Juggernaut, hosted by Toby Manhire.
When a brandy-fuelled Rob Muldoon called a snap election in 1984, the dam burst on a period of unparalleled change in New Zealand. Under David Lange and Roger Douglas, the country witnessed an economy upended, a bold new stance on the world stage, sweeping social and cultural transformations, and bitter personal recriminations. The reverberations of that revolution continue to be felt, 40 years on.
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.