Parliamentary tributes to Jim Bolger

If you have quarter of an hour to spare, I would recommend reading the speeches in Parliament marking the death of New Zealand’s 35th Prime Minister. I’ve extracted a few quotes below.

Christoper Luxon

I didn’t have the privilege of knowing Jim well personally, but since becoming Prime Minister, I received a few quiet phone calls from him. They were short, sincere, and thoughtful. He offered encouragement, perspective, and advice—advice that I took seriously. I also remember campaigning with him in a bar in Waikanae and him still holding court in a room full of people, sharp as ever, fully engaged, loving politics, and very much enjoying himself. He’d just turned 87.

In closing, I want to use Jim’s own words, written just a few weeks ago after the death of his friend Tā Tumu Te Heuheu. He said, “He was, in simple terms, a very good person who was interested in helping others. Farewell, old friend, and may God welcome you home.” Those words now speak for Jim himself. Thank you.

Chris Hipkins

He would refer to me as young Chris even once I’d become Prime Minister, and he had a knack for offering his insights and wisdom without ever coming across as patronising or condescending. He did seem genuinely interested, not just in my political career, which he clearly had been following, but in the political careers of emerging politicians across the House. I think perhaps it’s a wisdom that you get after you leave this place, that recognition that Governments come and Governments go, but the good interests of the country do rest with whomever the Government happens to be at any given time. He remained a mentor and a friend to anyone in this House who sought out his guidance.

He sacked Winston Peters from his Cabinet and then formed New Zealand’s first MMP coalition with Winston Peters as his Deputy Prime Minister, a Government that transpired to be remarkably stable, much to the frustration of the then Labour Party Opposition. 

Winston Peters

It’s often said that Jim Bolger was the last Prime Minister without a university degree. Well, for our sakes, we must hope that that is not true for the future. Jim learned his craft on the farm and in the town halls, and he applied it to the highest elected office in this country. In his earliest years in Parliament, he earned the title “The Woolshed Orator.” Jim Bolger was a man of good character, strong morals, and family values; he called for a decent society in 1990, and he did so for good cause. He was, in his own words, “a red-blooded Irishman by descent, but a very practical Kiwi by practice.”

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer

Mr Bolger knowingly expanded political capital for the nation’s progress and to address historical injustices. His disposition is described by many who we also spoke to as magnificent, as inclusive, and as, indeed, a proud Irishman—earning him the nickname “Spud”. For us, Mr Bolger is regarded as the greatest Prime Minister since Michael Savage. He had a legacy that affected the whole country. He heard and saw te iwi Māori.

Gerry Brownlee

I first met Jim Bolger in 1987, and through the subsequent years, saw him at many party functions and was a great admirer of his. He came to a campaign function for me in 1996. Perhaps demonstrating the sort of gentle Irish charm that he had and the warmth that he exerted, when meeting my mother, who was only 5 foot 3 and a very, very petite woman, he looked at her and said, “How on earth did you end up with a brute like that?”