1977-82

Chapter 2: 1977-82

The seventeen-month occupation of Bastion Point, in Auckland, from 1977-78 was due to an effort by the Ngati Whatua tribe to regain ownership of the site. It may be asserted that the protest grew out of the 1975 Maori Land March and was closely aligned with Whina Cooper’s Te Roopu o te Matakite (later called Te Matakite o Aotearoa); it also had ties with the campaign for the return of Raglan golf course to indigenous ownership. Bastion Point culminated in the arrest of approximately two-hundred protesters in May 1978 after the most massive police operation in New Zealand to date. The following year the Labour MP for Northern Maori and former Minister for Maori Affairs, Matiu Rata, resigned his seat and recontested as a member of Mana Motuhake. He did not regain the seat and Motuhake, although popular at first, was whittled down by Labour adopting many of their policies in the early 1980s.

Bastion Point was an event historically the equal of the Land March and was a coastal area of land in Orakei, north of Auckland metropolitan area, on the Waitemata Harbour. It was purchased by the government for public works from the mid-nineteenth-century until the 1950s. Used as a defence point from the mid-1880s, it was decided that it was not required in 1941, and instead of returning to Maori, it was gifted to Auckland City Council as a reserve. To add insult to injury, thirty-five years hence, in 1976, the Crown under the Muldoon Government planned to develop the site for a corporate high-income housing development. This was the melting point, at which Joe Hawke, members of his hapu, and other political activists made the decision to form the Orakei Maori Action Committee. They took immediate action to halt the subdivision. The occupation from 1977-78 commenced to prevent the Muldoon administration from confiscating the land. This included a marae, housing and planting of crops. One of the buildings caught fire and killed a young girl. For 507 days Bastion Point was mostly peacefully occupied, ending on 25 May 1978, when an unprecedented combined force of eight-hundred NZ Police and the NZ Army gained control of the site. The temporary buildings, marae and vegetable gardens were necessarily destroyed and 222 protestors were arrested.

The 1980s witnessed a more pacifist and conciliatory approach by government, and an apology was made to Ngati Whatua, and the land was returned, plus compensation. This was under the guise of the Treaty of Waitangi. An official documentary was created during the protest, made by Merata Mita, Leon Narbey and Gerd Pohlmannn, entitled “Bastion Point Day 507”. The event will forever be known as one of the country’s pivotal events in its modern history.

The Muldoon-devised superannuation scheme  gave eighty per cent of the average wage to married people over sixty. It was a hefty drain on the country which many claimed it could ill-afford.  Starting with an announcement on 15 December 1975 that the previous Labour scheme was socialist, it would be replaced with the new taxpayer-funded system. The Labour scheme was compulsory for all employees between seventeen and retirement-age, funds could only be withdrawn if the contributor left the country, each contributor had their own individual account which were portable, after a brief phase-in contributions were eight per cent of gross income, comprising four per cent by employees and four per cent by employers, it was not taxable, and contributors could receive a lump sum payment for one-quarter of the value of their individual fund upon retirement with the rest distributed  as income on a regular basis. This scheme was a major issue in the 1975 election. The new National scheme has ultimately failed, as:

·       Under the Labour scheme it is believed that the total funds would now be in excess of $240 billion, whereas in 2007 it was costing an estimated $7.2 billion, and rising

·       New Zealand would have led the world in savings with 146 per cent of GDP (compared to the best performer in the world currently, Australia, at 82 per cent of GDP)

·       Kiwisaver (the current scheme) will not have a positive impact on the country for a long time to come

(See Gaynor, 2007).

Gaynor also surmises that if Muldoon had chosen to retain Rowling’s system of April 1975,:

“New Zealand would have led the world in terms of savings. Based on the $240 billion projection each worker would have $111,200 of superannuation assets compared with $6300 at present and A$74,400 ($86,821) in Australia.” (See Gaynor, 2007).

The Gleneagles Agreement of 1977 was a forerunner to the massive social upheavals (demonstrations) of the 1981 Springboks Tour to New Zealand. After New Zealand’s taking part in the South African All-Blacks Tour of 1976, which was criticised by some overseas nations, including Black African ones which boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Muldoon made the argument that a free and democratic country such as New Zealand, could not, and would not, restrict the overseas movements of its citizens. He also repeated his staunch belief that politics and sport should not mix.

Commonwealth Heads-of-State meeting in 1977 discussed the ‘South African Question’, and unanimously adopted what became known as the Gleneagles Agreement’. This proposal set down a commitment to discourage contact and competion between their sportsman and sporting groups, teams or individuals from South Africa, due to their government’s continuing policy of apartheid. The riots in Soweto, a suburb/township of Johannesburg, in 1976, was on the minds of attendees. (The name ‘Soweto’ is an acronymn for ‘Southwest Township’). Gleneagles, however, was not binding on individual national or provincial/state governments, and its interpretation left quite a bit to be desired. Condoned by the New Zealand government, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), in 1980, accepted that it was fine to invite the Springboks to tour in 1981, and despite such people as the deputy PM, Brian Talboys, protesting, the Prime Minister was all for it, and it happened. Despite Muldoon seeing that the 1981 Tour may incur much condemnation, including from overseas and large demonstrations at home, he did not back down from his personal beliefs in freedom of travel and the mantra of politics and sport not to be unified (more about Springbok Tour later).

The Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone Act of 1977 (amended in 1996 to “Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone and Exclusive Economic Zone Act”) established the Exclusive Economic Zone of two-hundred miles (320km) around New Zealand’s coastline, which was subsequently altered in 1982 by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). UNCLOS gave New Zealand the fourth-largest economic zone in the world of over four-million square kilometres, which is approximately fifteen times the size of the land area of the country. The 1977 Act was the first time it was enacted as law what New Zealand’s outer fishing boundaries were, in the new concept of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The EEZ formed Part Two of the Act, the largest section, and was composed of twenty chapters, all of which save the first two and the final two, have since been repealed. The first two, chapters nine and ten, entitled “The exclusive economic zone” and “Seas in zone to be New Zealand fisheries waters”, and the last two, chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight, entitled “General regulations in zone” and “General provisions as to offence in zone” are the sections that have remained the same since the Act was passed. These chapters are a legalistic definition, and do not contain any real details or data regarding the Zone, but four-million kilometres is a vast area. It extends from the ocean surface, right to below the ocean floor, and covers almost to Norfolk Island in the northwest, Kermadec Islands in the northeast, east past Chatham Islands, south past the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands, and west of most of the coastline for two-hundred miles.

In late August 2011 the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environment Effects) Bill (the “EEZ Bill”) was introduced into Parliament. This bill recognises the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as being the proposed consenting authority for activities occurring in NZ’s EEZ. The Ministry for the Environment is developing the policy, legislation and regulations associated with this bill. These regulations will be required to be developed before this latest bill comes into force.

The 1977 Roger Donaldson film Sleeping Dogs was an iconic movie for late 1970s New Zealand. It starred a youthful Sam Neill, and featured as its central theme the dark topic of state/police repression. Additional cast to Neill were Sam Mune, Nevan Rowe and Bernard Kearns, who all had leading roles. This was Donaldson’s directorial debut and was also a breakthrough for Kiwi film-makers, as it was the first New Zealand motion picture to open in the US. Genre was action/thriller/drama. Running for 107 minutes (US version), and costing an estimated $450,000 ($4-5 million) in today’s dollars), the theme is that Neill is a married man who lives in a fictitious New Zealand that is nearing economic collapse, and his wife has an affair. Emotionally unable to deal with his marital problems he shifts out to live alone. In an environment approximating early 1980s El Salvador, the political and economic chaos creates repressive extreme-right government forces determined to murder opponents to the government’s policies. The conservative and right-wing electorate in the film have turned their back on the government. Neill, who plays a character named ‘Smith’ joins a group of freedom-fighters eager to preserve democracy and joins up with another freedom-fighter who is apolitical named ‘Willoughby’ (played by Warren Oates). The central theme of the film is not completely fantasy as the Muldoon government of the time was battling extremely difficult economic times, and its detractors have likened the government and the prime minister to a right-wing dictatorship, although the reality was somewhat removed from this. Sleeping Dogs has been rated as 6.7 out of ten by 362 registered users on IMDB.com (Internet Movie Database) as of December 2011. (See IMDB, 2011).The movie review website, Rotten Tomatoes contains five reviews of Sleeping Dogs, including three by top critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times published a critical analysis of the film in 1977, which is available on the newspaper’s website, and is linked to in Rotten Tomatoes:

“Roger Donaldson's "Sleeping Dogs," from New Zealand, is a very well made and acted movie about a time in the near future when New Zealand goes into a state of martial law, and underground groups form to fight against the dictatorship. Donaldson uses precise details of Hitler's takeover of Germany and plugs them into the New Zealand setting, and then he gives us a hero who wants to sit the fight out and is publicized by the government into being a symbol of opposition. American troops are sent in to help the New Zealanders put down the "rebellion," and the rebels conduct a running guerrilla battle against them. The movie resembles "Z" and "The Battle of Algiers" in the way it combines ideology with fiercely-paced action. The biggest box-office hit of its time in New Zealand, it launched Donaldson's career. In 1982 he directed "Smash Palace," with its strong performance by Bruno Lawrence in the story of a man who grows desperate when he loses custody of his daughter. Then he moved on to Hollywood, becoming a successful director of thrillers and adventure movies.” (See Rotten Tomatoes, 2011).

The Beehive is the executive building of government in Wellington, shaped like a bees’ hive, and was commenced in 1969 and completed in 1977. In the latter year it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1979 government offices were moved into it from the Parliament House (Old Parliament; legislative wing). Designed by British architect, Basil Spence, after a visit to Wellington in 1964, his concept was for a central core with rooms and offices radiating outwards. This was adopted and when work commenced it was developed by the Government Architect for the Ministry of Works. The building, which is now a trademark part of the landscape of the capital, on postcards and photographs, etc., is seventy-two metres tall and is ten stories high, plus a further four below ground. The top floor is reserved for cabinet meetings, below that for the prime minister and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and other floors dedicated to ministers’ offices, and the first three levels for Bellamy’s banquet hall and various function rooms. There was a proposal during the late-nineties Clark government to shift the Beehive behind Parliament House, and to finish the latter according to the original 1911 plans, but this was scuttled due to a lack of public support and subsequent withdrawal of Labour Party support. (See Wikipedia, 2011). The Beehive is so iconic that when the New Zealand government went onto the World Wide Web in the late 1990s, it adopted the URL www.beehive.govt.nz. This became the Web address for government ministries (not Parliament).

In 1978 an Act was passed, to establish the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), and to define its functions, powers, and duties. The Commission was set up to encourage and assist the creation of home-grown films, as well as its promotion, distribution and exhibition, in addition to foster the general development of the New Zealand film industry. One of its charges is to only allow financial assistance if it is satisfied that it contains significant local content. One of the most successful Kiwi films worldwide, Once Were Warriors, from the early nineties, was generously assisted by the Commission, and it overly satisfies the criterion of being almost one-hundred per cent local content. It handles both feature films and short films, such as are shown at local and international film festivals. Appointed by the Minister of Culture and Heritage, it is made up of a chairperson and seven other board members. Formally meeting bi-monthly, it is run by a staff of about twenty from its Wellington Office. The New Zealand Film Commission handles applications for assistance, contracts for NZFC investments and contracts for NZFC sales. The financing is made by way of loans or equity financing, and is preponderantly a ratio of 6:4 feature film financing over feature film development financing. Advanced project development or production financing commences at $110,000. (See Wikipedia, 2011).

On 30 July 1979 the Muldoon government introduced Carless Days, a rather short-lived campaign to reduce fuel consumption after the oil shocks of the early and late 1970s. It involved households keeping the car at home for one day a week, only vehicles for private use, not those over 2 tonne tare or motorcycles, and it was another policy of the Think Big scheme. It also involved a reduction of some open-road zones from 100 km/hr to 80 km/hr and a restriction of hours for service stations to sell petrol. After one year, by mid-1980, the scheme was revoked as it had obviously failed. There was no reduction in the national oil use; in fact it had risen. People who owned two or more vehicles could get around the scheme, the exemption stickers that were a component had become unworkable and unenforceable, fines were not being paid and some perversely drove more just to stifle the system.

The nation’s post-1975 recession was still hitting hard in 1979 in New Zealand: 25,000 were on the dole, and 31,000 were in job-creation schemes, sometimes leading to permanent employment, often not. Commencing after the first oil shock in 1973, and deepening in 1975, by 1979 the country was in what some have labelled a third depression, every bit as comparable to the two in the 1890s and 1929-33. Whilst this may be regarded as an emotive or subjective label, the state of the nation was so bad that this was painfully close to the truth. Where the 1970s recession/depression differed from the past two recessions/depressions was that the national economy didn’t bounce back to the pre-recession situation. In fact as a consequence of the 1970s/early 1980s, economists have had to redefine full employment as not meaning zero per cent unemployment, but rather five per cent unemployment. It has been envisaged that New Zealand, as well as many other Western nations such as Australia, UK, US, Canada, Italy and France will never again experience true full-employment.

Brian Easton, academic, economist and historian, postulated in 1979 that there were three Great Depressions (Three New Zealand depressions): first in the 1860s-1880s, second being in the early 1930s, which are the universally-known ‘Great’ Depression and the third in the 1970s. He stipulated that:

“… The most important conclusion … is that the … Great Depressions have not been an external world depression imposing itself on New Zealand. The evidence of the recession phase preceding the world depression suggests that part of the depression phase is of our own making. Whether we can unmake the depression phase of the Third Great Depression remains to be seen.”

Easton claimed at the time that it is popularly but errantly believed that the cause of the late seventies ‘Depression’ was the massive drop in the country’s external terms-of-trade (export prices vis-à-vis import prices), occurring after the first oil shock in October 1973. He then goes on to state that this is in fact not correct, and that it actually had its roots much further back in the mid-1960s. The terms of trade had been declining since the Korean conflict in the 1950s, except for the 1972-73 boom before the first oil crisis. This was manifold especially in the farm sector, originally impacting the underlying rate of return, and then causing a slowdown in the investment programme through lack of re-investable income. This led to a halt in the increase of farm output, which created a new type of land investment specifically for returns on untaxed capital gains.

(See Brian Easton, 1979).

Muldoon’s Think Big was in full-flight in 1979, but as stated earlier, was an unmitigated failure. Labour had no concrete suggestions on what to do to fix things, and ultimately the nation recovered, but not until the late-eighties, well into Lange’s term and well into Rogernomics. It would prove to be a short-term upturn, as by 1990 things were looking bad again.

Although completed in 1977, in 1979 government offices relocated from the Old Parliament building into the Beehive, and it became the home of the Executive. Top floor was reserved for caucus; floor below for the Prime Minister’s office and his Department, below that other cabinet and junior minister, and the first three levels for functions, banquet hall and Bellamy’s. Below-ground was car-parking. Gradually the Beehive became an icon of Wellington, featured on postcards and associated with the capital. The first PM to have his office housed in the Beehive was Muldoon, and this was a partial-boost to his government, as it was similar to a ‘fresh start’.

The Mana Motuhake Party, meaning an approximation of “Maori self-rule and self-determination’ became an aspect of New Zealand politics in 1979 and cemented itself further throughout the 1980s. A forerunner of the Maori Party, which at the time of writing is a significant member of the 2011-14 National-led coalition government, Mana Motuhake was formed by Matiu Rata, a member of the Labour Party. Standing in the by-election of Northern Maori in 1980, he was narrowly defeated by the new Labour candidate, Bruce Gregory. Motuhake fielded candidates in all three elections in the 1980s - 1981, 1984, and 1987, as well as 1990, but did not receive enough votes to win a seat in parliament. It joined forces with New Labour, the Greens and the Democratic Party in 1991 to form the ex-Labour MP Jim Anderton’s ‘Alliance’, and this proved successful in 1993, when Sandra Lee-Vercoe was elected under the Alliance banner. The party continued to have minor success with candidates in Parliament, but lost representation in 2002, and in 2005 most of its support transferred to the new Maori Party, which led to Motuhake’s deregistration.

The 1979 Nambassa Festival was a counter-culture, hippie festival held in Waihi and Waikino from 1978-79. ‘Nambassa’ is the tribal name for peace, love and an environmentally-positive lifestyle. It has been claimed that this, and other Nambassa festivals, were the largest events of its kind in the world (See Nambassa, 2011), and involved music, arts, alternative culture, and drugs (especially marijuana/cannabis and LSD). New Zealand hippies organised the Festival voluntarily and were closely aligned to the international experience, especially of the USA. It was a free-love, anti-establishment, highly-left-wing, anti-war (Vietnam in particular) experience, but of a Kiwi nature. In addition to anti-war, the hippies of Nambassa were also opposed to nuclear energy and nuclear-testing, such as at nearby Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia, meat-consumption, alcohol, fuel-consumption, general Western values, but cunningly did not acknowledge drug use, which was then, and is even more so now, linked to crime, degenerative disease and antisocial behaviours.

A Litany of Lies

On 29 November 1979 TE901 was travelling south towards the Antarctic continent, on a return eleven-hour sightseeing journey from Auckland (departure 0820 NZDT) when it smashed into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, East Antarctica, instantly killing all passengers and crew. Renamed Air New Zealand in 1974, the old callsign “TE” was still being used in international aviation. The aircraft was one of the latest wide-body “jumbo” jets, a DC-10, and was carrying 237 passengers and 20 crew, comprised of 16 flight attendants and four cockpit crew: Jim Collins as captain,  Gregory Cassin as first officer (co-pilot), and Gordon Brookes as second officer (flight engineer). Peter Mulgrew was the official ‘tour guide’, on the checkpilot’s seat in the flightdeck. The route was advertised to take the aircraft south of New Zealand, past Stewart Island, past NZ & Australian sub-Antarctic islands in the Southern Ocean, and entering Antarctica via McMurdo Sound.

The DC-10 aircraft (short for “[McDonnell-]Douglas Corporation- [Model] 10”) was a widebodied medium- to long-range tri-star aircraft (three engines- one on each wing and one fitted to the tail), designed to be competition to Lockheed’s Tristar and Boeing’s 747. Like the 747, it was also a jumbo jet (meaning widebodied), and entered service with American Airlines in August 1971. The  Lockheed TriStar also saw initial service with American, but the DC-10 was the more successful and lasted longer, despite several disastrous crashes in the early days, such as with Turkish Airlines and American Airlines. However this didn’t markedly dampen enthusiasm for the plane, and a trans-continental/long-range variant was soon introduced: the DC-10 series -30, which had a more powerful powerplant, additional fuel tanks and a third undercarriage unit.

Air New Zealand purchased, and first operated, DC-10s on their long-range routes, such as to Honolulu, Los Angeles, and from 1977 the return Antarctic sightseeing sector. In fact it was the company’s choice of long-haul aircraft until the purchase of Boeing 747s in the early eighties, when the DC-10 was phased out. (This was not a response to or a lack of confidence in the aircraft type, from the Erebus disaster, but rather a desire to be capable of transporting more passengers). The aircraft was an intercontinental DC10-30 (ZK-NZP), brought into service in December 1974, therefore being just under five years old, and had accumulated 20,763 hours of flight time. It had a number of benefits over other long-range aircraft, such as: it was longer range, had cheaper landing fees (rear centre gear being retractable), lower operating cost than similar four-engine aircraft, and had the ability to carry a greater payload and freight. The Antarctic sightseeing trips from Auckland to the edge of the continent at about 77 degrees south latitude and back (nonstop) were something of a treat for Kiwis, many of whom had an interest in the beautiful frozen continent and for those could afford a quick day trip abroad. The points of interest were in the Ross Dependency, which is part of the vast New Zealand-owned part of Antarctica. It contains Scott Base (NZ) and McMurdo Station (USA). Now let’s get to the crux of what happened at what One Network News that night headlined “Disaster in Antarctica”:

When the Antarctic flights began, in 1977, the route planned by the airline and followed by pilots was a direct route south down the Southern Ocean, followed by a figure-eight to get down to a low level (around 3,000 feet), before flying into the Lewis Bay northern approach of Ross Island, just past Mt Erebus, and down to the Dailey Islands waypoint, before flying north back home. This was the route followed by all the sightseeing flights until late 1978, and quite often if the weather was good, pilots would safely deviate from the waypoints to let their passengers enjoy all the beauty of the continent. This would involve disengaging Nav mode and pressing Heading mode. When the captain was ready to return north he would reenter Nav mode and the return waypoints would be flown courtesy of the Inertial Navigation System (INS). In late 1978 the flight plan was computerised in line with a full computerisation of the airline’s operations. At this time whilst a clerk was keying in the waypoint (reference) coordinates, a small error was made, and this shifted the flightpath about thirty kilometres west of Mt Erebus and Ross Island, so that the flights would now fly over the centre line of McMurdo Sound, west of Ross Island, and east of the mainland. It would be very similar in appearance if there were conditions of whiteout, where Mt Erebus could easily be mistaken for sea ice, Cape Bird (northwestern point of Ross Island/western approach to Lewis Bay) may appear to be Cape Bernacchi (mainland), and Cape Tennyson (eastern side of Lewis Bay) may be mistaken for Cape Royds (western point of Ross Island). Of course there would have to be exact conditions to create this phenomenon, and as we will see this was tragicly happened with TE901.

For close to a year this new route was accepted by pilots of the flights, without hesitation, as the nav track appeared to make good sense; it was safer and easier to fly over the sea than around a very high mountain and over other terrain on Ross Island. Air New Zealand management and flight planners also accepted the route, and everything went along cheerfully until 2:05 am on 29 November 1979. Whilst working in the Queen St Auckland office on the route, a flight planner discovered the error made some fourteen months previously, and amended the key waypoint by overwriting the number ‘4’ instead of ‘6’ into the computer for the latitude of Mt Erebus/central McMurdo Sound. This effectually shifted the waypoint west some 28 kilometres back around Mount Erebus as in the 1977-8 flightplan; the data entry operator thought he/she was doing the right thing, and did not relay this small but crucial change to either the airline management, or more importantly the cockpit crew of the flight later that day. This was a tragic but monumental error that would result in the deaths of a great many people. TE901 had lost what pilots call situational awareness before it had even become airborne. There now existed a small but ultimately crucial discrepancy with what the navigational company planners had as the flightpath and what the flightdeck crew thought was their flightpath.

The flight proceeded smoothly to the north of Lewis Bay, courtesy of Captain Collins and the first and second officers, and passengers were given an excellent commentary by Peter Mulgrew, who had flown on many of the airline’s Antarctic flights and had a knowledge of the white continent that was second-to-none. After performing the ‘figure eight’ to get down through cloud cover to 3,000 feet, the crew flew south down what they believed to be the flat expanse of McMurdo Sound. The phenomenon of Whiteout, where the sea ice of McMurdo and the cover of Mt Erebus merged, had occurred. (This was something that was totally ignored in the first report into the accident, the Chippindale Report, but was subsequently explained and covered extensively in the Royal Commission- the Mahon Report). In addition to this, conditions had created the afore-mentioned illusion that the plane was flying between Capes Royds and Bernacchi, rather than the true flightpath of between Capes Bird and Tennyson on each side of Lewis Bay. There were later claims that the crew were lost and that Mulgrew was also confused, but this was later ruled out. By the time the pilots realised they were heading straight for the mountain there was insufficient time to power up and climb, although even the steepest climb would not have been sufficient to clear the thousands of feet required. The black boxes- the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR)- however both showed that it was only seconds before, barely enough time for the three engines to spool up to full power.

The Search for TE901

Last communication with the aircraft was at approximately 12:30pm NZDT, and the last known coordinate was 38 nautical miles north of McMurdo Station. Once all attempts at communication had failed a US LC-130 aircraft and two UH-1N helicopters launched a search at 3:43pm. About half an hour later a further six planes left McMurdo Station, and at this time a RNZAF Air Force Orion P3-B left Auckland to search for wreckage. Concurrently a USAF Starlifter followed the plane’s path from McMurdo Station to Christchurch.

For the rest of the evening the US military sent situation reports (SITREPs) to their commanders in New Zealand and to authorities in New Zealand. At 10pm Air New Zealand CEO Morrie Davis officially announced at a press conference that TE901 was lost as it had exhausted its fuel supplies. A tense wait ensued for the family and friends of passengers and crew, until about two hours later, at 11:50pm NZDT when a US Hercules sighted a black smear on the slopes of Mount Erebus. This was likely to be TE901, but due to poor weather conditions, it was not until 1:25am when it was officially identified. Crew report read “Debris at crash site being blown by wind. No apparent survivors”. This was the death knell for family and friends of those lost and became Air New Zealand and New Zealand’s darkest hour. Morrie Davis was also in shock. A base camp was established by New Zealand police and mountaineers for the recovery operation: there were eight polar tents, sleeping bags and food for twenty people for a few days. The first few days of recovery and investigation were difficult because of foul weather, but eventually it settled enough for such endeavours.

Chippindale Report and Mahon Report (Royal Commission)

The first report of the accident was conducted by Chief Inspector of Air Accidents, Ron Chippindale, and his official findings were that:

…[T]he accident’s probable cause was, “the decision of the Captain to continue the flight at low level toward an area of poor surface and horizon definition when the crew was not certain of their position…” (Paragraph 3.37)

He further asserted that:

…[T]he flight engineers had expressed “apprehension” and “dissatisfaction” at the flight’s “continued descent towards a cloud-covered area.” (Paragraphs 2.25, 3.24). The basis for these claims was the content of the cockpit voice recorder (“CVR”) transcript appended to the report.

(See NZALPA, 2009).

Most disturbing is NZALPA’s claim in Erebus.co.nz, created on the thirtieth anniversary that the published transcript used in the Chippindale investigation

differed in 55 ways from the official version that had been constructed by a specially trained and supervised team in Washington, and it was the source of considerable controversy.

The Chippindale Report was commenced in early 1980 and released, contrary to advice, in June 1980, before the Royal Commission had gotten fully underway. The subsequent Royal Commission was begun in March 1980 and released its findings in early 1981. The Chippindale Report laid the entire blame on the aircrew, whilst the Mahon Report blamed the airline. Therefore Justice Mahon disagreed completely in substance with Mr Chippindale’s findings. In relation to the whiteout phenomenon Chippindale made the statement that the condition made the snow slope appear to the crew as “an area of limited visibility”, whilst Mahon’s coverage displays a much greater understanding of the illusion. Chippindale made much out of the company-ordered minimum altitude for the flights as being 16,000 feet or 6,000 south of McMurdo if specified visual meteorological conditions (VMC) existed, whilst Justice Mahon disputes the absolute nature of these company minimums. Mahon also pointed out that many previous flights had been flown below these minimums by crew and also that, after all, it was a sightseeing flight and therefore should be flown as close to the surface as is safely possible (my emphasis). These low-levels were advertised by the airline and publicity films were made by the National Film Unit.

Chippindale acknowledged the changes made to the flightpath coordinates and the failure of Air New Zealand to notify the crew in their pre-flight briefing or earlier, but then continues on to make the unbelievable statement that:

 “no evidence was found to suggest that they [the crew] had been mislead [sic] by this error”.

Chippindale also brought up several other issues that he eventually found to be irrelevant, such as lack of polar survival equipment on board and a delay in changing local altimeter (QNH) settings; the root cause was the:

“captain’s decision to make a VMC descent below the specified minimum safety height while north of McMurdo.” (Paragraph 2.1)

Even though the Royal Commission had been announced, the early release of the Chippindale findings in June 1980 led to media publishing headlines such as “Crash Report Points to Error by DC-10 Captain” and “Flight Thousands of Feet Too Low”. Justice Mahon’s summation of his report was that:

“The palpably false sections of evidence which I heard could not have been the result of mistake, or faulty recollection. They originated, I am compelled to say, in a pre-determined plan of deception. They were very clearly part of an attempt to conceal a series of disastrous administrative blunders and so…I am forced reluctantly to say that I had to listen to an orchestrated litany of lies.”

The end-result of Mahon’s investigation was that by looking into those ‘standing conditions’ and naming them as a latent failure that contributed to the disaster, helped move the focus of official accident investigation in New Zealand from apportioning blame to

“identify[ing] those systemic failures which either foster and enable human error, or which fail to contain and negate its consequences.”

This was an entirely new and ground-breaking allocation of culpability to organisational failure, and was somewhat revolutionary in 1981.

(See NZALPA, 2009).

The aircrew were posthumously exonerated and Air New Zealand and Morrie Davis were found culpable, although no charges were ever laid. Although there were many thousands of hours and millions of taxpayer dollars put into finding the true cause of the tragedy, the frightening outcome is that unless a flight path map is chosen to be displayed on modern aircraft’s all-in-one LCD displays by the pilots, such a misunderstanding could conceivably still occur today, over thirty years later. Even if a map is visible during flight, if it is not cross-checked with coordinates, that would be insufficient to avoid a repeat. Aircraft today no longer have INS, but rather use GPS, which considerably reduces the possibility of such an event occurring. Many people in New Zealand in 2012 still remember the event, and those too young to remember know that it was a black day in history that will never be, and should never be, erased. It is particularly raw for close relatives of the dead, such as the wife of Captain Collins, who worked with NZALPA and remembrance groups to ensure that the name of her husband and the other three cockpit crew members always remain clear.

Courtesy of NZALPA, 2009.

In January 1980, and again in June of that year, the Otago-Southland regions experienced their worst floods in decades. Neither rural properties, farms, nor the cities of Dunedin and Invercargill alike were spared the wrath of Mother Nature, and the insurance bill ran into the millions. It was an unprecedented natural disaster for southern New Zealand. This event (and the 1978 flooding) led to Parliament passing the Otago Southland Flood Relief Committee Empowering Act 1980 in 1981. The Clutha River had overflowed during this disaster and the floods of 1978, and led to the relocation of a small town, Kelso, in Otago, ten kilometres north of Tapanui on the Kelso River, near to the junction of the greater Pomahaka River. The Clutha River, which was a part of Dunedin as well as numerous small towns, was a major cause for concern, but thankfully there were no drownings or fatalities. In all, fifteen-hundred people were directly affected by the floods, which were to repeat themselves four years hence.

The 1980 East Coast Bays by-election was held as a consequence of the resignation of National MP, Frank Gill, who left parliament to take up the New Zealand ambassadorship to the United States. The main candidates were National: Don Brash, Labour: Wyn Hoadley, Social Credit: Gary Knapp, and Values: J.S. Moore. The result was a close one with 38.2 per cent going to National and the unusual outcome of a minor party – Social Credit – winning with 43.31 per cent of the vote. Labour received 17.71 and Values 0.77 per cent. Social Credit held the seat for seven years, until National re-claimed it during the 1987 general election. Don Brash much later (in the twenty-first century), briefly became leader of the National Opposition during the Clark Labour Government. Over a quarter-century before MMP and during a period when there were ever only two or three minor parties vying for elections, it was abnormal for a small party to win an election, as under simple-majority voting it was difficult to beat either of the two master parties. This made Knapp’s win very sweet for his party, and for the people of the electorate, and it was Social Credit’s only other seat ever won, in addition to Rangitikei in the 1981 general election. Not long after the 1987 election Social Credit began its demise, and was relegated to the history books.

1980 saw the legalisation of Saturday trading. Between 1945 and 1980 weekend trading was banned, but retailers, the general public and government recognised that it was detrimental to the New Zealand economy, and people’s rights, not to be able to go to the supermarket or shopping centre. Of course it was protested against by the churches. Ten years later Sunday trading was permitted (even more heavily opposed by church groups), and from 1990 onwards there has been a gradual movement by most retailers, both large and small to trade seven days. There are a small number of public holidays where trading is still banned: Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and prior to 1 pm on ANZAC Day. Even Boxing Day and New Year’s Day are now permitted.

The findings of the Royal Commission of the Mount Erebus Crash of 1979, popularly known as the “Mahon Report”, were released in April 1981. The ‘single effective’ cause of the crash was stated as the alteration of the flight coordinates in the aircraft’s Inertial Navigation System (INS). Done without the knowledge of cockpit and cabin crew, it resulted in the deaths of all twenty crew and 237 passengers. Justice Mahon wrote his now-famous claim, that the airline had “indulged in a litany of lies” in order to cover their guilt. Air New Zealand subsequently appealed his findings. See the section on the Crash, above.

The new punk era in fashion, music and culture of the 1980s did not take grip in Europe and North America until 1981, and this was when it also exploded into the New Zealand scene. With as much force as the previous hippie/flower-power/”1970s Cool” movement roughly a decade earlier, punk rock/clothes/hair/culture moved New Zealand abruptly into the new decade. The most home-grown manifestation of this was undoubtedly the Pop music group Split Enz (later Crowded House - 1985), formed around 1975-6. Tim Finn, as the leader of the youthful group, brought the 1980s to New Zealand as well as Australia, where they moved to in the early eighties. Neil Finn, the younger brother of Tim, joined Crowded House in 1990 on vocals, guitar and keyboard. Split Enz in 1981, had already achieved a good measure of success in Australia and England, and was well-received in New Zealand, where they resided for now. Other members of the group were Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod. Fashion styles in New Zealand in 1981 mirrored most closely Britain and Australia, but also contained elements of American 1980s breakthroughs. Some styles synonymous with this era were: New Romantic (New Wave), Valley Girl, Power Dressing, Leotards and Dancewear, the Miami Vice look (named after the television show), the Thriller look (named after Michael Jackson’s Thriller single and album), Madonna, Tracksuits, Doc Martens, Hair Metal, Metalhead style and of course, Punk style. The new hairstyles of the 1980s, which became the norm by 1981/2, also reflected pop and rock groups, television shows and films of this period.

Other notable fashion trends emerging in New Zealand in 1981 were fashion inspired by heavy metal bands, which included neon clothing, ripped jeans and teased hair. In fact some of these influences were actually retro-1950s styles. The perm, the Mullet (now with hair gel), the Flattop, the Hi-top fade, the Jheri curl and Big Hair were the “in” hairstyles. 1981’s most popular clothing was jean jackets, leather pants, aviator jackets, jumpsuits, shoulder pads, leg-warmers (especially in the film Flashdance, off-shoulder shirts, skin-tight acid-washed jeans, and members-only jackets. Accessories were Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses (Top Gun movie), headbands, and slap bracelets. Video gaming, which had come out in the late seventies took hold by the early eighties: Space Invaders (‘Spacies’), played in video game parlours, takeaway shops, especially fish and chip shops, Nintendo hand-held devices, Commodore personal computers (PCs), and the most difficult traditional (physical) game of them all: Rubik’s Cube. Telethon ’81 epitomised the new cultural and societal trends of the new decade, as seen in the presenters, acts and studio audience.

In March 1981 the Kiwis Care March, an anti-union gathering, attracted between fifty- and one-hundred-thousand demonstrators. Conservative sources put it closer to the fifty-thousand figure; it may have had significantly more, but probably not as many as hundred-thousand. The March was organised by Tania Harris, a twenty-two year-old sales assistant, and was possibly the first street march not on the political left. During the march ticker-tape flew from shop windows, the national anthem (God Save the Queen) was blasted from a stereo shop and people openly wept. The protest was organised by Harris because of a deeply-felt public anger over union strikes that had halted international flights, sailings of the Cook Strait ferries and beer deliveries. Ten years before the public and the government placed a check on the power of the unions; this march reflected many Kiwis beliefs that the unions wielded excessive power and was slowly damaging the economy. Conversely, up to four-thousand unionists striked the previous day, arguing that they did not have enough control. During that demonstration, shoppers and businesspeople hissed, booed, abused and waved their fists at union-sympathisers, and labelled them “traitors to New Zealand”, also demanding that they “get back to work”. The Kiwis Care March elicited emotions from some of the public and the government that was used to National’s advantage when they got back into government in 1990. The Bolger National Party Employment Contracts Act of 1991 would more than likely not have been devised (or possibly even envisaged) without the Kiwis Care March of 1981.

The population movement to Australia, which commenced in earnest in the seventies, and was rapidly accelerating by the early eighties (where Muldoon commented that it “increases the IQ of both countries”!), has been dealt with earlier in this work.

On 27-28 June 1981 TVNZ hosted another national Telethon at its Avalon studios. Done much to the same tune of the event five years previous, it was a success as it raised $5 million for the International Year of Disabled Persons. Like Telethon ’76 it involved ordinary Kiwis and local celebrities performing unusual and funny deeds in community halls and other studios of TV1 and Channel 2. In total there were six venues, five mobile studios and thirty-two cameras. Some of the guests who flew over from abroad were Kenny Everett (US), Kamahl (Australia), Basil Brush (UK) and Bill Oddie (UK). As with all Telethons in New Zealand the “Thank you very much…” theme song was the key identifier and nostalgic aspect.

In February the Kiwi film “Goodbye Pork Pie” was released in New Zealand cinemas, and became an overnight success. Involving a Mini Minor travelling the entire length of the country, from Cape Reinga to Bluff, it has become an iconic movie from “Enzed” homegrown’s early days. Earning $1 million after only ten weeks, it was screened on television a few years later, and was watched by an estimated fifty per cent of the entire population (excluding under-fives)- 1.5 million people.

Also in February, the so-called “Underarm Incident” rocked New Zealand sport in general and cricket in particular, and created an international disgrace. The game, on February 1, was the third final of the 1980/81 Benson and Hedges World Series Cup between Australia and New Zealand, and the former had scored a respectable 4/235. A century by Bruce Edgar allowed New Zealand the opportunity to even the score, and with a single over left in the match, the Kiwis only required fifteen runs for victory. There were two forceful blows by Richard Hadlee and then Ian Smith, followed by two quick wickets, and now New Zealand only needed six runs to tie the match with one ball remaining. The final delivery was to be bowled by Trevor Chappel to Brian McKechnie. This was the moment when the Australian captain, Greg Chappell, ordered his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to the New Zealand tailend batter, McKechnie. Chappell had informed umpire Don Weser of his intention. This was contrary to conventional cricketing rules (but not yet prohibited), and this prevented the New Zealand from making the six runs necessary to tie the match. The ball was rolled down the pitch in a carpet bowls-style; the batsman blocked the ball then tossed his bat away. Edgar was at the non-striker’s end and made a two-fingered salute to the bowler, whilst Kiwi skipper Geoff Howarth ran on to voice his objection to the umpires.

The New Zealand public were outraged, and displeasure went all the way to the Beehive when the Prime Minister telephoned the Australian PM Malcolm Fraser to express his disgust. MCG website, in its history pages, recalls that:

“New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon called it, ‘the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket’, and ‘an act of cowardice’. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser called it, "contrary to the traditions of the game".

Chappell was universally condemned by the general public and most cricketers, New Zealand and Australian. He said a short time later:

"If it’s written in the rules of the game it is fair play."

 But he later apologised and claimed that the stress of the situation had got to him. It took many years for him to be fully forgiven. (See MCG, 2011).

In 1981, National’s major policy plank, Think Big, officially started, but did the government no favours at the polls later that year. (See the full discussion of Think Big above).

The day of Saturday 28 November, 1981 began with an expectation by the media, commentators and the parties that Muldoon’s increasingly-unpopular government of six years would fall to Labour’s newly-revived Bill Rowling, but by the evening this was proven to be not the case. A cliff-hanger again, there was just over two million voter turnout, and like the previous poll in 1978, and in 1969, National won more seats than the Opposition, but with less of the popular vote. National achieved forty-seven of the ninety-two seats, while Labour narrowly missed out on government with forty-three. Social Credit won only two seats, but held twenty per cent of the vote. Similarly, Labour had more votes that they won seats for. Here again was ample reason to change the voting and electoral system, which finally occurred in 1993. National’s share of the vote was markedly smaller than 1978 and they lost three seats- Hunua, Kapiti, Miramar and Wellington Central; all except one in the greater Wellington region, whilst Labour picked up these seats, but lost Taupo. Social Credit had won East Coast Bays in a by-election the previous year, and at this election, Rangitikei. It was a very disappointing result for that party because of the fact they had been voted for by one in five people. Although a positive result for Labour, this election was to be the death-knell for Rowling, as rarely does the public give a party leader more than three chances at the polls. It however created a powerful Opposition that would dog Muldoon over the next three years more effectively than the previous six, and ensured a victory under the extremely popular Lange in 1984.

The Springbok ’81 Tour’s government position was not an unusual stance for a Tory/Conservative party: Muldoon and National did not condone apartheid, but did not actively denounce it either. Moreover, when it came to national prestige, the major sports event was ultimately more important than the politically-correct views of the “leftist groups and nations”. This is not to state that the fourth National Government and all major national political parties on the conservative side are racist, as some on the left in New Zealand are prone to claim. Muldoon, like his successor, David Lange, were political pragmatists, and if the country were vehemently opposed to certain events, sporting, cultural or other, then they were dealt with in the appropriate fashion. Neither Muldoon nor the National Government as a whole were ever truly accused of supporting apartheid, and it is absurb to think that this was the case. It has been claimed by historian, Jock Phillips, that PM Muldoon’s attitude towards the 1981 Tour was inbedded in his psyche as a product of post World War One New Zealanders:

“They had grown up in depression and war. They believed strongly in the British Empire and the role of New Zealand men in armed conflict, and rugby was central to this culture. Its emphasis on physical strength and teamwork made it the perfect training for war. Muldoon was himself a war veteran, as were seven members of his first Cabinet. The so-called Rob’s Mob – older, male, blue-collar, often provincial, New Zealanders – supported this outlook.” (See Gleneagles Agreement, 2011).

The Tour saw more protest marches and general disorder than any previous time with the exception of the anti-Vietnam demonstrations of the late sixties/early seventies. In fact some say that it was an even bigger civil disturbance than Vietnam; more attuned to the scale of the 1951 waterfront dispute. Occurring over a fifty-six day period from July to September 1981, over 150,000 people took part in more than two-hundred demonstrations in twenty-eight cities and towns, and fifteen-hundred were charged with offences. It may have been inconceivable that such unrest was caused by the playing of a sports code; rugby has always been not only a major feature of New Zealand life, but it is embedded in the country’s national character and psyche. It is even more a part of New Zealand’s identity than in Australia, UK, South Africa and France. The events of 1981 undoubtedly damaged the sport’s reputation, and took quite a number of years before players and supporters arrested and reversed the fallout of the code in New Zealand. Some social commentators and historians have given credence to the opinion that the Springbok Tour was the moment when New Zealand lost its innocence and it became a watershed. This line of thought is open to debate, as it may be claimed that Vietnam demonstrations marked this watershed, or possibly the collective sadness and disbelief of the Erebus tragedy.

In 1982 the first Kohanga Reo came into being. Te Kohanga Reo was started by the Department of Maori Affairs in 1981 as a response to concern by Maori that the language had a short life remaining. Opened near Wellington, Pukeatua was followed by one-hundred more in that year, and it flourished until 1989 in an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. The growth continued until 1994 where there were by now eight-hundred Kohanga Reo, catering for 14,000 mokopuna. It was a burgeoning movement that had become almost self-reliant, but in 1990 when control was transferred from the Department of Maori Affairs to the Ministry of Education, it increased regulatory controls thereby affecting operation at the grassroots level. Despite this and the slowdown in the movement from the mid-1990s, Te Kohanga Reo continues to have remarkable success in keeping the Maori language alive in the indigenous community. The official website of Kohanga states that in the 2010s:

“The language still has a fragile hold in Māori society as a whole, but every year now there are several thousand young children entering the education system already fluent in the language and tikanga (customs) of their ancestors.

This remarkable turnaround was not an accident but the result of a deliberate decision in Māoridom to keep the language alive. These mokopuna (grandchildren), and there are now something like 60,000, are the young "graduates" of the Kōhanga Reo movement.

Te Kōhanga Reo without question has flourished on the realisation that all members of the whānau are extremely significant and valuable in the lives of the mokopuna. They provide a climate that is caring, joyful and secure where the mokopuna learn their language and values. This results in children and whānau who are more confident and proud.

Since its inception the Kōhanga Reo movement has been hailed as one of the most exciting and powerful national initiatives undertaken by Māori people. It has had an impact on New Zealanders, on the government of this country and indeed on the international scene. This success is due to belief in the kaupapa, the unconditional commitment required of the people and the knowledge that 'the child shall lead the way'.” (See Kohanga, 2011).



In 1982 New Zealand took part in the FIFA World Cup in Spain. From 13 June to 11 July, the tournament was won by Italy 3-1 over West Germany. This was New Zealand’s first time participating in the World Cup, and was without a doubt a very small player on the world scene, but a strong one, as soccer has been a popular and well-played sport in New Zealand for quite some time; as a pastime, in schools, colleges and universities and also at a professional level. Soccer was, and still is, the most-played sport in the world. Twenty-four other teams took part and the final was held on 11 July. There were fifty-two matches, goals scored were 146 (an average of 2.8 per match), and the attendance was 2,109,723 (an average of 40,571). The New Zealand team (NZL) performed well, with twenty-two players; coach was John Adshead, from the UK. Beating Australia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the finals, the All-Whites went on to achieve an admirable result, playing Scotland (2-5 loss) on 15 June, with goal scorers being Sumner and Wooddin, Soviet Union on 19 June (0-3 loss) and Brazil on 23 June (0-5 loss). All the All-White scorers were Sumner: 9; Turner: 9; Wooddin: 9; G. Turner: 8; Herbert: 2, Cole: 2; Elrick: 1, Mackay: 1; and McClure: 1.



During 1982 Prime Minister Rob Muldoon implemented a one-year wage, price and rent freeze, which ultimately lasted two years- until 1984. The price and wage freeze background was against the background of a tightening of government control and a heavy reliance on macroeconomic policies to rein in inflation and wildly fluctuating economic growth. The Think Big platform was the platform which was supposed to hold it all together and achieve economic success. As a last measure the freeze was implemented and appeared to achieve quite positive results in the early stages, but only a brief period elapsed before it was seen to be another abject failure. In tandem with a regressive-style all-government tightening of economic controls, which wasn’t considered the way forward by the 1980s, the freeze further frustrated and held back real economic and financial growth for the country. As a modern, increasingly free-market nation, and with a conservative right-leaning government, the whole scene was not only imbalanced but anachronistic. It was the historically left-leaning social democratic Labour Party- the Labour government of 1984 onwards- that was the unexpected mover and shaker in the freer, unrestricted new New Zealand.



On 2 April 1982 war broke out between Britain and Argentina over who was the rightful owner of the little-known group of islands east of southern Argentina, in the South Atlantic - the Falkland Islands. It was home to approximately 1,800 people. Under control by Britain since 1833, they were a cause of friction between the two countries. New Zealand provided operational support to the Royal Navy during the crisis, until 1983. They were the HMNZ Canterbury and HMNZ Waikato frigates. On the breakout of the war New Zealand also offered to relieve a Royal Navy vessel that was on operational duties in the Indian Ocean, so that its ships could be available for operations in the Falklands area.  The lead up to the war was based on several events: the Argentine flag was flying over Government House in the capital, Port Stanley; the head of Argentina’s military junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri welcomed the recovery of ‘Las Malvinas’- the Argentine name for the island group; General Galtieri proposed military action against Britain; and the invasion came on the back of months of rumours and a build-up of warships off the Islands. The conflict involved an attack on Government House, one Argentine death, one injury of a Falkland Islander and no casualties on the UK side. A ceasefire was called on 14 June. New Zealand’s involvement in the conflict was restricted to support to Britain, but did not involve fighting. Argentina and Britain resumed diplomatic relations in 1980, and the 1982 conflict has been relegated to history.