Bill Birch

Sir William Francis Birch GNZM PC (born 9 April 1934), usually known as Bill Birch, is a New Zealand retired politician. He served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 1999 in the fourth National Government.

The Right Honourable Sir William Birch GNZM
38th Minister of Finance
In office 29 November 1993 – 31 January 1999
Prime Minister	Jim Bolger Jenny Shipley
Preceded by	Ruth Richardson
Succeeded by	Bill English
In office 22 June 1999 – 10 December 1999
Prime Minister	Jenny Shipley
Preceded by	Bill English
Succeeded by	Michael Cullen
2nd Treasurer of New Zealand
In office 14 August 1998 – 22 June 1999
Prime Minister	Jenny Shipley
Preceded by	Winston Peters
Succeeded by	Bill English
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Franklin
In office 25 November 1972 – 26 October 1978
Preceded by	Alfred E. Allen
Succeeded by	constituency abolished
In office 14 July 1984 – 1987
Preceded by	constituency created
Succeeded by	constituency abolished
In office 1993 – 1996
Preceded by	constituency created
Succeeded by	constituency abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Rangiriri
In office 25 November 1978 – 15 June 1984
Preceded by	constituency created
Succeeded by	constituency abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Maramarua
In office 1987 – 1993
Preceded by	constituency created
Succeeded by	constituency abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Port Waikato
In office 1996 – 1999
Preceded by	constituency created
Succeeded by	Paul Hutchison
Personal details
Born	(1934-04-09) 9 April 1934 Hastings, New Zealand
Political party	National
Spouse(s)	Alice Rosa Mitchell (d. 2015)
Profession	Surveyor

Early life

Birch was born in Hastings on 9 April 1934, the son of Charles and Elizabeth Birch.[1] He was educated at Hamilton's Technical High School and through Wellington Technical Correspondence School. He was trained as a surveyor, and established a business in Pukekohe, a small town south of Auckland.[2] Birch quickly became involved in various Pukekohe community organisations. He served on Pukehohe's borough council from 1965 to 1974, and was deputy mayor from 1968 to 1974.

In 1953, Birch married Rosa Mitchell, and the couple went on to have four children.[1]

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1972–1975	37th	Franklin		National
1975–1978	38th	Franklin		National
1978–1981	39th	Rangiriri		National
1981–1984	40th	Rangiriri		National
1984–1987	41st	Franklin		National
1987–1990	42nd	Maramarua		National
1990–1993	43rd	Maramarua		National
1993–1996	44th	Franklin		National
1996–1999	45th	Port Waikato	3	National

Birch first entered parliament in the 1972 election, as the National Party's candidate for the Franklin electorate;[3] Pukekohe was located roughly in the centre of the Franklin electorate.[4] National won the 1975 election, and formed the third National Government,[5] whilst Birch was re-elected in Franklin.[3] The Franklin electorate was abolished in the 1977 electoral redistribution and the electorate's area divided between several different electorates.[6] Pukekohe was the northernmost settlement in the new Rangiriri electorate,[7] and Birch won the 1978 election in that electorate.[3] Birch was re-elected in Rangiriri in 1981,[3] but the electorate was abolished through the 1983 electoral redistribution. For the 1984 election, Pukekohe was again located in the reconstituted Franklin electorate, and Birch won that election and the subsequent one in 1987.[3][8] Through the 1987 electoral redistribution, Pukekohe belonged to the new Maramarua electorate from 1987 to 1993, and Birch served that electorate for two parliamentary terms.[9] For one term beginning in 1993, he represented the reconstituted Franklin electorate, before transferring to the new Port Waikato electorate in 1996. Birch retired in 1999 after 27 years in Parliament.[10]

Cabinet minister

1978–1984

After holding a number of internal National Party positions, Birch was made Minister of National Development, Minister of Energy, and Minister of Science and Technology in 1978. In 1981, he swapped the Science and Technology role for the Regional Development portfolio.[11] As Minister for National Development, Birch was closely involved in the Think Big project, a series of high-cost programmes designed to reduce New Zealand's dependence on imported fuel. When National lost the 1984 election, Birch's ministerial career was interrupted, but he remained in parliament.[3]

Opposition

Muldoon kept Birch on in the Energy and National Development portfolios when he announced his shadow cabinet in July 1984. He then was one of four ex-ministers who challenged Muldoon for the leadership of the party which resulted in Jim McLay becoming leader.[12] McLay promoted Birch to replace Muldoon in the finance portfolio.[13] McLay later dumped Birch as finance spokesman in an attempt to "rejuvenate" the party and instead allocated him the job of Labour and Employment spokesman.[14] This motivated Birch to support a successful challenge to McLay a month later.[15]

1990–1996

After National regained power in the 1990 election, Birch re-entered cabinet as part of the fourth National government. Over the next three years, he was to hold a number of ministerial roles, including Minister of Labour, Minister of Immigration, Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Minister of Employment, Minister of Health, Minister of State Services, and Minister responsible for the ACC. As Minister of Labour, Birch introduced the Employment Contracts Act, which radically liberalised the labour market, most noticeably by reducing the power of trade unions by removing their monopoly on worker representation.[14]

In 1992, Birch was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, an honour reserved for senior New Zealand politicians. Between 1992 and 1996 Birch was known as the "Minister of Everything" in acknowledgement that Prime Minister Jim Bolger relied heavily on Birch's capacity and ability for resolving problems.[14]

During this period, Birch clashed a number of times with the controversial Minister of Finance, Ruth Richardson. The Prime Minister, Jim Bolger, had never been a supporter of Richardson's strong laissez-faire policies, and preferred the more conservative Birch for the Finance portfolio. At the 1993 election, which National nearly lost, Richardson was removed from her Finance role, and Birch was elevated in her place.[14]

Birch's appointment to the Finance portfolio raised eyebrows, given Birch's association with the Think Big projects. However, he soon developed a reputation for a frugal finance minister, delivering a succession of balanced budgets. He also privatised a number of state assets.

1996–1999

After the 1996 election, National needed to form a coalition with the New Zealand First party in order to govern. New Zealand First's leader, Winston Peters, insisted on control of the Finance role as part of the coalition agreement, and National eventually agreed. The Minister of Finance role was split into two separate offices, one given the title "Treasurer" and the other still called "Minister of Finance". Treasurer, the senior title, was given to Winston Peters, while Birch retained the (lessened) role of Minister of Finance. Some, however, have voiced the opinion that whatever the official arrangement may have been, Birch still performed most of the job's key functions. Mike Moore of the Labour Party commented that "we are always impressed when Winston Peters answers questions, because Bill Birch's lips do not move."

During the compilation of the coalition agreement between National and New Zealand First Birch added the proviso to almost every page that "All funding proposals subject to being considered within the agreed spending policy parameters" which essentially rendered every policy agreement provisional, much to Peters' annoyance.[16] When the coalition with New Zealand First broke down, Birch took over the role of Treasurer. He was both Treasurer and Minister of Finance for several months before Bill English was promoted to Minister of Finance, leaving Birch with the senior role. In the middle of 1999, however, Birch and English were swapped, with Birch becoming Minister of Finance again.

Retirement

Birch retired from Parliament at the 1999 general election. His wife, Rosa, Lady Birch, died in Pukekohe on 22 June 2015.[17]

In 2020 his biography, Bill Birch: Minister of Everything, written by Brad Tattersfield was published.[14][18]

Honours and awards

Birch was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990.[1] In the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for public services as a Member of Parliament and Minister of the Crown.[19]

Notes

1. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 67. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
2. "Rt Hon Sir William Birch GNZM". Government of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
3. Wilson 1985, p. 184.
4. McRobie 1989, p. 114.
5. Wilson 1985, p. 288.
6. McRobie 1989, pp. 114–119.
7. McRobie 1989, p. 118.
8. McRobie 1989, pp. 122f.
9. McRobie 1989, pp. 126f.
10. Birch, Bill (8 October 1999). "House: Valedictory of Rt. Hon. Sir William Birch" (Press release). Wellington. Scoop. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
11. Wilson 1985, p. 95.
12. Gustafson 1986, p. 158.
13. "National shadow cabinet named". The Evening Post. 30 November 1984. p. 1.
14. Tattersfield, Brad (10 May 2020). "Book extract: Bill Birch, Minister of Everything". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
15. Gustafson 1986, p. 164.
16. Small, Vernon (12 October 2017). "That was then, what now? The 1996 NZ First - National deal". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
17. "Rosa Birch death notice". The New Zealand Herald. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
18. Tattersfield, Brad (2020). Bill Birch: Minister of Everything. Mary Egan Publishing. ISBN 9780473501976.
19. "Queen's Birthday honours list 1999 (including Niue)". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 7 June 1999. Retrieved 12 May 2019.

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Alfred E. Allen	Member of Parliament for Franklin 1972–1978 1984–1987 1993–1996	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Rangiriri 1978–1984
	Member of Parliament for Maramarua 1987–1993
	Member of Parliament for Port Waikato 1996–1999	Succeeded by Dr Paul Hutchison
Political offices
Preceded by Simon Upton	Minister of Health 1993	Succeeded by Jenny Shipley
Preceded by Ruth Richardson	Minister of Finance 1993–1999 1999	Succeeded by Bill English
Preceded by Bill English		Succeeded by Dr Michael Cullen
Preceded by Winston Peters	Treasurer of New Zealand 1998–1999	Succeeded by Bill English