It’s difficult to stand back and assess Jim’s contribution: it is hard to think of him in the past tense, and my views of Jim are influenced by our longstanding friendship and my gratitude for all his help when I was Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations from 2008 to 2017.
Jim Bolger’s leadership included the introduction of MMP, shaping modern politics. Photo / Getty Images
In 2012, I asked Jim to visit Ngāpuhi to see if he could get them to start working towards a settlement.
Like everybody else who has tried to settle the Ngāpuhi claim, Jim did not succeed, but everyone he dealt with greatly respected him. Some years later, the Tūhoe settlement process had become somewhat difficult and Jim swung in behind me.
He came with me to Ruatāhuna one cold Saturday morning when I signed a covenant with Ngāi Tūhoe and he was also present when I gave the apology to Tūhoe in 2017.
He then went on the board of Te Urewera to ensure it would be a success. And when the Taranaki negotiations got into trouble, I despatched Tariana Turia and Jim to work with the people of Parihaka on a settlement package.
His work enabled me to give the apology to Parihaka on behalf of the nation in 2017.
Jim Bolger was respected for his daring decisions and commitment to doing the right thing. Photo / Getty Images
Jim wasn’t a revolutionary, but he was more daring than his apparent conservatism let on. Sir Tipene O’Regan reminded me this week of the extraordinary breadth of Jim’s reading, which gave him the capacity to make comparisons across a broad front.
This quality was matched by a determination to do the right thing, grounded in his private but deep Catholicism.
He could be stubborn in his views. I used to tell him to grow up and accept the knighthood that was his for the taking if he could abandon his Irish republicanism. He would laugh and never budged.
His calling of the referendum on MMP ushered in coalition politics. Even though he later regretted the speed and extent of the change, he was willing to allow Ruth Richardson to make decisions in her 1991 Budget that no Prime Minister since would have been brave enough to permit.
Christopher Finlayson says Jim Bolger (pictured) ranks among New Zealand’s finest leaders of the 20th century. Photo / Mark Mitchell
He always had an eye on the health and direction of New Zealand as an idea. He pushed through the building of Te Papa against Cabinet opposition and, most importantly, commenced Treaty settlements.
It was in those settlements where his political bravery shone through. Jim and Doug Graham took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sign the Sealord Deal in September 1992.
Against significant scepticism within the National caucus, they then pushed ahead on settlement negotiations with Tainui and Ngāi Tahu, culminating in two settlements that have changed the face of New Zealand for the better, and which set out the framework for all settlements that came after them.
The 60 settlements that I signed as Minister for Treaty Negotiations were the consequence of the leadership and vision of Jim Bolger.
So what of Jim’s place in history and among his fellow former prime ministers? I will resist comparing Jim to the prime ministers who have succeeded him. It is too soon to judge his successors. But I think it is clear Jim Bolger ranks among our finest leaders of the 20th century.
History will probably regard Peter Fraser as our greatest Prime Minister. His period of service between 1940 and 1949, during the Second World War and its aftermath, was extraordinary.
His role in the establishment of the United Nations marks him as an international figure in a way Jim was not.
But in terms of his domestic transformation of the country, Jim is easily as consequential. As we approach our bicentenary in 2040, it is difficult to imagine what New Zealand would look like if Jim had not led us for the seven years he held office.
Jim Bolger was a great New Zealander. RIP.
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