Derek Francis Quigley (born 31 January 1932) is a New Zealand former politician. He was a prominent member of the National Party during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and was known for his support of

free market economics Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

and

trade liberalisation Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

. Quigley left the National Party after clashing with its leadership, and later co-founded the

ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...

party.

Early life

Quigley was born on 31 January 1932 in

Waikari Waikari is a small town in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Its Anglican parish church is the Church of Ascension, 79 Princes Street, Waikari, where William Orange was vicar in the 1920s. The New Zealand Ministry for Cult ...

, a small town in the northern

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region, the son of Francis John Quigley. He attended

Waipara Waipara is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waipara River. Its name translates to "Muddy Water", ''wai'' meaning water and ''para'' meaning mud. It is at the junction of state highways 1 and 7, 60 kilometre ...

Primary school before continuing with education in

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; first at

Medbury School Medbury School, located in Christchurch, New Zealand, is an independent school for boys between Years 1 to 8 (ages 5 to 13).Christ's College, followed by the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

. He later donated his personal parliamentary library, which covers his political career until 1984, to Canterbury University's Macmillan Brown Library. He farmed at Waipara from 1949. He gained one of two scholarships for young farmers from the Meat and Wool Board and used it to study farming in Britain and the United States. He completed a law degree while farming and joined a Christchurch law firm, where he became a senior partner and practised as a lawyer. In 1956, Quigley married Judith Ann Dickson, and the couple had four children. He later married Susan McAffer.

Member of Parliament

Quigley was National's electorate chairman for the Rangiora electorate. In the Canterbury-Westland division, he was deputy chairman. He was a member of the Dominion Council and served on its executive committee. He also stood in the safe Labour seat of against cabinet minister

Mabel Howard Mabel Bowden Howard (18 April 1894 – 23 June 1972) was a well-known New Zealand trade unionist and politician. She was the first woman secretary of a predominantly male union (the Canterbury General Labourers' Union). She was a Member of Parl ...

in the and elections. He also sought the National nomination for the safe National seat of at a 1961 by-election, but was unsuccessful. As a 30-year-old, Quigley stood as the National Party's candidate in the in the electorate, but was beaten by Labour's candidate Sir

Basil Arthur Sir Basil Malcolm Arthur, 5th Baronet (18 September 1928 – 1 May 1985) served as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1984 to 1985. He was a member of the Labour Party. Biography Early life and career Arthur was born in Ti ...

. Quigley stood in the electorate in the . The electorate had been taken from National by

Kerry Burke Sir Thomas Kerry Burke (born 24 March 1942) is a former New Zealand politician and Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He was a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1990, and late ...

of the Labour Party at the previous election, but was won back by Quigley.

Cabinet Minister

After three years as a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

, Quigley was appointed to

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, and held a number of ministerial roles. He was Minister of Housing (1978–1982),

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many different countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) * Minist ...

(1981), Minister of Works and Development (1981–1982), and Associate Minister of Finance (1978–1981). He held further minor ministerial posts as Minister of Earthquake and War Damage (1978–1982), Minister of Government Life Insurance (1978–1982), Minister of Public Trust (1978–1981), and

Minister for State Insurance The Minister for State Insurance was a former cabinet member in New Zealand appointed by the Prime Minister to be responsible for New Zealand's state owned insurance scheme. It was established in response to the founding of the State Fire Insura ...

(1978–1982). Quigley rapidly earned the hostility of senior National Party figures, however, with his criticism of the government's economic policies. The

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

of the day,

Robert Muldoon Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Serving as a corporal and sergeant in th ...

, favoured decidedly interventionist policies, but Quigley preferred a more

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

approach, and considered Muldoon's interventionism to be contrary to the traditional spirit of the National Party. In February 1981, Quigley contested the deputy leadership of the party, despite Muldoon openly saying that he could not work with him. Quigley's main opponent (and Muldoon's strong favourite) was Duncan MacIntyre, a long-serving Muldoon loyalist.

Bill Birch Sir William Francis Birch (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. Early life Birch was born in Hastings on ...

retired from the contest in favour of MacIntyre, and

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

was eliminated first. Quigley was narrowly defeated by MacIntyre. A week after Quigley lost the deputy leadership race, he was dismissed by Muldoon as Associate Finance Minister, reducing his ability to criticise Muldoon's economic policies effectively;

Warren Cooper Warren Ernest Cooper (born 21 February 1933) is a former New Zealand politician. He was a National Party MP from 1975 to 1996, holding cabinet positions including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence. Cooper also twice served as ...

succeeded him. This was also related to a preceding event In December 1980 when Quigley spoke of releasing an "alternative economic manifesto" and Muldoon threatened to sack him from the Cabinet. Muldoon eventually relieved Quigley not only of the finance associate portfolio but removed him from the Cabinet expenditure committee as well. Quigley nevertheless continued his attacks. In June the following year, he made a public denunciation of the government's policies, saying that the state should have a passive role in the economy while giving a speech to the Young Nationals in which he raised doubts about the government's

Think Big In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

growth strategy, which aimed to overcome crippling foreign exchange losses by using cheap power in the manufacture of steel, aluminium and timber products to export. Subsequently, Muldoon told Quigley to attempt to prevent the editor of '' The Dominion'' from publishing the full transcript of the speech. Quigley declined, saying such an approach might be misinterpreted. Muldoon also told him that if he went through with his scheduled appearance on the ''Newsmakers'' current affairs program that it would require his subsequent resignation. Yet again Quigley defied Muldoon and went on the show where he made no attempt at retracting his criticisms of government economic policy. Muldoon and his allies reacted furiously to this continued public criticism with Muldoon saying that Quigley had "offended, embarrassed and angered his parliamentary colleagues" and that his speech had gone beyond what was acceptable from a cabinet minister. Quigley was given the choice of either giving a public apology or resigning from

; he chose to resign. After quitting the cabinet Quigley said he was considering leaving from Parliament altogether. This would have forced a by-election which could bring down the Muldoon Government, which only had a one-seat working majority. Ultimately he did not resign his seat, to the relief of the National Party who were nervous at the prospect of defending it at a by-election. At the , he resigned from politics altogether, becoming a business consultant.

ACT New Zealand

After leaving Parliament, his consultancy firm Strategos carried out some major consultancy jobs for the Lange government reviews of multiple government departments including

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

and

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

. When National won power in 1990, curiously, the government consultancy jobs his firm were being offered ceased. In 1994, Quigley re-entered the political arena, joining forces with

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He became arguably best known for his prominent role in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 198 ...

to form the

party. The new MMP electoral system, which made it easier for smaller parties to win seats, convinced Quigley that a strongly free-market party could indeed be successful. In the 1996 election, the first conducted under MMP, Quigley was returned to Parliament as an ACT

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

. He unsuccessfully sought to be

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

, and was instead appointed the chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee. Under Quigley's chairmanship, the select committee produced ''The Defence Beyond 2000 Report'', which became the blueprint for the Clark government's radical restructuring of the New Zealand Defence Force. Quigley did not stand for re-election in 1999 election and was immediately appointed by the incoming Prime Minister,

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

, to review the contract the previous government had signed with the United States for New Zealand to acquire 28 near new

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

fighter aircraft. Quigley advised the government to renegotiate the contract and acquire a lesser number of aircraft. One of his reasons for this recommendation was that cancellation of the contract would result in the abandonment of the

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeal ...

's air combat capability. The government disputed this and cancelled the contract. Two years later, it disbanded the

's air combat capability, just as predicted. In early 2004 Quigley moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

to take up a position as a visiting fellow at ANU's Strategic & Defence Studies Centre. He researched and wrote on trans-Tasman and regional security issues and on the ongoing situation between the United States and New Zealand over the latter's anti-nuclear policy.

Honours and awards

In 1977, Quigley was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

. In the 2004 New Year Honours, he was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services.

Notes

References

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