Abstract:
This thesis examines three case studies of resistance to the neo-liberal restructuring of the New Zealand state in order to assess the accuracy of historians’ treatment of the post-1984 period and to analyse the effectiveness of left-wing campaigns against neo-liberalism. The three campaigns documented in this thesis are: the opposition to public hospital part-charges, 1992-97; the State Housing Action Coalition’s campaign against market rents for state houses and the sale of state housing, 1991-99; and the opposition of the Water Pressure Group and Citizens Against Privatisation to water commercialisation in Auckland, 1997-2010. Using interviews with activists as well as newspapers, periodicals and information provided under the Official Information Act this thesis describes and analyses the impacts of these campaigns. All of these campaigns had an effect in countering neo-liberalism. The movement against hospital part-charges successfully forced the fourth National Government to remove partcharges after a mass boycott spread amongst patients. The State Housing Action Coalition used a partial rent strike and regular protests to keep the issue of state house market rents and privatisation on the public agenda in the 1990s. The activism of the Water Pressure Group and Citizens Against Privatisation helped stop the privatisation of water in Auckland in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Thus this thesis argues that the history of New Zealand’s neoliberal period and the changes made to the welfare state during this period can only be understood if it is grounded in an understanding of the impact of social movement activism during that period.
