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.

Birch was born in Hastings on 9 April 1934, the son of Charles and Elizabeth Birch. 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. 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.

Birch first entered parliament in the 1972 election, as the National Party's candidate for the Franklin electorate; Pukekohe was located roughly in the centre of the Franklin electorate. National won the 1975 election, and formed the third National Government, whilst Birch was re-elected in Franklin. The Franklin electorate was abolished in the 1977 electoral redistribution and the electorate's area divided between several different electorates. Pukekohe was the northernmost settlement in the new Rangiriri electorate, and Birch won the 1978 election in that electorate. Birch was re-elected in Rangiriri in 1981, 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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. McLay promoted Birch to replace Muldoon in the finance portfolio. 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. This motivated Birch to support a successful challenge to McLay a month later.

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.

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 to 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.

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.

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. 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.

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

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

Birch was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990. 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.