Instead, Bolger brought a deep commitment to genuinely tackle deep-seated problems, even when personally uncomfortable with the unpopular policy measures deemed necessary.
As important, he offered a profound personal wisdom built on a lifetime of deep connection with the full range of New Zealand’s communities, his interest in and wide knowledge of their histories, and strong personal foresight about future consequences.
He left school at 15 without sitting School Certificate to work on his family’s dairy farm, learned the dark arts of the front row playing rugby at prop and about brawling at provincial pubs, fell in love and married his lifelong rock, Joan Riddell, in his late 20s, and bought a sheep and beef farm the same year.
He was never a parliamentary staffer or protégé of a Cabinet minister, but was drawn into politics through Federated Farmers and the National Party.
Could there be a more archetypal conservative Pākehā upbringing in mid-20th century New Zealand?
Of huge significance later, his parents’ dairy farm was in the Taranaki and his and Joan’s sheep and beef farm in the King Country, regions where the British Crown had committed perhaps its most egregious breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, and worse.
Bolger could never be described as woke – as MP for King Country, he voted against both the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 and abortion reform whenever it was considered by Parliament – but he was certainly alert to injustice as he saw it.
Rounding out his training for the Prime Ministership, Bolger first became famous as Minister of Labour in Sir Robert Muldoon’s Government, while his long-time friend and ally, Sir William Birch, was busy as Minister of Energy implementing Think Big.
In an era of compulsory unionism, the 40-something minister found himself personally involved in negotiating wage awards between union bosses, then including declared communists, and employers, including from the Auckland establishment.
In Muldoon’s Cabinet, he was one of the few to oppose the 1981 Springbok tour along with Muldoon’s statist, socialist and increasingly unhinged economic approach.
He supported the unsuccessful coup against Muldoon in 1982 and, in the dying days of the Government, finally won Cabinet agreement for voluntary unionism, although that was quickly reversed by the incoming Lange Government in 1984.
The future Prime Minister may have learned from that experience that the things a new Government does immediately and boldly tend to survive election defeats, while those done towards the end are first for reversal.
Bolger was not unworldly enough to believe New Zealand was inherently globally exceptional but he understood it had to, in fact, be exceptional to maintain first-world living standards and social cohesion.
Becoming Leader of the Opposition in 1986, he knew his future Government would need to genuinely make a difference in addressing New Zealand’s challenges as he saw them, not hold power for its own sake.
To that end, after doing well under the circumstances in the 1987 election campaign when voters strongly backed Rogernomics, the anti-nuclear policy and the new spirit of social liberalism, Bolger promoted a new generation of bright and relatively young National MPs to put together an agenda for reform.
Sitting alongside the old guard such as Birch, Sir Don McKinnon, Paul East and even Muldoon were the likes of Ruth Richardson, Simon Upton, Sir Douglas Graham, Sir Lockwood Smith, Dame Jenny Shipley and John Luxton.
It may now seem old-fashioned for political parties to bother with, but after his team finally achieved internal policy coherence at Mt Wellington’s Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, work accelerated not merely to win the 1990 election but to be ready to start work on day one in Government.
The December 19, 1990, economic package, including the benefit cuts, voluntary unionism and the Employment Contracts Bill, was unveiled just 53 days after the election.
Helen Clark’s Employment Relations Bill softened some elements of the last and Sir Bill English claimed to have reversed the benefit cuts in 2016, but the package’s general thrust remains in place today, despite the controversy it attracted.
In the following year’s Mother of All Budgets, Bolger had the integrity to accept that, under the circumstances, no responsible government could honour his pledge to abolish the superannuation surcharge.
He increased the age of retirement from 60 to 65 over just 10 years.
Graham’s Treaty settlement process was nearly as controversial as Richardson’s economic reforms but Bolger determined it was the right thing to do and gave Graham his mandate to get on with it.
As Foreign Minister, McKinnon improved relations with the US while also launching New Zealand’s big push into Asia.
Across multiple portfolios, the Bolger Government achieved enduring legacies.
What was often so controversial and politically courageous at the time is now part of the mainstream consensus. That is surely the definition of leadership.
Bolger didn’t necessarily agree with all his Government’s policies, even at the time.
But he had told his ministers at their first Cabinet meeting that they were to run their portfolios, not their bureaucrats, working groups or his political staffers.
He put ministers on long leashes to go beyond his policy comfort zone, sacking them only if he judged that necessary to assure the survival of the Government.
Through his first term, Bolger held his nerve when National polled as low as 22% in late 1991 and in the 30s through most of 1992.
It paid off: by election day, his Government’s reforms had delivered annual growth of over 7%. Through his second term, growth sat in the 4%-7% range, debt was repaid, and social spending could be increased and taxes cut, while still maintaining fiscal responsibility.
With the exception of the Asian Economic Crisis, the good times largely continued until 2008 to the extent that subsequent New Zealand politicians and policymakers became lazy.
If there is one major blot on Bolger’s record, it is MMP.
While he skilfully managed the transition to the new system despite opposing it, the extreme form of proportional representation we adopted has progressively led both National and Labour Governments to care almost exclusively about their own political survival rather than doing what they perceive will make New Zealand better.
We would honour Bolger’s legacy by being prepared to reopen a debate on moving to another electoral system so that a Prime Minister of his calibre, integrity and commitment to making New Zealand a better place has a chance of emerging again.
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