1938, Michael Joseph Savage: Crowning honour of a people's love

Prime Minister Michael Savage addressing a meeting at the Orakei Pa. (NZ Herald Archives)

Michael Joseph Savage is again New Zealander of the Year.

His Government's crowning achievement - the Social Security Act was passed in 1938. It was the cornerstone of the welfare state, providing universal free health care, maternity care, a means tested old-age pension at 60 and universal superannuation at 65.

"I can promise the people of this country," the Herald reported Savage as saying, "that before very long they will have reached a condition of social security unsurpassed in any other country in the world."

However the scheme had its critics not least the Herald, which fretted about how it was going to be paid for.

"The inescapable result will be still more taxation the weight of which will, of course, fall on business and industry, especially primary industry," it predicted the day after Savage announced his plans.

But the Herald greatly admired the man himself as the epitome of the New Zealand character, even though he had been born in a foreign land.

"An Australian by birth, but a New Zealander by 28 years' adoption, Mr Savage has none of the easy optimism and irresponsibility with which popular belief endows the typical 'Aussie'," it said in an editorial when he was first elected Prime Minister.

"In temperament he so far conforms to the accepted New Zealand pattern that he has been able to win the almost instinctive respect and liking even of those to whom his political creed is anathema."

When Savage died 18 months after the Social Security Act was passed, the Herald once again stressed its admiration for his character.

But the jury was still out on his record in power.

"Final judgment on the doings of a man in public office can never be passed by his contemporaries. It is only when time has allowed everything to fall into its proper perspective that the true verdict can be returned."

IN HINDSIGHT
No judgment can ever be truly final but enough time has surely passed to measure the long-term effects of Savage's achievements.

Three times he would have been chosen New Zealander of the Year and that became four when the Herald, looking back in 1999, chose him as the New Zealander of the 20th century for the role he played in transforming the nation, even though it noted the welfare state remained a topic of debate and sometimes controversy.

One way of quantifying his influence is the overriding importance of welfare in state spending.

A glance at the Government's 2013/14 budget shows of the $73 billion in projected expenditure, 53 per cent will go on social welfare and health.

But a better way of expressing what Savage means to us are the words inscribed on his memorial at Bastion Pt: "There is no fame to rise above the crowning honour of a people's love."

Further reading:
Biography of Michael Joseph Savage, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand