Everyone bends knee to nation's Mr Moneybags

Ministers have been pleading with Bill Birch for money behind closed doors. On the eve of his fourth and final Budget, Audrey Young talks to past and present ministers about the Birch style.

Nick Smith

(Education, Conservation):

At my first meeting as Minister of Conservation, I had a very firm rebuke, saying that I was one of the most prolific spending ministers in the Government and that I was putting the whole National Party reputation as a fiscally prudent Administration at stake. I then returned to my office to consult three of my colleagues, who had had the identical speech.


Tau Henare

(Maori Affairs):

Trying to negotiate with him is bloody hard. It's just the way he is. He doesn't give anything. I try to use all the tactics in my little bag - cry, get on bended knee and thump the table.

All the ministers will tell you Birch is bloody hard to negotiate with even if the cabinet has already approved the idea. He doesn't think anybody is special.


John Luxton

(Food, Fibre, Biosecurity):

He is unflappable. There is never any emotion. He never gets visibly angry. Controlling his emotions has been one of his strongest points, whether there's none there or not. I guess there is.

He just keeps prodding away and it has an impact.

John Banks

(formerly Police, Tourism):

I'm sure he still has most of the money he earned as a paper boy. I would be very happy for him to look after my finances. Not easy to do business with.

Always a helluva fight unless, of course, you had money to return to the consolidated fund. He would meet you late at night flanked by a small army of mean-spirited officials. After some hours the parameters of a deal would be agreed.

If extra funding was sought, he would then proceed to grind down and grind out a deal. He was never interested in the ethereal politics of philosophy and principle; it was nothing but a numbers game.

Robyn McDonald

(formerly Senior Citizens, Consumer Affairs):

I've always found him charming and I felt I always got a fair hearing. Looking from the outside before I came in here I would have thought the opposite.

I thought he was aloof and intractable. His relationship with Winston [Peters] was quite an eye-opener as well. It was a very cordial, gracious relationship.

Roger Sowry

(Social Services, Work and Income):

He knows an incredible amount of detail about portfolios. I can remember as a new minister going in to see him with my list of Budget initiatives and wishes and arguing vigorously for every single one of them, line by line, only to be told at the end, "Well, this is the amount of money you've got; now go away and work within it," and feeling like where is the fairness.

He is very, very tough to deal with but I found him very fair. But he has heard a lot of the arguments before.

You win arguments by presenting the facts and also by being prepared to make sure you are also on the other side of the equation dealing with issues such as waste.

Marie Hasler

(Cultural Affairs):

He's always lovely to me. He can be very charming while saying no.

Despite him being a non-stop workaholic, he has always got time to discuss any issue with you. You never feel rushed, which I find quite amazing.

He's always relaxed. When I first became an MP I was worried about sometimes disagreeing with constituents. He said no matter what your own views are, you always represent your constituents, even if you disagree with them. That was a valuable piece of advice.

Simon Upton

(Environment):

He is fantastically hard-working and he doesn't have a nasty bone in his body. He was always in control of himself and he has a sense of humour. That's rather important.

There are people who become consumed by their portfolios and really quite tense. Mr Birch always keeps his cool and I have always found him a very easy person to deal with.

He is absolutely single-minded. He was Minister of Health before he was Minister of Finance and Mr Birch was as good an arguer for increased funding for health as any I've seen.