In memory of Norm Kirk

Written By: - Date published: 4:11 pm, August 31st, 2024 - 16 comments
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Today marks the day 50 years ago when former Labour Prime Minister Norm Kirk died. The following is an email sent by Labour President Jill Day to mark the occasion.

“Today, Saturday 31 August, mark exactly 50 years since one of the saddest days in Labour’s history – the day Prime Minister Norm Kirk died. I know all our thoughts and aroha go out to the wider Kirk family, including Norm’s grand-niece and current Labour MP Jo Luxton.

Norm left an extraordinary legacy despite the tragically short time he spent as Prime Minister. His championing of a truly independent foreign policy for New Zealand, the path he charted for Crown-Māori relations, and his determination to see a more inclusive Aotearoa all continue to resonate and inspire us today.

To mark this anniversary, I’d like to share with all Labour members the speech Norm’s friend and Labour MP Kerry Burke gave in Parliament reacting to his death in the shocked days that followed. Here’s what Kerry said:

It is with an overwhelming sense of sadness that I pay tribute to the career and work of Norman Kirk. I cannot recall a time, if ever there was one, when I felt as sad as I did when I heard of his death. In a very real sense he has moulded my life. I have the privilege of representing in Parliament an area where he lived, where he built a house and raised a family, where he first took public office, and where he began to display the ability and the qualities which generated a drive, which took him, irresistibly, to the most powerful office in the land. To the people of North Canterbury, and of Kaiapoi in particular, there is a very special sense of sadness in his death. He was a man who loved those people, and they loved him. His family roots were strong in Kaiapoi. He often said that when he first stood for the mayoralty more than half the people on the roll were related to him. On that score, he reckoned, he was sure to win, which he did. He inspired the council of the day to launch Kaiapoi on the most ambitious programme of improvement in its history. It might be said that he later did the same for his country. The people of Kaiapoi and North Canterbury feel that they have lost a friend, and they have; and, on their behalf, I extend the greatest sympathy ot Mrs Ruth Kirk and to the family.

In addition to representing an area where he lived, I had the pleasure of growing up in an electorate he came to represent, Lyttelton. He spoke on our street corner. Together with my sister and brother, I attended high school with his older children. I joined the Labour Party in Lyttelton and, as was the case with so many of the younger members in the House, I was drawn into it by the magnetism of Norman Kirk. The wise men of the Lyttelton Labour Party saw in their young Member of Parliament a future Prime Minister, which he was; and a great Prime Minister, which he was as well. I speak today on behalf of the thousands of young people in our community to whom he was an inspiration, an example of what we all might hope to be, and a promise of a better world for humanity and a better nation for New Zealanders. His greatest wish would be that that example and inspiration should endure. There are many who have lost a friend – the poor, the weak, the humble, both here and abroad – for he was their champion. He was also the champion of those we refer to as the working people, the ordinary people who want nothing more from society than the opportunity to make the most of their talents with perhaps a little help along the way.

Norman Kirk made the most of his considerable talents – his magnificent mind, his enormous capacity for work, the practical manner in which he approached a problem, his great social conscience, and the spell-binding powers of oratory with which he could move his audience and his nation. He was a political genius and a great person in every sense of the word. He had a unique capacity for absorbing apparently conflicting arguments and synthesising them into statements of policy and attitudes which pleased all protagonists. He was able to bridge the gap between the youth and the aged. The great number of young people in every manner of dress who have visited this building in the past two days to pay their last respects is ample witness to this.

The social conditions which moulded Norman Kirk are gone now; we will not see his like again. There is a feeling of unfulfilled potential. It is a tragedy that his term of office was to be so brief; it would have been a greater tragedy had it never occurred at all. He gave us the finest things these islands can afford: the sight of a great and humble man who lived amongst his people and who devoted his life to their service. Those of us who witnessed at close hand the nobility of his vision, those of us who knew him and loved him and shared his dreams, count his death as our greatest loss; but we count as our greatest pleasure and privilege the fact the we and the nation were able to walk with him awhile.

Ngā mihi maioha, -Jill Day, Labour President”

16 comments on “In memory of Norm Kirk ”

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  1. Tiger Mountain 1
    31 August 2024 at 4:24 pm

    If Norm Kirk had lived longer and obtained another term the country would likely have been spared Muldoon!

    Healthcare really was lacking and unsophisticated in those days, it was a tragic end for him.

  2. Anne 2
    31 August 2024 at 4:41 pm

    I recall the death of Norman Kirk as if it only happened yesterday. The nation was plunged into a level of sorrow over the death of a prime minister… the like that had not happened before or has happened since. He had the ability to see into the soul of the average Kiwi.

    He planted the seed of the anti-nuclear sentiment which saw NZ become the first nation in the world to ban nuclear weapons. It is now a recognised symbol of respect for NZ the world over.

    For his efforts he was harassed and intimidated, not by foreign sources as some have suggested, but by senior NZ officials and their lackeys. Indeed as he lay in hospital dying, a person was ringing him on his final night every 30mins. or so with the words "We know you're dying, you bastard, about time".

    • Kat 2.1
      31 August 2024 at 7:01 pm

      Yep, and Jacinda was NK Mk II……………..

    • Obtrectator 2.2
      1 September 2024 at 11:51 am

      Anne, I feel I should point out that that sicko wasn't able to pester Mr Kirk during his final days at the Home of Compassion. Even if he'd tried, the Sisters would most certainly have prevented him from getting through.

      No, it was happening in the days immediately beforehand, late at night, when (incredibly) he was on his own at what was then his official residence in Seatoun. Despite his pleading, the jobsworth phone operator who put the calls through insisted they'd no discretion about blocking them, and put the "screamer" on if he tried leaving the receiver off the hook. Whoever it was, I hope they were proud of themselves.

    • Louis 2.3
      1 September 2024 at 2:21 pm

      The abusive calls came from Hastings. Does anyone know who it was?

      It is detailed in the documentary posted below.

      Margaret Hayward's Diary of the Kirk Years is worth a read.

      • Anne 2.3.1
        1 September 2024 at 6:51 pm

        I doubt any investigation took place. He was a Labour prime minister remember. The right wing authorities of the day regarded Labour politicians with close to contempt. That included the prime minister.

        • Louis 2.3.1.1
          1 September 2024 at 7:43 pm

          "The right wing authorities of the day regarded Labour politicians with close to contempt."

          That hasn't changed.

          • Anne 2.3.1.1.1
            3 September 2024 at 10:37 am

            The 'authorities' today, by and large, have a broader outlook than existed back in the 70s. Back then, the Cold War mentality still reigned supreme. That has long disappeared – except for a handful of old soldiers and ex-officials who haven't caught up with the times.

  3. koina 3
    31 August 2024 at 11:39 pm

    I was in my last year at High school when Kirk died.

    All my life I had really only known a National Government under Holyoke 1960-1972.

    The 3rd Labour Government only lasted two years as Bill Rowling seemed to be a timid child like PM and was easily destroyed by Muldoons dancing Cossacks.

    That 1975 election reminds me of last years election win based solely on Maori bashing.

    Nationals election victories seem to be always based on hate, fear and prejudice.

    And Luxon is the spitting image of Muldoon.

    So National was to be in power for 21 out of 24 years and I was 52 years old before Labour completed its first 3 term Government.

    Like Norman Kirk was temporary Labour in office always seems so temporary…

    Get everything done real quick because National will be back with a vengeance campaign and sweep away all the Labour reforms.

    And I always thought Norman Kirk looked like he was Maori.

  4. Ad 4
    1 September 2024 at 11:16 am

    I'm too young to remember him. But I like his record.

    I liked him for accepting the politics of the massive Save Manapouri campaign, simply instructing the Electricity Department to not raise lake levels.

    I wonder if there are any Kaiapoi people who can re all what he did as mayor? Back in the day when eing a mayor had power and prestige.

    He was fortunate to host the Commonwealth Games, and set a dignified benchmark for Maori-Crown relations.

    Thankyou for your service Norm.

    • Tiger Mountain 5.1
      1 September 2024 at 11:38 am

      Heh, a friend has a mint copy of the original vinyl record, red sleeve, and…on the back it is signed by…drum roll…Roger Douglas, Eddie Isbey and Michael Bassett! The mind boggles where that happened–an LEC or other Labour meeting?

  6. Mike the Lefty 6
    1 September 2024 at 4:15 pm

    I remember when I heard the announcement.

    I was watching television, late at night around 11pm if I remember correctly, when the shocked TV1 announcer reported the news. Afterwards the TV went back to its normal programme which happened to be Big Time Wrestling (Australian) but only for a short while. There was an announcement that normal programming would cease for the night and we were left with a picture of Norm. There had not long before been a song released by a group called Ebony called "Big Norm" which was a slightly comedic but largely affectionate tribute to Norm and the group asked for it to be taken off the air thereafter to respect his family.

    Funny how you remember such things after so much time.

    It was known that he was not a well man, but it still came as a big shock when he went.

  7. Jilly Bee 7
    2 September 2024 at 5:55 pm

    I remember proudly voting for Labour in 1972 when Norman Kirk was running to be PM, I don't recall who the Labour candidate was in the Piako seat that year, though Helen Clark was the candidate in the 1975 election and a group of us worked bloody hard to help her at least make a dent into John Luxton's large majority in this mainly farming seat. I also recall anecdotal evidence of more than a few farmers leaving their lights on at night when the first oil shock hit us. I was a firm fan of Norman Kirk with his policies, particularly that of sending the Frigate with Fraser Coleman on board to the Mururoa Nuclear testing site. I even thought Richard Prebble, Michael Bassett et al were pretty decent blokes at the time – there was a candiate meeting for Helen in one of the halls in Morrinsville where we lived and duly attended. I chuckled at the time because Michael Bassett walked onto the stage with a Bassett Hound on a lead – not many people got that one. I was saddened to hear that Marilyn Waring refused to consider the Labour Party at the time because Norman Kirk and probably most of the candidates were profoundly homophobic at the time. I didn't know about that until probably Marilyn retired from politics. I do admire her for crossing the floor because she wasn't allowed to speak in support of Labour intending to make N Z a nuclear free nation, which brought about the 1984 snap election. I remember that very clearly too. We were then living in Epsom, Auckland, I can't recall which electorate we were in at the time as we lived in the 'Bermuda Triangle' at the time and were shunted around a few different electorates, Onehunga, Epsom – we were just one street away from the Mt Eden electorate where Mike Moore stood in 1972, but by the time we arrived in Auckland in 1976, he had moved onto Waimakariri, in Canterbury. It was also the year that Judith Tizard cames within a hair's breadth of winning the Remuera seat. Those were interesting times. Now well retired, we are back in the Piako electorate and have the non-entity of Tim van der Molen as our MP. At least the Nats lost the party vote here in 2020.