Sir Don McKinnon: Former Deputy Prime Minister to Jim Bolger comments on the late Prime Minister's funeral

The final farewell for former Prime Minister takes place today. 

His funeral is being held at his local Catholic parish in Kapiti today at 11am, and thousands are expected to attend.

Bolger served as Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, and passed away last week aged 90. 

Sir Don McKinnon served as Deputy Prime Minister to Bolger, and joined Mike Hosking to pay tribute to Bolger and his legacy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Friends and family. Of course, today farewell Jim Bolgier funeral
is going to be held at the local Catholic parish
and capity. Sir Don McKinnon will be speaking. He's with
us done.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning to you, Good morning to you, mate.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
A lot of very nice things have been said about
Jim Bolder, and I suppose rightly so over these last
few days. Have you been pleased to hear them?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
I have been pleased to hear them, because certainly at
the time that he was Prime Minister, he never got
those kind of accolades on a continuous run. And what
you've been hearing recently is pretty much the man as
we knew him.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Indeed, you helped out, I wonder, and I mean you
won't agree with me necessarily publicly, but I mean the
fact that you never wanted to roll them knife and
be the boss. I mean you were a good combination,
weren't you.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well. I hope so, I hope so. And I still
say that if any leader has a deputy whose aspirations
for the leadership are very strong, you will have a
permanent destabilization and that's not a good thing for the country.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Chris Finlayson wrote very nicely about him. In The Herald yesterday,
he concluded that Fraser assigned bold you would be right
up there. Would that be your assessment?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, I certainly say so, and I agree with someone
else who said it a couple of years ago that
of the five farmer prime ministers, he was certainly the
best of all of them because he just had a
broader mind. It wasn't just about farming, it was about
the whole country.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
It's one of them. It appeals to me personally, this
idea that you can leave school young but still rise
to be the leader of the country. I mean, that's
a fantastic thing for New Zealand. I just wonder if
it was a time and place thing and it wouldn't
even be remotely possible today.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, I hope it is possible, because you know people
that have a pretty good IQ. I suppose inherently they're
capable of learning every day of their lives and if
they are in the right environment it may not be
a formal education environment. If they're in the right environment
and they continue learning, they are curious, they want to

(01:59):
know things, ask questions, They've got every chance of raising
to the top. I think it's worthwhile adding.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Mate got to be kidding.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I mean, give so was Paul keating in Australia. None
of them had a university degree.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
No exactly is it fair to I think you alluded
to it. Is it fair to observe that at the
time he wasn't loved and maybe that the fullness of
time have allowed a number of people to come to
a slightly different conclusion that they might have had at
the moment.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think you're right. Some primersts love more than those.
I think David Lnger was loved by many. I wouldn't
say it was a great prime minister at all. No,
the bulger that we knew wasn't seen the same way
by the general public. No.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Is the weather going to be a thing today? I
mean with all these read alerts and you've got to
stay home in public transport is not on? How come
a thousand people are going to be able to turn
up the capital case.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
I think a lot of people will have second thoughts
about wanting to go unless they know they're going to
get this the building or they've got a seat somewhere
that's safe. They may have second thoughts. But look, that's
fully understood.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Ye good on you don't let's catchup. Appreciate it very
much so. Don McKinnon, former Deputy Prime Minister, who will
be speaking at the Bulgier funeral today.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
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