Editorial: Morrison wanted the best for his country

Businessman and philanthropist Lloyd Morrison. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Lloyd Morrison, the leading businessman and proud New Zealander who died in Seattle yesterday of cancer, was not as well known as he ought to have been.

Liked and respected by business people and policy makers, he was less exposed to the general public, many of whom would have supported his patriotic ideals.

He founded infrastructure company Infratil, which owns the kinds of companies New Zealanders might assume would be foreign controlled: Wellington airport, New Zealand Bus (which owns the leading Wellington and Auckland fleets), and Z, the former Shell service station network, to name a few.

He held high aspirations for New Zealand abroad too, with Infratil buying three airports in Europe.

National identity and our potential to grow saw him campaign to keep the NZX from Australian hands.

Moreover, his restless intellect drew him to rethink policies as diverse as health and education, priorities reinforced for him by his three-year illness. He argued for an independent, well-educated, progressive and agile New Zealand.

"I think most New Zealanders are egalitarian so I'm vitally interested in a place where everybody's better off," he said.

The former Business Herald leader of the year had visions for constitutional change, too, but pushed gently: forming nzflag.com to debate a new flag and marketing brilliant T-shirts with 'New New Zealand' above a stylised silver fern.