Mixed media: The life and times of David Lange

The death of David Lange has sparked a debate about the former Prime Minister's legacy and how history will judge his most important achievements, economic reforms and independent foreign policy.

NATIONAL TREASURE

Website editor: Any regrets? Yes he had them, for all who voted for Labour believing in social ideals and got capitalism proper. But he balanced this with recollections of great times. For the first time a New Zealand statesman stood tall on the world stage and spoke of a peaceful place that refused to be dictated to by Northern Hemisphere militarist ideologies.

- Selwyn Manning, Scoop Media

Mainland view: Lange was not necessarily everyone's political cup of tea. The nuclear-free legislation he was at the forefront of installing did not make him universally popular internationally or at home, though for many in New Zealand it is a huge symbol of pride. New Zealand's courage, as a small country, in standing up to major powers, is encapsulated in the issue, which will undoubtedly be one of the most enduring aspects of Lange's legacy.

- The Ashburton Guardian

Blogger: His contributions to our country's sense of itself are remarkable, beyond those of any Prime Minister since Kirk - and probably beyond his, too. He took New Zealand out into the world and made a splash, standing up for Kiwi values and the principles of justice and peace which, it seems, were always part of his life. A remarkable New Zealander.

- Jordan Carter on Just Left

Sydney newspaper: Two World Wars and Vietnam nurtured an Anzac myth of inseparable mateship. The man who set New Zealand on a course that divided the Antipodes in the 1980s was David Lange. He once rightly noted - without wanting to sound vain - that it was impossible to speak of contemporary New Zealand without reference to his own role in what it had become.

- Sydney Morning Herald

A FLAWED CHARACTER

Website comment: When I think of David Lange I think of a man who gutted the social heritage of New Zealand. He sold off New Zealand to the highest bidder. The working man was cast aside in the name of profit while he and his political hacks made millions. Never forget that. Do I have any sympathy or respect for Lange, a supposed Labour politician? No I do not.

- Dennis Morgan writing on stuff.co.nz

Melbourne writer: Lange trashed New Zealand's defence relationship with the United States, on the back of his totemic "no nuclear ship visits" policy. It had the effect of shuffling the Kiwis into the neutral corner, and off the winner's podium, just five years before the Western alliance triumphed in the great ideological rivalry of the 20th century. Yet, in the mythology of his own nation, Lange continues to be celebrated as a brave visionary rather than as a poseur and dilettante who misread badly the pulse of history.

- Tony Parkinson in The Age

Australian newspaper: He loved the big symbolic gesture, as shown by the decision to ban nuclear warships from Kiwi waters. This was an essentially empty gesture, a sop to the left, that could still come back to bite New Zealand in the event of a major regional conflict. Lange allowed his visionary Finance Minister, Roger Douglas, to take an overdue axe to New Zealand's over-protected, over-taxed, over-regulated economy and bloated public sector. Unfortunately, these changes were made despite, rather than because of, Lange, whose Government finally unravelled when he could take no more and fell out with Douglas.

- The Australian

Blog comments: I picked a book out of the library recently. It was a compilation of Lange's newspaper column articles during the early 90s. They were full of bitter and caustic comment about Jim Bolger. I had forgotten about them until re-reading them. I know that when a larger-than-life figure like Lange dies people tend to think of the good bits of his life and all the funny incidents. This book reminded me how bitter he had become with the defeat of Labour. There were two sides to him.

- Bob Howard on kiwiblog.co.nz