Tears and anecdotes from veterans

Sir Roger Douglas with former Act Party leader Rodney Hide. Sir Roger's valedictory speech omitted any reference to Act - the party he co-founded in 1993. File photo / Richard Robinson

Two long-serving MPs gave farewell speeches yesterday - Sir Roger Douglas, ending his second stint in Parliament, and the man who replaced him as MP for Manurewa in 1990 when he first retired, George Hawkins.

Sir Roger's valedictory was littered with anecdotes about the early years of his career during the sunset of the Holyoake years through to his controversial term as Finance Minister from 1984 to 1988.

But any mention of his most recent term in Parliament as a backbench MP for Act - the party he founded to advance his free-market economic policies - was conspicuously absent.

Mr Hawkins followed that with a tearful recollection of his time in Parliament.

Sir Roger, 73, was first elected in 1969 when Sir Keith Holyoake, nearing the end of his time as Prime Minister, had time to chat in Parliament's billiards room with young Opposition MPs.

The House frequently sat under urgency, when a 1am finish was an early night. Sir Roger recalled the then Labour leader Norman Kirk speaking in full flight at 3am.

Clashes in the House between Mr Kirk and Sir Robert Muldoon when he was National's leader "were something to behold, something legends were made of".

Sir Robert was a "particularly formidable" politician who "created havoc" in Parliament's debating chamber, often leaving after a short time either by choice or at the order of the Speaker.

It wasn't until David Lange came along that Labour had a match for Sir Robert in politics or wit. Sir Roger recalled Sir Robert interrupting Mr Lange, who was speaking "at full throttle", to tell him he had "a big fat gut".

"Lange, quick as a flash, said, 'Yes, but mine's much higher off the ground than yours'."

Of his controversial economic reforms during the Lange government, Sir Roger said he was lucky to have had Richard Prebble and David Caygill as his associates.

Sir Roger yesterday thanked his family for their tolerance during his career, but absent from his speech was any reference to Act - the party he founded in 1993, for which he returned to Parliament in 2008 and which now appears in danger of foundering.

Mr Hawkins - after talking about his pre-Parliament time as a Papakura district councillor and then mayor - broke down while speaking about the tragedy of losing his youngest son in 1989.

"Our lives were ripped to pieces; it was difficult to carry on."

In 1991, Mr Hawkins suffered a stroke, and more recently he has battled bowel cancer.

Reflecting on his proud moments, Mr Hawkins cited serving as the first Minister of Ethnic Affairs, saying he had been pleased to be part of the Government's apology for how this country treated Chinese immigrants in the early years.

- Additional reporting: APNZ