1979: Carless Days

July 30, 2019

By AHNZ

40 Years ago in our history: 30 July 1979, New Zealand was experiencing ‘The Second Oil Shock’.

As a response, Robert Muldoon’s National Government tried to control petrol consumption!

To any modern economist, or any libertarian, or anarchist, this sort of spitting-in-the-wind conceit is hilarious yet the order was given! New Zealanders dutifully stickered their car wind shields to signal which days they would go carless.

Very ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ type nonsense. The Government also decreed restrictions on the hours of the day petrol could be sold and lowered the upper speed limit to 80kph. It really goes to show how impoverished the economic thought of the day was, how pretentious the politicians and how gullible and docile the public.

To ration a scarce commodity (oil) seeks, by police enforcement, to replace a free market allocation of resources with the Know-Better brain of a politician. Black markets cropped up for petrol as well as for the little government stickers. Of course, petrol went to waste because the price was kept at an artificially low level by these means- leading to under supply and over-consumption. No wonder Carless Days were scrapped just 10 months on. The men Muldoon ignored in the Treasury must have shown him the writing was on the wall- this was all insane!

“There was never or will be an oil shortage. We had run out of money to pay for it. We could not even make the interest payments on the loans. “- Densen; Commenting on Flashback: Government enforces carless days amid oil shortage; Stuff (2017)

I don’t actually think this Control Economy fiscal behaviour was down to Muldoon being an economic dinosaur, at least not completely. I think having the population dance to his driving tune shows a stripe of Orwellian slight of hand. The statecraft of causing everybody suffer and sacrifice among themselves takes the heat and attention away from the Government where attention and blame would otherwise be directed. The Carless Days came at a time where Muldoon was in a struggle to hold together his power base and far more harmful follies were yet to come.

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See also: 1980: Fuel Fighter 661 (Facebook post here)

Image ref. West Coast History

Image ref. Old School NZ

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