Kōrero: Treasury

Ruth Richardson was appointed minister of finance in Jim Bolger’s National government, elected in October 1990. Shortly after taking office, Richardson visited the Treasury, escorted by Treasury Secretary Graham Scott (centre). In this photo she is deploying two stamps, one with a D for dreadful and the other an E for excellent. Richardson’s determination to trim the government’s massive deficit and limit its role in the economy and society accorded with Treasury’s own focus on fiscal consolidation and labour-market reform, so there may have been more Es than Ds.