Jim Bolger ONZ PC - 1935 - 2025

Te Ohu Kaimoana wishes to acknowledge the passing of Jim Bolger ONZ PC, and extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Joan, son Dan and his siblings, and the grandchildren of Jim and Joan at this time.

Jim served as the Prime Minister during some of the largest treaty settlement negotiations in our nation’s history, including the Māori Fisheries Settlement, the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims and the Ngāi Tahu Settlement; and was a staunch advocate and believer in honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Bolger believed that Te Tiriti o Waitangi provided an opportunity for Aotearoa to restore its honour and was known for his belief that “if Māori do better, we all do better”.

He unashamedly voiced views that were not always consistent with the National Party, nor all New Zealanders and insisted that New Zealand needed to "give up the colonial mentality".

Alongside Sir Doug Graham, Bolger was credited with changing the relationship between the Crown and iwi, and race relations more broadly, stating: "I cannot abide racism. I cannot abide people judging others by the colour of their skin, their ethnicity or their culture… One of the great evils of world society is racism. The undermining of a stable world society is racism".

He was a leader that would do the right thing “because it’s the right thing to do”. What a great legacy.

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e te Rangatira.