Sir Roger Douglas Wins Liberty Prize In Paris

ACT Leader Rodney Hide today congratulated Sir Roger Douglas who - along with former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar - last night received an inaugural Institut Turgot Liberty Prizes in the category of 'World Political Leaders Whose Actions Best Contributed to the Advancement of the Cause of Liberty'.

"This is a tremendous honour for New Zealand, for Sir Roger and for ACT - and is just the latest of many international awards to be bestowed on Sir Roger Douglas," Mr Hide said.

"These awards include:
* The Euromoney Magazine Award for Finance Minister of the Year in 1985
* The Max Schmidheiny Freedom Prize in 1996 - for his contribution to the preservation and development of a free social and economic order
* The Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism in 1997
* The Friedrich von Hayek medal in 2002 - given to outstanding politicians, entrepreneurs and scholars who stand for the aims and values of a free society
* The Deloitte/Management Magazine Visionary Leader Award in 2006.

"Sir Roger is the architect of the modern New Zealand economy and, to a large extent, the exciting array of choices that we now take for granted in our goods and services only exists because of his freeing up of competitive markets in the 1980s.

"Sir Roger is New Zealand's greatest ever Finance Minister - the only one ever to be honoured internationally. This is because he is the only one to have had the guts to consistently put what was right for his country ahead of what was convenient politically.

It is Sir Roger's vision, principles and sheer guts to do what's right that achieved the modern New Zealand economy - a fact recognised, not just in New Zealand but, around the world," Mr Hide said.