The first Labour government
- When
- 1935–1949
- Where
- Wellington · Te Whanganui-a-Tara
- Reach
- Nationwide
Michael Joseph Savage led Labour to a landslide and built the welfare state: state houses, guaranteed prices, free health care and a 40-hour week.
The government moved fast — restoring wage cuts, introducing the 40-hour week, guaranteeing dairy prices, and starting a state housing programme whose first tenants Savage helped move in personally. Its centrepiece, the Social Security Act of 1938, created tax-funded medical care and a comprehensive benefit system that lasted essentially unchanged for fifty years. Savage died in office in 1940 and his portrait hung in living rooms for a generation.
Regions affected
Sources
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