Chapter 4: Moving to Australia

In 1986, after nine years of National Party rule under Sir Robert ‘Piggy’ Muldoon, the Nationals were swept from power by the incoming David Lange/Roger Douglas Labor Government.

In a program called ‘Rogernomics’ by the press, the Lange government made massive changes to New Zealand’s financial infrastructure. The least of which was the introduction of a GST.

Inflation, which had already spiralled out of control under Piggy Muldoon, went astronomical. Then, in 1987, came the ‘Black Wednesday Stock Market Crash’.

The interest rate on our loan surged from 10% to 33.33%. At the same time, the rental on our inner city store blew out from $1500 per square metre per year to $3300 per square metre.

Doing the math, I quickly realised we could cope with one expense rise, or the other, but not both. Talking it over with Vicky, we decided that all we could do was shut the store down and salvage what we could.

I felt ashamed that I had failed and had no desire to try again in New Zealand’s current economic climate. So, with the princely sum of $379 and an unpaid debt of $7500, we moved to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, with our eighteen-month-old son to start again.

We chose Brisbane, as opposed to Sydney or Melbourne like most of our compatriots, because Vicky had relatives we could stay with until we could find jobs and a place to rent.

$7500 was a lot of money in those days. It took us almost three years to pay it back and clear our bad credit history.

Being a nurse, Vicky had little problem immediately securing a job, so I played house-husband until the New Year.

This turn of events had the bonus effect of forcing Vicky to take a more dominant role and played a big part in her progression from shy wallflower to the strong and confident woman she is today. As our family’s only provider, Vicky was forced into taking more responsibility, which helped her self-confidence enormously.

In February 1988, I started work as a showroom salesperson for a large, worldwide electronics store. My career progressed swiftly with this company. In less than three months, I was promoted to showroom manager for a store that, at the time, was the biggest in Australia.

Six months later, I was promoted to area manager for Rockhampton.

Things were going well, and our relationship was strong, so we decided to try for another child. We expected Vicky to take some time to fall pregnant because she had been on the pill since the birth of our first child.

It seemed that the day after she stopped taking her pill, Vicky fell pregnant. Finally, after some birthing difficulties, our second son came into this world.

We wanted one of us to stay home with the baby for at least the first two years. Because I had a secure job and Vicky had maternity leave, Vicky became a house mum again.

Ironically, Vicky seemed to take a backward step into being subservient to me again. No longer being an equal-paying partner seemed to make her think she had to surrender herself and her personality to me once more.

My career with this company ended in late 1991. I was the regional manager for Sydney, running fourteen showrooms, two warehouses, a collections department and an accounts department and had a staff of 192. During a Board of Directors meeting, I told the company’s Australian CEO exactly what I thought of him. It’s a very closed shop at Australia’s top end of the corporate ladder. Now that I had a reputation as being ‘difficult to work with’, no company would give me a similar position.

Neither of us wanted to live in Sydney, so we packed up and moved back to Brisbane.

Late 1991 and early 1992 was a dark time for me, and I fell into the first of my many subsequent battles with the ‘black dog’ of depression. I had no desire to try and pick myself up and look for another career and had no idea what to do, even if I did have that desire.