Douglapus - soft bodied animal with eight arms around its mouth. Each arm has two rows of suckers - these are called Kiwis. On the underside is a large pouch containing a siphon - called an entitlement ... 4 August 2009

Shows ACT mp Roger Douglas as an octopus with a wad of notes in one tentacle and ink being squirted out of the others. Text reads 'DOUGLAPUS; soft bodied animal with eight arms around its mouth. Each arm has two rows of suckers - these are called kiwis. On the underside is a large pouch containing a siphon - called an entitlement - which draws in allowances to bathe the gills for breathing. If attacked the pouch releases a squirt of ink to baffle the pursuer - this is called an overseas subsidised flight.' Refers to the row about mps' expenses. Roger Douglas returned to politics in the 2008 election as an ACT mp. He was famous as the Labour Finance Minister appointed in 1984 responsible for 'rogernomics'. The cartoon refers to Roger Douglas's making a personal trip to England which was largely paid for by the tax payer. Rogernomic policies included cutting agricultural subsidies and trade barriers, privatising public assets and the control of inflation through measures rooted in monetarism, and were regarded in some quarters of Douglas's New Zealand Labour Party as a betrayal of traditional Labour ideals. The Labour Party subsequently retreated from pure Rogernomics, which became a core doctrine of ACT.

Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).