The Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand was an annual media campaign run since 1997 by two activist organisations, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and GATT Watchdog. The winners were chosen by a group of academics, activists, businesspeople and trade unionists. [1]
In April 2018 it was announced the 2016 Roger Award would be the final award, due to a declining number of nominations. [2]
The awards bear the name of former New Zealand Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas, who introduced far reaching market-oriented reforms in the 1980s (also taken into account during the naming decision were New Zealand Business Roundtable director Roger Kerr, the verb "to roger", and the term "Jolly Roger"). [3] [4] These changes, reinforced by successor Ruth Richardson in the 1990s, made the country's economy one of the most open in the world. Through this period, the role and profile of multinational companies increased. The privatisation of Tranz Rail and Telecom New Zealand, companies that have won multiple Roger Awards, remain particularly controversial - since being given their first awards, they have been re-nationalised and unbundled respectively.
The Roger Award has been used as the model for similar campaigns overseas.
The winner was selected by evaluation of the judges made on four criteria, "Economic dominance"; "Impact on people"; "Environmental damage and abuse of animals"; and "Political interference". This last criterion was judged on the basis of whether the nominee is "running an ideological crusade".
Having "won" on three occasions, Tranz Rail was inducted into the 'Hall of Shame' in 2003. It has ceased to exist having been absorbed by Toll NZ, a two-time nominee, and subsequently nationalised as KiwiRail by the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand. Telecom New Zealand was nominated each year since 1997, and has since been succeeded by Chorus Limited and Spark New Zealand.
| Year | Winner | Runners-up | Other finalists | Special awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Tranz Rail [5] | Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), Coeur Gold | Telecom New Zealand, Comalco, Westpac, Juken Nissho, Lion Nathan, Brierley Investments | |
| 1998 | Monsanto [6] | |||
| 1999 | TransAlta [7] [8] | |||
| 2000 | Tranz Rail [9] | |||
| 2001 | Carter Holt Harvey [10] [11] | |||
| 2002 | Tranz Rail [12] [13] | Tranz Rail becomes the first occupant of the Hall of Shame [14] | ||
| 2003 | Juken Nissho [15] | |||
| 2004 | Telecom New Zealand [16] | |||
| 2005 | Bank of New Zealand, Westpac [17] [18] | |||
| 2006 | Progressive Enterprises [19] [20] | Telecom New Zealand | Toll NZ, ANZ Bank, British American Tobacco, Contact Energy, ABB | |
| 2007 | Telecom New Zealand [21] | British American Tobacco and Spotless | GlaxoSmithKline, ANZ Bank, APN News & Media, Independent Liquor, Pike River Coal | |
| 2008 | British American Tobacco [22] [23] [24] | Rio Tinto NZ | ANZ Bank, Contact Energy, GlaxoSmithKline, Infratil, McDonald's, Telecom New Zealand | Accomplice Award: Business New Zealand |
| 2009 | ANZ Bank [25] [26] | Rio Tinto NZ | Bank of New Zealand, Infratil, Newmont, Rymans, Telecom New Zealand, Transpacific and Westpac. | Accomplice Award: Auckland City Council and its officials |
| 2010 | Warner Brothers [27] | Bupa, Imperial Tobacco, Vodafone, Warner Brothers and Westpac | ||
| 2011 | Rio Tinto Alcan [28] [29] | Oceania, Sajo Oyang Corporation and Westpac | Adidas, Newmont Waihi Gold, Skycity Entertainment Group and Telecom New Zealand | Accomplice Award: the New Zealand Government (in its own right and accompanying both Sajo Oyang and Telecom). |
| 2012 | Taejin Fisheries [30] | Rio Tinto Alcan, King Salmon | Four Australian-owned banks collectively (ANZ, ASB, Bank of New Zealand & Westpac), Insurance Australia Group, Newmont Waihi Gold, Taejin Fisheries Co. Ltd, and Vodafone. | Accomplice Award: The New Zealand Government, United Fisheries People's Choice Award: British American Tobacco |
| 2013 | Rio Tinto [31] | Sky City Casino, Chorus | ANZ, Chorus, IAG Insurance Group, Imperial Tobacco, Rio Tinto, Sky City Casino and Talent 2. | There were several nominations for the Accomplice Award, all for the Government |
| 2014 | ANZ Bank [32] | IAG/State Insurance | ANZ Bank, British American Tobacco NZ, Coca-Cola Amatil, IAG/State Insurance, PGG Wrightson, and Rio Tinto. [33] | Accomplice Award: Food & Grocery Council |
| 2015 | IAG/State Insurance [34] | Serco | Bunnings, Westpac, MediaWorks New Zealand, Apple | |
| 2016 | Youi [35] | IAG/State Insurance | Uber |
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