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, New Zealand's largest rail operator [5] | Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), Coeur Gold | Telecom New Zealand, Comalco, Westpac, Juken Nissho, Lion Nathan, Brierley Investments | |
| 1998 | Monsanto Company, a US-based manufacturer of agricultural products [6] | |||
| 1999 | TransAlta  , a Canadian power company [7] [8] | |||
| 2000 | Tranz Rail  [9] | |||
| 2001 | Carter Holt Harvey, a timber company [10] [11] | |||
| 2002 | Tranz Rail [12] [13] | Tranz Rail becomes the first occupant of the Hall of Shame [14] | ||
| 2003 | Juken Nissho, a timber company [15] | |||
| 2004 | Telecom New Zealand, New Zealand's largest telco [16] | |||
| 2005 | Bank of New Zealand and Westpac, banks [17] [18] | |||
| 2006 | Progressive Enterprises, the largest supermarket operator in New Zealand [19] [20] | Runner-up: Telecom New Zealand | Other finalists: Toll NZ, ANZ Bank, British American Tobacco, Contact Energy, ABB | |
| 2007 | Telecom New Zealand [21] | Joint runners-up: British American Tobacco and Spotless | Other finalists: GlaxoSmithKline, ANZ Bank, APN News & Media, Independent Liquor, Pike River Coal | |
| 2008 | British American Tobacco [22] [23] [24] | Runner-up: Rio Tinto NZ | Other finalists: ANZ Bank, Contact Energy, GlaxoSmithKline, Infratil, McDonald's, Telecom New Zealand | Business New Zealand awarded inaugural Accomplice Award |
| 2009 | ANZ Bank [25] [26] [27] | Runner-up: Rio Tinto NZ | Other finalists: Bank of New Zealand, Infratil, Newmont, Rymans, Telecom New Zealand, Transpacific and Westpac. | Accomplice Award: Auckland City Council and its officials |
| 2010 | Warner Brothers  [28] | Finalists: BUPA, Imperial Tobacco, Vodafone, Warner Brothers and Westpac | ||
| 2011 | Rio Tinto Alcan  [29] [30] | Oceania, Sajo Oyang Corporation and Westpac | Other finalists: 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  [31] | Runners-up: Rio Tinto Alcan, King Salmon | Finalists: The 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 [32] | Sky City Casino, Chorus | Finalists: 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 [33] | IAG/State Insurance | Finalists: ANZ Bank, British American Tobacco NZ, Coca-Cola Amatil, IAG/State Insurance, PGG Wrightson, and Rio Tinto. [34] | Food & Grocery Council |
| 2015 | IAG/State Insurance [35] | Serco | Bunnings Warehouse, Westpac, MediaWorks New Zealand, Apple | |
| 2016 | Youi [36] | IAG/State Insurance | Uber |
ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand banking and financial services company, which operates as a subsidiary of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited of Australia. ANZ is one of New Zealand's big four banks, and is the largest bank in New Zealand with approximately 30% of market share as of March 2021.
Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited, was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003.
Rail transport in New Zealand is an integral part of New Zealand's transport network, with a nationwide network of 4,375.5 km (2,718.8 mi) of track linking most major cities in the North and South Islands, connected by inter-island rail and road ferries. Rail transport in New Zealand has a particular focus on bulk freight exports and imports, with 19 million net tonnes moved by rail annually, with 99.5% of New Zealand's exports and imports being transported through the country's seaports.
Tranz Metro was a New Zealand public transport operator. Beginning as the New Zealand Railways Corporation's Cityline division as a result of restructuring in the 1980s, in its final form Tranz Metro was the operator of Metlink's suburban trains owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council in the Wellington Region of New Zealand.
Interislander is a road and rail ferry service across New Zealand's Cook Strait, between Wellington in the North Island and Picton in the South Island. It is owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail. Three roll-on roll-off (RORO) vessels operate the 50-nautical-mile route, taking about three hours to complete the crossing.
Scoop.co.nz is a New Zealand Internet news site run by Scoop Media Limited, part of the Scoop Media Cartel.
West Coast Railway was a passenger train company operating in Victoria, Australia that operated services between Melbourne and Warrnambool from September 1993 until August 2004. The travel time for the journey was around 3 hours. This is on average around 30 minutes quicker than the current journeys.
The Waikato Connection was a short-lived express passenger train between Hamilton and Auckland in New Zealand's North Island. It consisted of a weekday single return service using diesel multiple unit railcars.
The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned and administered by Trans-Tasman Netball League Ltd (TTNL), a joint venture between Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand. It was effectively a merger of Australia's Commonwealth Bank Trophy and New Zealand's National Bank Cup. Its main sponsor was the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC) is the state-owned enterprise that owns the land beneath KiwiRail's railway network on behalf of the Crown. The Corporation has existed under a number of guises since 1982, when the old New Zealand Railways Department was corporatised followed by deregulation of the land transport sector. In 1986, the Corporation became a State-owned enterprise, required to make a profit. Huge job losses and cutbacks ensued, and the rail network, rail operations and ferry service of the Corporation were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited in 1990. The Corporation retained ownership of the land beneath the railway network, and charged a nominal rental to New Zealand Rail, which was privatised in 1993, and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995. In 2004, following a deal with Tranz Rail's new owners Toll NZ, the Corporation took over responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the rail network once more, trading under the name ONTRACK. Negotiations with Toll over track access charges concluded after four years with no agreement reached, so the government purchased the entire rail and ferry operations, naming the service KiwiRail. ONTRACK's railway infrastructure and employees were then transferred to KiwiRail in 2008, which itself was initially a subsidiary of the Corporation. On 31 December 2012, the Corporation once again became the landowner.
Melbourne Vixens are an Australian netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was formed in 2007 when Netball Victoria merged its two former Commonwealth Bank Trophy league teams, Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels. Vixens have won three premierships, in 2009, 2014 and 2020.
The Securities Commission was an independent Crown entity of the government of New Zealand and the main regulator of investments. It was replaced on 1 May 2011 by the Financial Markets Authority.
Tony Colin Veitch is a New Zealand former reporter and sports broadcaster. He hosted a Radio Sport breakfast show and Television New Zealand's ONE News 6pm sports news. Veitch resigned from all broadcasting roles in the wake of domestic violence revelations in 2008 and a conviction in 2009, but later regained significant roles at Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport, until late 2017.
The New Zealand Cycle Friendly Awards were devised by the Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) in 2003. The purpose of the awards is to acknowledge and celebrate some of the most notable achievements in the country that are helping to promote cycling and to create a cycle-friendly environment. Since 2016, the awards have been jointly organised with the New Zealand Transport Agency and rebranded as the 'Bike to the Future Awards'.
The New Zealand AK class carriage is a type of 17 cars built by Dunedin's Hillside Workshops for KiwiRail's long-distance passenger operation The Great Journeys of New Zealand. Consisting of 11 AK saloon cars and four AKC cafe cars, supplemented by three AKL luggage vans and four AKV open-air viewing/generator vans converted from AG vans, similar to those previously used on the Coastal Pacific and the TranzAlpine.
The annual Portage Ceramic Awards is New Zealand's premier ceramics event. Established in 2001, the awards are funded by The Trusts Charitable Foundation and administered by Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery. A national award, the Portage Ceramics Awards also acknowledge Waitakere City’s long history of ceramic practice, dating back to 1852.
The ANZ Premiership is the premier domestic netball league in New Zealand. The league was formed in 2016 as a successor to the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, which was held from 2008 to 2016. The ANZ Premiership is contested annually by six teams based throughout New Zealand, with a total of 47 games played over 14 weeks. Since its inaugural season the league has been sponsored by bank ANZ, hence the league's name.
The Great Journeys of New Zealand is the tourism division of KiwiRail that brings together its three Scenic train services with its passenger ferry business, Interislander. The new division was launched in May 2017 and replaced the former tourism brand KiwiRail Scenic Journeys. It has continuity with the earlier InterCity Rail (1987–1995) and Tranz Scenic (1995–2011).
Laurence Murray Greig is a New Zealand lawyer and jurist. He served as Chief Justice of the Cook Islands, a judge of the High Court of New Zealand, and as Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.