Don Brash

Don Brash was born to Alan Brash, a Presbyterian minister and son of prominent lay leader Thomas Brash, and Eljean Brash (née Hill), in Whanganui on 24 September 1940.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

His family moved to Christchurch when he was six. He attended Cashmere Primary School and Christchurch Boys' High School before going to the University of Canterbury where he graduated in economics, history and political science. He continued his studies in economics, receiving his master's degree in 1962 for a thesis arguing that foreign investment damaged a country's economic development. The following year he began working towards a PhD (again in economics, at the Australian National University), which reached the opposite conclusion.

Businessman Today: [http://www.quirk-works.com/article_samples/brash.htm Don Brash]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Issue 8, 2004.

In 1964 Brash married his first wife, Erica, with whom he had two children. In the 1980s he and his Singaporean secretary, Je Lan Lee, entered into a relationship. Both were married at the time. He separated from his first wife in 1985 and four months after they were divorced he married Lee.{{cite news |title = Brash remarried "after 4 months" |url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3555398 |newspaper =The New Zealand Herald |date = 18 March 2004 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121025044911/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3555398 |archive-date = 25 October 2012 |url-status = dead

}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10401116 |title=Brash takes break over marriage difficulties|work=The New Zealand Herald|date=13 September 2006}} In 2007, his second marriage also broke up, following an affair with Diane Foreman, then Deputy Chair of the Business Round Table.{{cite web |url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0609/S00199.htm |title=Why Brash's Failure Is More Strategic|work=State of It |publisher=Scoop.co.nz|last= Manning |first= Selwyn|date= 14 September 2006|access-date=30 April 2011 }} Brash and Lee had one child together.{{cite news | title = Brash marriage over | work =Sunday Star-Times | publisher = Fairfax NZ Ltd | date = 1 January 2009 | url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/4305302a11.html | access-date = 1 January 2009 | archive-date = 5 June 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080605040117/http://www.stuff.co.nz/4305302a11.html | url-status = dead }}

File:Don Brash, 1977.jpgBrash went to Washington, D.C. in the United States in 1966 to work as an economist for the World Bank. However, he returned to New Zealand in 1971 to become general manager of Broadbank Corporation, a merchant bank.{{Cite web |date=2025-01-28 |title=Timeline: Don Brash - New Zealand News |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/itimelinei-don-brash/UIR4PCVFXYSC3ANBMZ3QE4US3E/ |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}}

Brash's first entry into politics came in 1980 when the National Party selected him to stand as its candidate in the by-election in the East Coast Bays electorate. Brash's attempt at the seat, however, failed – some believe that this resulted from the decision by Robert Muldoon, National Party Prime Minister, to raise tolls on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, an important route for East Coast Bays residents. The seat went to Gary Knapp of the Social Credit Party. Brash again failed to win the seat at the 1981 general election.{{Cite web |date=2011-04-26 |title=Is Don Brash on a Hide-ing to nothing? Or just Hide-bound? |url=https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/is-don-brash-on-a-hide-ing-to-nothing-or-just-hide-bound |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=Pundit |language=en-NZ}}

In 1982 Brash became managing director at the New Zealand Kiwifruit Authority, which oversaw the export of kiwifruit (he {{As of|2007|alt= still}} grows kiwifruit as a hobby). From 1986 to 1988, he served as the general manager of Trust Bank, a merger of nine trustee savings banks.{{Cite web |title=Interview with Donald Brash {{!}} Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis |url=https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/1999/interview-with-donald-brash |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=www.minneapolisfed.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2011-01-15 |title=Photo recall: Last hurrah of golden decade of affluence |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/photo-recall-last-hurrah-of-golden-decade-of-affluence/IHTEATXTG2Q4XKOD3KSMHJIZMU/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}}

{{BLP sources section|date=December 2021}}

In 1988 Brash became governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, a position which he held for the next 14 years. Brash consistently met Government-set targets to keep inflation within initially 0 to 2%, later 1 to 3% during his time as governor, and during his tenure interest-rates dropped from double-digit to single-digit percentages.{{Cite web |date=5 January 2002 |title=Donald T Brash: Inflation targeting 14 years on |url=https://www.bis.org/review/r020121b.pdf}}

Aside from monetary policy, Brash presided over significant changes in banking supervision, with the New Zealand approach emphasising public disclosure by banks regarding the nature of their assets and liabilities. Under his governorship, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand established a new model of the relationship between government and central bank – not totally independent, like the Bundesbank in Germany, and not dominated by government, as was typical of most central banks at the time, but one where government and central bank agreed in public about the inflation rate to be delivered by the central bank, where the central bank had full independence to run monetary policy to deliver that, and where the central bank's governor was held accountable for the inflation outcome. It was the Reserve Bank Act 1989 which established this contractual relationship (based on price stability targets) between the Bank and the Government, rather than giving direct control to Ministers of Finance.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Changes took place in the currency used in New Zealand during Brash's tenure, notably the introduction of polymer banknotes, and the replacement of Queen Elizabeth's face on most of the banknotes. {{As of|2017|2}}, many banknotes in circulation still carry the signature of Brash from his term as governor.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

There is a range of opinion on Brash's performance as Reserve Bank governor. The New Zealand Association of Economists describe Brash's success in establishing an independent central bank with an inflation target and in reducing inflation as a highlight of his career.{{cite web | url= http://www.nzae.org.nz/nzae-news/distinguished-fellow/don-brash-awarded-distinguished-fellow-of-nzae/ |title= Distinguished Fellow Donald T Brash |year=2007 |access-date=4 January 2012 |publisher=New Zealand Association of Economists }} Documentary maker Alister Barry described Brash as "an extremist, an idealist" whose "ideal world is where the free market reigns supreme". Barry considered that Brash manipulated public opinion towards neo-liberal economics and gave as examples Brash's advocacy for abolishing the minimum wage and his Hayek Memorial Lecture to the Institute of Economic Affairs in London in 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0412/S00255.htm |title=Documentary Maker Alister Barry on What Don Brash Would Do As Prime Minister|publisher=Scoop News|first=Kevin |last=List|date=22 December 2004|access-date=7 May 2011 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/speeches/0031201.html|title=New Zealand's remarkable reforms|work=An address by Donald T Brash Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to the Fifth Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture Institute of Economic Affairs, London|publisher=Reserve Bank of New Zealand|last=Brash|first=Don|date=4 June 1996|access-date=7 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501150942/http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/speeches/0031201.html|archive-date=1 May 2011}}

In 1990, Brash was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |author-link1=Alister Taylor |author-link2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=75}} In 2002, he was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame, in recognition of his role as central bank governor.{{cite web |url=http://www.businesshalloffame.co.nz/past-laureates/ |title=Past laureates |website=Business Hall of Fame |access-date=19 February 2023}}

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On 26 April 2002, shortly before the 2002 general election, Brash resigned as Reserve Bank governor to stand as a candidate for Parliament on the National Party list. The Party ranked him in fifth place on its party list.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} Most unusually among National candidates, he stood as a list candidate without running for an electorate seat. Though National had its worst performance ever, gaining only 21% of the party vote, Brash's high place on the party list assured him of a seat in Parliament.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Brash immediately joined National's front bench as its spokesman on finance. This placed him opposite the Labour Party's Michael Cullen, the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. Commentators generally praised Brash for his knowledge of economics, but expressed criticism of his inexperience in terms of political leadership.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

In October 2003, Brash publicly challenged Bill English for the position of Parliamentary Leader of the National Party.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-11 |title=Don Brash is the new leader of the National Party |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/don-brash-is-the-new-leader-of-the-national-party/73TUWXJZUDBJVGGIUI3SC4Q67A/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}} English had gradually lost support within the party, but Brash's victory in any leadership-contest against English seemed by no means guaranteed. Brash's decision to make his challenge public caused some criticism, with some party supporters perceiving that an open leadership dispute could damage the party's image. However, by breaking with the tradition of operating secretly, Brash calculated that people would see him as an honest "anti-politician" – a notion central to his personal brand.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-11 |title=Brash's bad week comes at the worst possible time |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/brashs-bad-week-comes-at-the-worst-possible-time/6NCNCDYXUOMCAJLGU6TRG2HDHA/#google_vignette |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}} After leading National to its worst-ever election result in 2002, English was sacked the following year in favor of Don Brash.{{Cite web |title=Bill English |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/bill-english |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz}}{{Cite web |date=2018-02-13 |title=Bill English delivers emotional resignation speech |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/350294/bill-english-delivers-emotional-resignation-speech |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}

{{BLP sources section|date=December 2021}}

Brash won a caucus vote on 28 October 2003, making him Leader of the National Party Caucus (and thus Leader of the Opposition) after one year as a Member of Parliament. He remained National's finance spokesman, appointing the equally new MP John Key as his deputy finance-spokesman, and eventually appointing Key the primary finance-spokesman after a Caucus reshuffle in August 2004.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

{{BLP sources section|date=July 2022}}

{{Main|Orewa Speech}}

On 27 January 2004 Brash delivered his second Orewa speech on "Nationhood" at the Orewa Rotary Club, north of Auckland, expressing opposition to perceived "Māori racial separatism" in New Zealand:

The topic I will focus on today is the dangerous drift towards racial separatism in New Zealand, and the development of the now entrenched Treaty grievance industry. We are one country with many peoples, not simply a society of Pākehā and Māori where the minority has a birthright to the upper hand, as the Labour Government seems to believe".[...]{{cite web|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_budget_story_skin/899796 |title=Don Brash backgrounder |author=One News |publisher=Television New Zealand|date=24 November 2006 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224140/http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_budget_story_skin/899796 |archive-date=26 September 2007 }}

Though the sentiments expressed in the Orewa speech differed little from established National Party views (as voiced previously by Bill English, for example), these comments resulted in National receiving an unprecedented boost in a public opinion poll. National gained 17 percentage points in the February 2004 Colmar Brunton poll for Television New Zealand, taken shortly after the speech. The surge in National support marked the biggest single gain by a political party in a single poll in Colmar Brunton's polling history at that point. In the months that followed, changes of emphasis in Labour's policy agenda became apparent as Labour attempted to recoup the ground lost to National in the February poll.

Shortly after the delivery of the Orewa speech, his Māori Affairs spokesperson Georgina te Heuheu resigned because she would not publicly support his speech.

After the February peak, National suffered a steady decline in public opinion polls, leaving it 11 points behind Labour at the end of 2004.

In 2004, following a political speech given by the Prime Minister Helen Clark inside the Christchurch Cathedral, Brash wrote to the dean of the cathedral, Peter Beck. In his letter he criticised Clark's use of a church-venue for delivering a political speech, and he raised questions over her views on religion and on the institution of marriage. After Clark retaliated, Brash apologised for any offence that his comments had caused to her, and revealed that his chief of staff, Richard Long, had written the letter, not Brash himself.

On 25 January 2005 Brash made his third speech to the Orewa Rotary Club (his first had come in the final week of January 2003, while still National's finance spokesman). This time Brash focussed on "Welfare Dependency: Whatever Happened to Personal Responsibility?" Brash pledged to reduce the number of working-age beneficiaries from the current figure of 300,000 to 200,000 over ten years, and he dedicated a significant part of his speech to the Domestic Purposes Benefit. At the time approximately 109,000 single parents received the DPB, costing taxpayers about $1.5 billion a year. Brash noted that since the inception of the DPB in 1974, the population of New Zealand had increased by 30% while the numbers receiving the DPB had increased almost ninefold. Brash used the speech to highlight his views on both the fiscal and social costs of entrenched welfare-dependency:

How can we tolerate a welfare system which allows children to grow up in a household where the parents are permanently dependent on a welfare benefit? Our welfare system is contributing to the creation of a generation of children condemned to a lifetime of deprivation, with limited education, without life skills, and without the most precious inheritance from their parents, a sense of ambition or aspiration. Nothing can be more destructive of self esteem.

Brash proposed a number of ways to reduce welfare dependency and to refocus the DPB back to its original intent of giving aid to single-parent families in need or in danger. These proposals included enforcing child-support payments from absent fathers, requiring single parents to work or perform community services once their children reached school age, and introducing penalties for women seeking the DPB who refused to name the father of their child. He also acknowledged adoption as an acceptable option, particularly for teenage girls, and drew attention to the growth in numbers of single mothers giving birth to additional children while already receiving the single-parent DPB benefit.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Some elements of the speech put his Social Welfare spokesperson, Katherine Rich, at odds with Brash, and he fired her from the portfolio, promoting the MP for Clevedon, Judith Collins, in her place.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

{{Main|Māori identity}}

After the Orewa speech of 2004, Brash's public statements on race relations received significant attention, both in the traditional media and online. During the 2005 election campaign, he criticised the use of pōwhiri in welcoming international visitors:

I mean, I think there is a place for Maori culture but why is it that we always use a semi-naked male, sometimes quite pale-skinned Māori, leaping around in, you know, mock battle?{{cite news| last1= Crewdson| first1= Patrick |author2= Amanda Spratt | title = Too much culture, says Brash | work=Herald on Sunday |publisher=APN |date=4 September 2005 | url = https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/too-much-culture-says-brash/7MCV37VQQP5HBPGTJVUJ2FFBRE/ |access-date=28 September 2006}}

In September 2006 Brash stated that:

There are clearly many New Zealanders who do see themselves as distinctly and distinctively Māori – but it is also clear there are few, if any, fully Māori left here. There has been a lot of intermarriage and that has been welcome.

{{cite news| last = Stokes| first = Jon| title = Brash outrages Māori by questioning their identity |work=The New Zealand Herald | publisher=APN | date = 25 September 2006 | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10402806 | access-date = 28 September 2006 }}

These comments received a negative response from other political leaders, who portrayed focussing on blood quantum as divisive and as harking back to racist laws, and who suggested the appropriateness for Māori themselves to determine how to define themselves.

{{cite web | title = Orewa Rotary Club Speech | publisher=The Māori Party |author=Dr Pita Sharples | date = 27 September 2006

|url = http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0609/S00578.htm | access-date = 28 September 2006}}

Brash questioned whether Māori remained a distinct indigenous group because few "full-blooded" individuals survive. This drew criticism from a range of his adversaries, including Māori Party co-leader Tariana Turia, who cancelled a dinner with him in protest. In a statement to explain his position on 30 September 2006, Brash said that the Government had no responsibility to address the over-representation of Māori in negative social statistics. "If Māori New Zealanders die more frequently from lung cancer than non-Māori do, for example, it is almost certainly because Māori New Zealanders choose to smoke more heavily than other New Zealanders do".

{{cite news| last = Berry| first = Ruth| title = Brash stirs up Māori 'storm' | work= The New Zealand Herald | publisher=APN | date = 30 September 2006 | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10403714 |access-date=17 March 2014}}

Brash stressed the significance of New Zealand's British heritage. When asked "who are the ideal immigrants?", Brash made the following statement;

:British immigrants fit in here very well. My own ancestry is all British. New Zealand values are British values, derived from centuries of struggle since Magna Carta. Those things make New Zealand the society it is.Ansley, Bruce (2–8 September 2006). "[http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/so-who-do-we-keep-out/ So who do we keep out?]". New Zealand Listener.

{{Main|2005 New Zealand general election}}

In July 2005, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced that a General Election would take place on 17 September. At that time Brash and the National Party led by a slim margin in the opinion-polls. But by mid-August both Brash and National had declined in popularity. Commentators attributed this trend{{Citation needed|date=March 2007}} to a series of announcements of new spending programs by Labour, and to confusion as to whether National could form a stable coalition government with New Zealand First and/or ACT New Zealand.

The National Party advertising campaign aimed at rebutting arguments brought up by Labour about a variety of themes: Brash's stand on national security issues (he favoured greater co-operation with "traditional allies"), his commitment to social security programmes (including healthcare), as well as his ideas on the perceived drift towards "racial separatism" dividing Māori from other New Zealanders. One of Brash's most significant and widely publicised policy announcements foreshadowed the introduction of tax-cuts for working New Zealanders. Brash's party embarked on a targeted billboard-advertising programme, which later (post-election) won two advertising-industry awards.

In his first party-political election-campaign broadcast Brash mentioned a number of aspects of his life that he believed had attuned him to the political centre-ground in New Zealand:

• registering as a conscientious objector at age 18{{cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0506/S00625.htm|title=Don Brash's Full Speech To National's Conference|date=27 June 2005 |publisher=New Zealand National Party |last=Brash |first=Don }}
• serving as the patron of Amnesty International Freedom Foundation
• participating in demonstrations against the racially selected South African rugby team touring New Zealand (1981) and the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team touring South Africa without Māori team members
• his frugal approach, most famously washing his own laundry in his hotel-room basin while on taxpayer-funded overseas trips as Governor of the Reserve Bank
• voting for Labour in his early years

On 19 August 2005, National unveiled a $3.9 billion tax-cut policy.{{cite press release|title=Getting ahead with National|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0508/S00511.htm|date= 19 August 2005|access-date=17 June 2011|publisher=New Zealand National Party|quote=National’s fair tax and family package will be phased in over the next three years, rising to an annual total of $3.9 billion in the 2008/09-year.}} The first polling conducted after the announcement suggested that it had boosted National support. On 22 August, Brash engaged in a televised debate with the Labour Party leader Helen Clark. According to The New Zealand Herald, Clark appeared 'confident and aggressive' and Brash appeared 'defensive'. In response to questions over his assertiveness, Brash indicated that he had not attacked Clark during the debate because she was a woman. Clark described Brash's explanation as patronising.{{cite news|title= Brash says he would be tougher if PM was a man|url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10342090|author=NZPA|date=23 August 2005|access-date=17 June 2011|work=The New Zealand Herald}}

On 27 August a weekend newspaper published a series of leaked documents, including private emails, showing that members of the ACT party and of the Business Round Table had advised Brash during his bid for the leadership of the parliamentary National Party. Continuing leaks over following weeks appeared designed{{Original research inline|date=December 2007}} to cause the National leader embarrassment. Furthermore, confusion bedevilled National's potential coalition options: New Zealand First showed reluctance to reveal whether it would support National or Labour post-election, whilst ACT (often seen as National's natural coalition partner due to the similarities in some of their policies) criticised National for not openly supporting ACT leader Rodney Hide's bid to win the electorate seat of Epsom.

Pamphlets distributed by members of a Christian sect, the Exclusive Brethren, in early September caused further embarrassment for Brash; although they were not anonymous, they did not refer to the Exclusive Brethren but were authorised in the names of individual church members. Brash initially denied National had anything to do with it, but later admitted that the Brethren had told him at a meeting some months earlier that they planned to run a campaign opposing the direction of the Labour Government. Brash has maintained his position that the pamphlet-campaign took place on the Exclusive Brethren's own initiative.

The General Election on 17 September produced a close result, with initial election-night figures from rural areas favouring National (in accordance with tradition and previous patterns); but by the end of the evening Labour had won 40.7% of the vote to National's 39.6%. Following the counting of the special votes the gap widened, with Labour taking 41.1% of the vote to National's 39.1%. Brash conceded defeat on 1 October after weeks of electoral uncertainty while the major parties sought to secure the support of minor coalition partners. His only realistic scenario for becoming prime minister would have involved a coalition between National, ACT and United Future, with confidence and supply from New Zealand First and the Māori Party.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}} This appeared highly unlikely on several counts. New Zealand First's involvement in such a coalition would have run counter to its pre-election promise to deal with the biggest party. Brash's promise to abolish Māori electorates alienated the Māori Party.{{cite news |title=Editorial: National in a hole over Māori seats |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10345229 |access-date=8 May 2020 |work= The New Zealand Herald |date=12 September 2005 |language=en-NZ}}

Essentially National had failed to make up enough ground in the cities but swept the electoral votes in the provinces, clawing back a number of seats from Labour and defeating New Zealand First founder-leader Winston Peters in his electorate (Peters remained in Parliament as a list MP). Apart from in Auckland, National's support centred mainly in rural and provincial areas.

Brash took leave on 13 September 2006, to sort out marital troubles.

{{cite press release| title = Statement from Don Brash requesting privacy | publisher=NZ National Party press release retrieved via Scoop news site | date = 13 September 2006 | url = http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0609/S00298.htm | access-date = 13 September 2006}} Rumours of an extramarital affair came to the public's attention around this date after National MP Brian Connell allegedly confronted Brash in a caucus-meeting about the rumours. Details leaked to the press, and in the weeks that followed the National Party caucus suspended Connell from membership of the caucus.

On Saturday 23 September, Brash appeared on Television New Zealand's Agenda news programme and acknowledged that he had met with Exclusive Brethren representatives after the 2005 general election.

Brash indicated his intention to remain the leader of the National Party and to contest the next election in that role. However, it became increasingly clear that the caucus preferred Finance Spokesman John Key, whose rating steadily rose in "preferred Prime Minister" polls. Key made no move publicly, but Brash's reputation for honesty and political competence eroded when, for example, broadcast footage showed him walking a plank,{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} and when allegations appeared of his having an affair with an Auckland businesswoman, Diane Foreman – a charge he has never denied. Despite these setbacks, when asked by an interviewer for an article published in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2006 if he planned to remain leader of his party, "...the Clark Kent of Kiwi politics [Brash] turned to me and smiled gently. 'That's my intention,'..."{{cite news | last = Heath | first = Allister | title = A Kiwi conservative's message for Dave | work = The Spectator UK | date = 18 November 2006 | url = http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/26425/a-kiwi-conservatives-message-for-dave.thtml | access-date = 18 November 2006 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080606031403/http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/26425/a-kiwi-conservatives-message-for-dave.thtml | archive-date = 6 June 2008 }}

{{wikinews|New Zealand National Party leader, Don Brash, resigns}}

During a hastily called press-conference on Thursday 23 November 2006, Brash announced his resignation as the National Party leader, effective from 27 November. Speculation regarding his leadership had foreshadowed this move, and the publicity had had a negative effect on his political party. The publicity came to a head just before the scheduled publication of a book written by Nicky Hager containing leaked emails (amongst other allegedly damaging revelations).

On 16 November 2006 Brash had obtained a High Court injunction

{{cite press release| title = High Court of New Zealand Interim Injunction & Related Orders | publisher=Copy of Court documents retrieved via Scoop news site | date = 17 November 2006 | url = http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0611/injunction.pdf | access-date = 17 November 2006}} prohibiting the distribution or publication of the private emails allegedly unlawfully taken from his computer, following ongoing rumours that his opponents would publish a series of his personal emails as a book, and he confirmed that the police had commenced a criminal investigation into the alleged email-theft.

{{cite press release| title = Brash wins Court Order blocking email publication | publisher=NZ National Party press release retrieved via Scoop news site | date = 17 November 2006 | url = http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0611/S00354.htm | access-date = 17 November 2006}} However he claimed he had no awareness of and did not wish to stop the publication of the Hager book.{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10412121 |title=Don Brash gone at lunchtime|work= The New Zealand Herald|author=NZPA, NZ Herald staff|date=23 November 2006|access-date=29 April 2011 }}

As part of his resignation announcement, Brash also announced he had cleared the way for the book's release by providing lifting the injunction, and stated it had nothing to with his resignation.{{cite web|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/899601|title=Brash stands down|author=One News/Newstalk ZB|publisher=Television New Zealand|date=23 November 2006|access-date=29 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515233731/http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/899601|archive-date=15 May 2011}}

Brash also claimed that the publication of the book did not contribute to his decision to resign as National Party leader. The book, The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception, details Brash's rise to power in the National Party as assisted by an "informal network of people from the right of New Zealand politics", including a number of ACT members. It also documents that senior National Party figures, including Brash, knew of the Exclusive Brethren's pamphlet campaigns in May 2005, although Brash denied knowledge of this until August.{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10412115 |title=Hager Book: Brash assisted to power by business lobby |work= The New Zealand Herald|date=24 November 2006|access-date=1 May 2011 }}{{cite news|url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10412282 |title=Hager Book: Brash knew of Brethren campaign|last=Hunkin |first=Joanna |last2=NZPA |date= 24 November 2006 |access-date=2 May 2011 |work=The New Zealand Herald}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10413022 |title=Brash denies seeing May email despite release|work= The New Zealand Herald News|author=NZPA|date= 29 November 2006|access-date=2 May 2011}}

On Thursday 30 November 2006, just one week after resigning as leader of the party, Brash resigned from Parliament after the National Party's new parliamentary leader, John Key, declined to offer him a senior portfolio. He set no official date, but he stated he would not return in the new year.{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10413192 |title=Don Brash resigns saying he made a difference|work=The New Zealand Herald|author=The New Zealand Herald staff, NZPA|date=30 November 2006|access-date=3 May 2011 }}

Brash then made his valedictory speech on Tuesday 12 December 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0612/S00238.htm |title= Notes for Valedictory Speech| last=Brash |first=Don|publisher=New Zealand National Party|date= 12 December 2006|access-date=30 April 2011 }} On 7 February 2007, Katrina Shanks took his place as a National Party list MP.{{cite press release|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0702/S00077.htm |title=New List MP For National Party|publisher=Chief Electoral Office|access-date=30 April 2011|date= 7 February 2007 }}

On 18 May 2007, Brash joined the ANZ National Bank board as Rob McLeod retired from the board to return to his accounting practice. He became chairman of Huljich Wealth Management, an independent, specialist funds-management company based in Auckland, New Zealand.{{cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1003/S00119.htm |title=Brash replaces Huljich after KiwiSaver lapses|publisher=Scoop News|author=|date=4 March 2010|access-date=1 May 2011 }} In late 2008 he was lecturing in economics at the Auckland University of Technology In April 2009 Brash was appointed as a director of the electricity grid operator Transpower.{{cite news|url = http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/don-brash-join-transpower-board-100135|title = Don Brash to join Transpower board|work= The National Business Review|date = 7 April 2009|author = NBR Staff|access-date = 7 May 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319225102/http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/don-brash-join-transpower-board-100135|archive-date = 19 March 2012|url-status = dead}}

In late April 2011, Brash, still a National Party member, announced that he would like to lead the ACT Party, which would require incumbent leader Rodney Hide to step down. Hide dismissed any talk of a leadership challenge to him but Brash was quoted as saying, "I'd like to say to the board that, under my leadership, I believe Act has a much better prospect of not only getting back into Parliament but having a significant number of MPs." John Key also would not rule out working with Brash if it came down to a tight decision.{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10721598 |title=President: Hide can fend off Brash – National |work= The New Zealand Herald|last= Donnell |first=Hayden |last2=Cheng |first2=Derek|date=26 April 2011|access-date=1 May 2011}}

Brash chairs the New Zealand subsidiary of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11924697|title=Don Brash refutes allegations China has influence on New Zealand politics|date=20 September 2017|work=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=15 June 2019|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11991300|title=Brian Gaynor: China's banks building their NZ presence|date=9 February 2018|work=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=15 June 2019|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}

On 28 April 2011 the incumbent leader of the ACT Party, Rodney Hide, announced that he was stepping down as leader in favour of Brash who had joined the party that morning. His membership was ratified by the party board on Saturday 30 April and the ACT party parliamentary caucus confirmed him as leader the same day.{{cite web|url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Rodney-Hide-resigns-makes-way-for-Brash/tabid/419/articleID/208855/Default.aspx|title=Rodney Hide resigns, makes way for Brash|work=3 News|access-date=27 April 2011|date=27 April 2011|first=Dan|last=Satherley|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001221323/http://www.3news.co.nz/Rodney-Hide-resigns-makes-way-for-Brash/tabid/419/articleID/208855/Default.aspx|archive-date=1 October 2012|url-status=dead}} The party board re-convened later that day to ratify his leadership. Rodney Hide remained in Parliament until its dissolution prior to the 2011 general election. Brash was leader of the party outside Parliament and former Auckland City mayor John Banks stood in Epsom.{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4934835/ACT-leadership-stoush-Rodney-Hide-resigns|title=Brash 'highly unlikely' to get top post|work=Stuff |publisher=Fairfax NZ Ltd|first=Andrea |last=Vance |first2= Belinda |last2=Mccammon|date=28 April 2011|access-date=30 April 2011 }} The Listener compared Brash's successful bid for the leadership of the ACT Party to a hostile takeover.{{cite news|title= Don Brash|url=http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/don-brash/|last=Wichtel |first=Diana|date=16 May 2011 |access-date=17 June 2011 |work=New Zealand Listener |quote=going after the leadership of a party to which he did not belong in a manner inviting comparison to a hostile takeover.}} Brash hoped to get ACT 15% of the party vote in the 2011 election, but it only managed 1%.{{cite web|url=http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/hide-sees-possibility-returning-parliament-nn-92598|title=Hide sees possibility of returning to parliament|access-date=26 November 2011|archive-date=12 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512224545/http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/hide-sees-possibility-returning-parliament-nn-92598|url-status=dead}} Brash resigned on election night and was later replaced as leader by John Banks.{{cite web|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/election-2011/92214/banks-pledges-to-rebuild-act-as-leader-quits|title=Banks pledges to rebuild Act as leader quits|date=27 November 2011|publisher=Radio New Zealand}}

Brash's 213 day tenure as ACT leader remained the shortest tenure of any major party leader in modern New Zealand politics until 14 July 2020, when National Party Leader Todd Muller resigned from the position just 53 days after he was elected to the position.{{cite news |title=New Zealand politics' shortest leaderships |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/421199/new-zealand-politics-shortest-leaderships |access-date=30 August 2020 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714125418/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/421199/new-zealand-politics-shortest-leaderships |archive-date=14 July 2020|url-status=live}}

In September 2016, Brash became the spokesperson for a new lobby group called Hobson's Pledge. Hobson's Pledge is named after William Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi. The group was formed to oppose what Brash has described as Māori favouritism and advocates abolishing the Māori electorates.{{cite news|last1=Leslie|first1=Demelza|title=Lobby group formed to oppose 'Māori favouritism'|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/314449/lobby-group-formed-to-oppose-'maori-favouritism'|access-date=30 September 2016|publisher=Radio New Zealand |date=29 September 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Satherley|first1=Dan|title=Don Brash backs Winston Peters to end Maori 'separatism'|url=http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/don-brash-backs-winston-peters-to-end-maori-separatism-2016092908|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160929132707/http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/don-brash-backs-winston-peters-to-end-maori-separatism-2016092908|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 September 2016|access-date=30 September 2016|publisher=Newshub |date=29 September 2016}}{{cite web|title=Homepage|url=http://www.hobsonspledge.nz/|website=Hobson's Pledge website|access-date=30 September 2016}}

On 7 August 2018, Massey University Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas cancelled Brash's talk scheduled for the next day at the university's Palmerston North campus. She cited safety issues regarding Brash's support for the alt-right Canadian activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux's Auckland tour and his leadership of the Hobson's Pledge advocacy group, which has advocated the abolition of the Māori wards. She said too she "supported free speech on campus, but totally opposed hate speech".{{cite news |last1=Rankine |first1=Janine |title=Massey University bans Don Brash from speaking|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106068816/massey-university-bans-don-brash-from-speaking|access-date=8 August 2018 |publisher=Stuff |date=7 August 2018}}

Brash criticised her decision as a threat to free speech. The cancellation was criticised by various public figures including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Education Minister Chris Hipkins, Opposition Leader Simon Bridges, and Massey University Students' Association President Ben Schmidt, and ACT party leader David Seymour.{{cite news |last1=Bonnett |first1=Gill |title=Don Brash's talk to Massey students canned |url=https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/363534/don-brash-s-talk-to-massey-students-canned |access-date=7 August 2018 |publisher=Radio New Zealand |date=7 August 2018}}{{cite news |title=Massey University vice chancellor stands her ground after banning Don Brash from speaking at event |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12102799 |access-date=7 August 2018 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=7 August 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Rankin |first1=Janine |title=Massey University bans Don Brash from speaking |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106068816/massey-university-bans-don-brash-from-speaking |access-date=7 August 2018 |publisher=Stuff |date=7 August 2018}} In addition, several Māori Members of Parliament including Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and Labour MP Willie Jackson defended Brash's right to free speech while expressing disagreement with his views of Māori.{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Moana Makapelu |title=Māori MPs defend Don Brash right to free speech |url=http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/maori-mps-defend-don-brash-right-free-speech |access-date=10 September 2018 |publisher=Māori Television |date=8 August 2018}} Brash later received a second invitation and delivered a speech on the campus on 17 October 2018, where fewer than 100 students were reported to attend.{{Cite web |date=17 October 2018 |title=Don Brash speaks at Massey University after controversy |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/368841/don-brash-speaks-at-massey-university-after-controversy |access-date=26 April 2022 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}{{Cite web |date=17 October 2018 |title=Brash back on campus after ban |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/brash-back-campus-after-ban |access-date=26 April 2022 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}

During the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, Brash joined several businessmen and former politicians including former National MP Ross Meurant in establishing a company called Covax-NZR Limited to import Russia's untested Gam-COVID-Vac (also known as Sputnik V) vaccine into New Zealand. By late August 2020, they had submitted paperwork through the Russian Embassy to establish supply and distribution arrangements to import the vaccine, however no further progress has been made since then.{{cite news |last1=Shand |first1=Matt |title=Coronavirus: Kiwis push Kremlin to import unproven Covid-19 vaccine |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300094032/coronavirus-kiwis-push-kremlin-to-import-unproven-covid19-vaccine?cid=app-iPhone |access-date=30 August 2020 |publisher=Stuff |date=30 August 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200830004028/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300094032/coronavirus-kiwis-push-kremlin-to-import-unproven-covid19-vaccine?cid=app-iPhone|archive-date=30 August 2020}}

{{Conservatism New Zealand}}

Brash voted for the decriminalisation of both prostitution and euthanasia, voted against raising the drinking age back up to 20 and voted against Manukau banning street prostitution.{{cite web|url=http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/05/family_first_on_dons_voting_record.html |title=Family First on Don's voting record |publisher=Kiwiblog |date=11 May 2011 |access-date=20 March 2014}} Brash voted against the Civil Unions Bill because he backed a public mandate for any change to the law.{{cite news|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0411/S00648.htm|title=Don Brash backs public mandate on civil unions|publisher=New Zealand National Party|date=30 November 2004}} He has also called for the decriminalisation of cannabis.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10754231 |title=Don Brash calls for decriminalisation of cannabis |date=25 September 2011 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=29 September 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://act.org.nz/news/law-and-order-protecting-new-zealanders-from-crime |title=Let Mutu Speak! – Brash | ACT New Zealand |publisher=Act.org.nz |date=7 September 2011 |access-date=20 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711042422/http://act.org.nz/news/law-and-order-protecting-new-zealanders-from-crime |archive-date=11 July 2012 }}

In March 2013, Brash joined the debate over the future of Auckland, saying land needed to be freed up for residential zoning so house prices would come down, at odds with Mayor Len Brown's plan to stop urban sprawl and build the city upwards.{{cite news| url= http://www.3news.co.nz/Auckland-plan-will-make-congestion-worse---Brash/tabid/1607/articleID/290713/Default.aspx| archive-url= https://archive.today/20130413230342/http://www.3news.co.nz/Auckland-plan-will-make-congestion-worse---Brash/tabid/1607/articleID/290713/Default.aspx| url-status= dead| archive-date= 13 April 2013| work= 3 News NZ| title= Brown's plan worsens congestion – Brash| date= 18 March 2013}}

In mid July 2024, Brash joined former Prime Minister Helen Clark in criticising the Sixth National Government's perceived pro-US shift in New Zealand foreign policy. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had recently said that the Government would be more willing to disclose cases of Chinese espionage in New Zealand and participating in AUKUS Pillar 2.{{cite news |title=Luxon's 'radical change in NZ's foreign policy' criticised by Helen Clark and Don Brash |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/522387/luxon-s-radical-change-in-nz-s-foreign-policy-criticised-by-helen-clark-and-don-brash |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=RNZ |date=17 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240923064240/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/522387/luxon-s-radical-change-in-nz-s-foreign-policy-criticised-by-helen-clark-and-don-brash |archive-date=23 September 2024|url-status=live}}

In late September 2024, Brash through his legal counsel Stephen Franks sent legal letters against former National Party staffer and lobbyist Matthew Hooton and Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury, the host of The Working Group podcast. During a podcast in late September, Hooton had made remarks attacking Brash's character and accusing him of promoting racism against Māori during his parliamentary career and as leader of Hobson's Pledge. Referencing Brash's 2004 Orewa speech, Hooton had said: "He [Brash] is a fundamentally bad person. He's divided this country for no apparent reason, despite being certainly intelligent enough to know the things that he says are not true." On 24 September, Bradbury issued a statement stating that Hooton sincerely apologised for his remarks about Brash's view.{{cite news |last1=Greive |first1=Duncan |title=Matthew Hooton, Don Brash and the defamation drama behind a deleted podcast |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/24-09-2024/matthew-hooton-don-brash-and-the-defamation-drama-behind-a-deleted-podcast |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=The Spinoff |date=24 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926201532/https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/24-09-2024/matthew-hooton-don-brash-and-the-defamation-drama-behind-a-deleted-podcast |archive-date=26 September 2024}}

Since 2016, Brash's partner has been Margaret Murray-Benge.{{cite news |last1=Kino |first1=Shilo |title=Local Focus: Don Brash's partner, Margaret Murray-Benge, insists she's not racist |url= https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/local-focus-don-brashs-partner-margaret-murray-benge-insists-shes-not-racist/BRQEWK4Z6H5ZZWF6T37VEKJZ7I/ |access-date=13 June 2024 |work=Bay of Plenty Times |date=16 July 2019}} As Margaret Murray, she was a councillor for Waimairi District (1977–1989), Christchurch City (1992–1998),{{cite web |title=Margaret Elizabeth Murray JP |url= https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/People/CivicLeaders/WomenInTheCouncilChamber/Councillor/?name=MargaretMurray |publisher=Christchurch City Libraries |access-date=13 June 2024}} Since 2004, she has been a councillor for Western Bay of Plenty District.{{cite news |last1=Foster |first1=Merle |title=Existing councillors bare intentions |url= https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/50995-existing-councillors-bare-intentions.html |access-date=13 June 2024 |work=SunLive |date=15 August 2013}}

• Paul Goldsmith: Brash: A Biography: Auckland: Penguin: 2005: {{ISBN|0-14-301967-8}}
• Nicky Hager: The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception: Nelson: Craig Potton: 2006: {{ISBN|1-877333-62-X}}
• Don Brash: Incredible Luck: Troika Books Limited: 2014: {{ISBN|978-0-473-26907-4}}

• “New Zealand’s Debt Servicing Capacity”, University of Canterbury Press, 1964.
• “American Investment in Australian Industry”, Harvard University Press, 1966.

{{reflist|group=n}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{MPLinksNZ | parliament = Former/8/8/d/48PlibMPsFormerDonBrash1-Brash-Dr-Don.htm | beehive = | theywork = don_brash }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041208003956/http://www.national.org.nz/speech_article.aspx?ArticleID=1614 2004 Orewa speech]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050204002525/http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?ArticleID=3498 2005 Orewa speech]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051115062408/http://www.treasury.govt.nz/monpolreview/ Independent Review of Monetary Policy]
• [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2007/1886036.htm ABC Late Night Live interview with Nicky Hager]
• [http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-hollow-men-2008 The Hollow Men] documentary about Don Brash and the National Party in the 2005 election made in conjunction with Nicky Hager's book

{{subject bar|auto=y|d=y|New Zealand|Politics}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Opposition|years=2003–2006}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Reserve Bank governor|years=1988–2002}}

{{s-aft|after=Dr. Alan Bollard}}

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{{s-bef|before=Bill English}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the New Zealand National Party| years=2003–2006}}

{{s-aft|after=John Key}}

{{s-bef|before=Rodney Hide}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the ACT Party| years=2011}}

{{s-aft|after=John Banks}}

{{s-end}}

{{ACT New Zealand}}

{{NZ National Party}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brash, Don}}

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