Don Brash is the Leader of the ACT Party. He was previously elected to Parliament in 2002 and became leader of the opposition in 2003.
With a wide background in public policy, Don chaired the Government's 2025 Taskforce, charged with investigating the reasons for the recent decline in New Zealand's productivity performance, identifying superior institutions and policies in Australia and other more successful countries, and making recommendations on the steps needed for New Zealand to achieve Australian living standards by 2025.
Prior to entering Parliament, Don was also Reserve Bank Governor from 1988-2002. With the passing of the Reserve Bank Act in 1989, Don was entrusted with the seemingly impossible task of reducing inflation to 0-2 percent by 1992. He reached this target early - and throughout his tenure as Governor high inflation was a thing of the past. He also five years in Washington working for the World Bank and has been the head of Broadbank Corporation, the managing director of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Authority and the managing director of Trust Bank.
Don began his adult life on the left of the political spectrum, opting out of school military cadets as a conscientious objector at the age of 15, and voting for the Labour party in a number of general elections. But he gradually came to recognise the benefits of the market economy.
Don has a PhD in Economics from the Australian National University, with his thesis on American investment in Australian industry being published in 1966 by both Harvard University Press and the ANU Press. He holds a Master of Arts degree with First Class Honours in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Economics and History, both from the University of Canterbury.
Don helped establish Amnesty International's Freedom Foundation in New Zealand in the early nineties. He is also a former director of one of New Zealand's largest social service agencies - Presbyterian Support Services (Northern) - and became a trustee of the Plunket Foundation in 2009.
He has three children - Ruth, Alan and Thomas - and his main recreational activity is tending the family kiwifruit orchard.
