2006: Paula Rebstock and Kevin Brady

Auditor General Kevin Brady. (NZ Herald Archives)

The New Zealander of the Year award for 2006 is shared by a man and a woman who stood their ground for taxpayers and consumers in the face of power and pressure from entrenched interests: Kevin Brady, the Controller and Auditor-General who faced unprecedented public, political and personal pressure over his findings on political parties' election spending; and Paula Rebstock, chairwoman of the Commerce Commission, who took on some of the country's biggest corporations and institutions, to the benefit of consumers.

In both cases the determination of these officials to focus on the greater public good rather than expedient or comfortable solutions sought by their antagonists had tangible benefits for New Zealand. In plain terms, they kept the buggers honest.

Paula Rebstock's Commerce Commission intervened in the affairs of some of our largest businesses, including Telecom, Transpower and Vector, the airlines over advertising, Carter Holt Harvey, the banks and credit card companies. At times those moves were controversial, condemned by business lobbies as heavy-handed and a disincentive to investment.

Yet the reasoning of the commission under Ms Rebstock was consistently pro-market, not the reverse. Her actions helped to confront distortions or dominance which did or could work against the interests of consumers and open markets.

Mr Brady's unwavering line on political parties' misspending at the 2005 general election placed him in the equivalent of an official's nightmare - cast as an opponent of the governing parties and publicly attacked for both his thinking and for speaking out.

He stayed true to his convictions on the Labour Party's $800,000 of unlawful spending and produced a final report that did not suffer from the watering down so common in the public consultation process.

The Prime Minister, her deputy, Cabinet ministers and the leaders of some minor parties used all the latent menace and pressure they could muster, but Mr Brady, an officer of Parliament, continued to say what he felt to be right. His stance will have a lasting benefit for taxpayers and voters.

From the Herald archives:
'New Zealanders of the year: Kevin Brady', NZ Herald online, 9 December 2006

'New Zealanders of the year: Paula Rebstock', NZ Herald online, 9 December 2006

'Two fighters for the public good', NZ Herald online, 9 December 2006