Michael Bassett


Michael Edward Rainton Bassett is a former Labour Party member of the New Zealand House of Representatives and cabinet minister in the reformist fourth Labour government. He is also a noted New Zealand historian, and has published a number of books on New Zealand politics, including biographies of Prime Ministers Peter Fraser, Gordon Coates and Joseph Ward.

Life before politics

Bassett was born on 28 August 1938 in Auckland, the son of Clare Bassett and Edward Bassett, and educated at Owairaka School, Dilworth School, Mt Albert Grammar, and the University of Auckland. He completed BA and MA degrees in history at the University of Auckland before winning a fellowship to Duke University in the United States in 1961. He completed a PhD in American history there, completing a dissertation entitled The Socialist Party of America, 1912–1919: Years of Decline.
In 1964, Bassett returned to New Zealand and became a senior lecturer in history at the University of Auckland. During this time he was a member of the Princes Street Labour branch.

Political career

Bassett stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the for and in the for.
In 1971 Bassett was elected to the Auckland City Council. In the following year, he was elected as a Labour MP for Waitemata in the 1972 election, and the Labour Party became the government for the first time since 1960. Following the death of Prime Minister Norman Kirk in 1974 the party were defeated in the following election. In his account of the Third Labour Government, Bassett described it as one of "the most active and socially responsible governments of the twentieth century."
Bassett was elected to the Te Atatu electorate in the 1978 election, and held it to 1990.
In 1984, an electoral landslide in favour of Labour resulted in New Zealand's fourth Labour government. David Lange appointed Bassett Minister of Health and Minister of Local Government, and Minister of Internal Affairs, Local Government, Civil Defence and Arts and Culture. Bassett also served as chairman of the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board and of the 1990 Commission, tasked with the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. In his capacity as Minister of Internal Affairs he also helped to reorganise Waitangi Day celebrations and to encourage them around New Zealand.
The fourth Labour government enacted a major programme of economic and social reform, the economic arm of which became known as Rogernomics. Major social reforms included the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986. Bassett wholeheartedly supported the reforms, and when the government and party schismed over issues of economic reform, Bassett took the side of finance minister Roger Douglas, the main architect of the reforms. In 1990, Labour was defeated in another landslide election. Bassett did not contest the 1990 election, and retired from active politics.
He continued occasionally to be involved at an advisory level, for example unofficially advising Don Brash during Brash's term as National Party leader. Bassett's switch of sides reflects the present-day Labour Party's semi-repudiation of Rogernomics.

Career after politics

Bassett resumed his academic career, publishing several books on New Zealand political history, and contributing to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and the British Dictionary of National Biography. He was a Professor of History at the University of Western Ontario on and off from 1992 to 1996, taught at the Auckland University Medical School from 1997 to 2000, and was a Fulbright Professor of New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC.
From 1994 to 2004 Bassett was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal, which investigates breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.
He was a columnist for The Dominion Post in Wellington and The Press in Christchurch.

Scholarship

In his article The Essentials of Successful Political Leadership in Twentieth Century New Zealand Politics, Bassett outlined the factors he thought were required for a Prime Minister to be successful. These factors include robust health, high energy levels, a good temperament, intelligence, a willingness to take the right, as opposed to the politically expedient, decision, a modicum of luck, a supportive spouse and charisma.

Personal life

In 1964, Bassett married Judith Petrie, who went on to become a historian at the University of Auckland and a member of the Auckland Regional Council. The couple had two children.
Bassett is a third cousin of late Prime Minister David Lange. Bassett had suggested that Lange should stand on the Labour ticket for the Auckland City Council in 1974. The Council was dominated by conservative interests and the only Labour candidates elected were Jim Anderton and Catherine Tizard; Lange was "halfway down the field.... which was better than I expected". Lange's father, who was a doctor, had delivered Bassett. Lange wrote : "My father had delivered him, and it became plain in later days that he must have dropped him...."

Honours

Bassett was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours, Bassett was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as an historian, in the 2018 New Year Honours.

Published works