In February 2026, due to the retirement of Bassett and Hide, a new entity, Brash and Mitchell was established. You can find Don's articles below.
The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge trustee.
For years, Hobson’s Pledge was one of the few organisations willing to speak up publicly - calling for an end to division, a firm deadline on historical Treaty settlements, and the eventual closing of the Waitangi Tribunal.
Just when you think the Waitangi Tribunal has reached the absolute outer limit of its overreach, it manages to outdo itself.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Tribunal has – as pretty much always - found the Crown in breach of the Treaty.
A few days ago, my good friend Rodney Hide criticized Winston Peters when, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he made it clear that “New Zealand is deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in the West Bank”.
The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge Trustee
Te Pāti Māori's latest proposal is unlikely to become law.
Australia is currently holding a “Public inquiry into AUKUS” . The five members of the panel holding the inquiry are:
Peter Garrett AM FTSE, chairman, a former federal minister;
Admiral Chris Barrie AC, RAN rtd.
About a year ago, when the Government had been in office about two years, I wrote a short assessment of how they were doing. At that point, I marked them on five criteria and gave them a 2. 5 out of 5.
The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge trustee.
Te Pāti Māori has recently set out its election strategy, and in doing so, it has unintentionally revealed a profound constitutional reality: New Zealand no longer requires separate Māori seats to ensure Māori representation in Parliament.
There is an old political lesson which Christopher Luxon and the National Party would do well to remember:
If you stand for nothing, you get run over. National is currently polling at around 29 percent.
In the last couple of days, Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of Defense, or Secretary of War as he prefers to be known, has made a quite astonishing speech.
For all my now-rather-long adult life, there has been a largely unquestioned assumption that the best way for New Zealand to get along in the world is to be an ally of the United States.
In the last few days, plenty of people have mocked the Prime Minister for his apparent inability to answer simple questions about New Zealand’s attitude to the attacks on Iran by two countries with which we have a very friendly relationship, the United States and Israel.
Copyright © 2026 Don Brash.