The Honourable Dr Michael Bassett, of Auckland, for services as a historian
Dr Michael Bassett is a former Member of Parliament, and an academic and historian. He was a Professor of History at the University of Western Ontario and taught at the Auckland University Medical School. He was a Fulbright Scholar of New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He is the author of 15 books, primarily political histories and biographies, his most recent being ‘New Zealand’s Prime Ministers: From Dick Seddon to John Key’. He was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal and a Board member of the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. Dr Bassett has been a regular columnist for Fairfax newspapers and has won the Qantas Media Award for Best Political Columnist in New Zealand.