Bill Birch: Minister of Everything

Author(s): Brad Tattersfield

Biography | Politics | On Sale Items

Bill Birch was the quiet achiever of New Zealand politics. A trusted lieutenant to Prime Ministers Muldoon, Bolger and Shipley, Birch was at the heart of the action across a turbulent quarter-century of political and social change. From Think Big and the Employment Contracts Act to overhauls of immigration, health, ACC, fiscal management, industry training, electricity markets and producer boards, Birch managed controversial, risky reforms, and much of what he achieved endures today.

Bill Birch was the quiet achiever of New Zealand politics. A trusted lieutenant to Prime Ministers Muldoon, Bolger and Shipley, Birch was at the heart of the action across a turbulent quarter-century of political and social change.


From ‘Think Big’ and the Employment Contracts Act to overhauls of immigration, health, ACC, fiscal management, industry training, electricity markets and producer boards, Birch managed controversial, risky reforms, and much of what he achieved endures today.


Birch’s story, from humble rural Waikato roots to political change-maker, is of an ordinary New Zealander who achieved extraordinary things. He was a legendary workaholic, the ‘doer’ who shunned the limelight and did the hard yards behind much of New Zealand’s economic transformation. 


Product Information

Brad Tattersfield is a Wellington-based communications consultant and former journalist.


Brad began his career as a reporter on the Christchurch Press, then moved to the Melbourne Sun (now Herald-Sun) and agency reporting in London before returning to NZ to work in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for the National Business Review.


In 1991 he became press secretary for ministers Wyatt Creech and, later, Bill Birch before leaving Parliament in 1995 to join a PR consultancy.


He was communications manager with the APEC 99 Task Force for that Auckland gathering of international leaders, including US President Bill Clinton.


From 2000-2002 he worked as a publicist at the NZ embassy in Tokyo, then returned to NZ as communications manager for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.


Since 2007 he has run his own communications consultancy, with a wide range of public and private sector clients.

General Fields

  • : 9780473501976
  • : Mary Egan Publishing
  • : Mary Egan Publishing
  • : May 2020
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Brad Tattersfield
  • : Paperback
  • : 324