Max Bradford

The Honourable Max Bradford
Max Bradford in 1999
33rd Minister of Defence
In office 5 December 1997 – 5 December 1999
Prime Minister	Jenny Shipley
Preceded by	Paul East
Succeeded by	Mark Burton
Personal details
Born	Maxwell Robert Bradford (1942-01-19) January 19, 1942 (age 75) Christchurch, New Zealand
Political party	National

Maxwell "Max" Bradford (born 19 January 1942) is a former New Zealand politician and cabinet minister. He was an MP for the National Party from 1990 to 2002. He is best known for introducing the "Bright Future" economic initiative in 1999, and for reforms to the retail sector of the electricity industry in 1998.

Bradford was born in Christchurch and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and the University of Canterbury. He is married to Rosemary Bradford and has two stepdaughters.

Before entering politics, he worked at the New Zealand Treasury, the International Monetary Fund, and the New Zealand Employers Federation. He was chief executive of the NZ Bankers Association and the New Zealand National Party before entering the New Zealand Parliament as an MP in 1990.

Bradford was first elected to Parliament as MP for Tarawera in the 1990 election, replacing National Party colleague Ian McLean. In the 1996 election, there was an electoral redistribution, and he contested and won the Rotorua electorate. In the 1999 election, he was defeated in Rotorua by Labour's Steve Chadwick, but remained in Parliament as a list MP. In his political career, he served in a number of Cabinet positions, including Minister of Defence, Minister of Energy, Minister of Labour, Minister of Revenue, Minister of Enterprise and Commerce, Minister of Tertiary Education and Minister of Immigration.