Brady was born in
Oamaru and was employed in the Audit Office from 1971. He is a chartered accountant and holds a Master of Public Policy degree from
Victoria University of Wellington. In a report tabled in 2006, Brady found that $1.17 million of taxpayer-funded parliamentary funding was misspent. He stated that the
New Zealand Labour Party had wrongly spent $768,000, and six other political parties had misspent lesser amounts.
Helen Clark, the
prime minister and Labour Party leader, accused the Brady of smearing the reputation of her party and others. Brady was named one of 2007 New Zealanders of the Year by
The New Zealand Herald, mainly for his stand on election spending. ==References==