PM Jacinda Ardern speaks to media yesterday. Photo / Jed Bradley
PM Jacinda Ardern speaks to media yesterday. Photo / Jed Bradley
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern choked back tears at a memorial service for Sir Michael as she read aloud the last text message she sent to him.
"Michael at the risk of sentimentality which I suspect you probably hate I wanted to say thank you. You will never know the impact you have had on me."
"Thanks for always having time for me no matter what stage in my political career. Thank you for your intellect, your humour, your kindness. There is no one like you Michael. I am so lucky to have known you. Lots of love from me."
Sir Michael Cullen at the Herald offices in Auckland. Photo / Doug Sherring
She said Michael was not always good at opening messages and it had gone unopened before he died.
The service was held at Taneatua in Te Kura Whare - Tūhoe's Living Building.
It was jointly hosted by Tūhoe and Tūwharetoa, two tribes with whom Sir Michael worked closely after he left politics in 2009.
Cullen was a Member of Parliament from 1981 to 2009. He was Deputy Prime Minister to Helen Clark and Minister of Finance for nine years.
Jacinda Ardern arriving at the Tūhoe Whare in Taneatua for Michael Cullen's memorial. Photo / Audrey Young
He died of cancer in August in 2021 during lockdown and a couple of months after writing his autobiography, Saving Labour. He planned his memorial service with Speaker Trevor Mallard, who MCed the event.
Helen Clark spoke as well, as did former colleague Annette King, Sir Brian Roche, with whom Cullen had worked closely, and family members including his wife, Anne Collins.
Roche, the former chief executive of NZ Post, said Cullen was a champion for social justice and equity for all "but especially for those who are more vulnerable than others".
But he could also be quite ruthless where necessary.
"I recall we had one really tedious meeting with Standard & Poors in their normally sort of arrogant self-serving ways. They came across to lecture us and this person who hadn't quite prepared stumbled into some comment about New Zealand housing and in the space of four sentences, he was a quivering mess."
Sir Michael Cullen and his wife, Anne Collins, after his investiture. Photo / Dean Purcell
Anne Collins said Cullen loved living in Ōhope, "his dream house, with his dog, three Kindles, a sauna, his cryptic crosswords, 600 CDs and working for numerous iwi and boards".
"He did enjoy the quiet life. The high point would often be a glass of red and trying to outdo the competitors on The Chase. Sometimes he did argue with the answers."
She said he was enormously proud of Jacinda Ardern and the current Government.
Referring to his regular column for the Herald, Collins said: "Right up to the last few weeks, he was doing a valiant battle to give the New Zealand Herald a little bit of political balance."
Collins said that Cullen had had "a beautiful death".
"He just gradually faded after farewelling many, many of his closest friends and he had his family with him right to the last."
Collins revealed that Cullen had been a very good dancer but preferred to do his dancing in private. After her speech, she played her chosen song, "I've had the time of my life," the finale to the movie Dirty Dancing, and asked everyone to get up and dance.
