Michael Cullen


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for the Australian ornithologist see John Michael Cullen
The Honourable Dr
 Michael John Cullen 
MP
Michael Cullen

Dr Cullen in 2007.
In office
5 December 1999 – 19 November 2008
Prime Minister Helen Clark
Preceded by Bill Birch
Succeeded by Bill English
Constituency None (list, formerly St. Kilda)
In office
15 August 2002 – 19 November 2008
Prime Minister Helen Clark
Preceded by Jim Anderton
Succeeded by Bill English
In office
1981 – 1993
Preceded by William Fraser
Succeeded by Seat Abolished
In office
1993 – 1996
Preceded by Seat Established
Succeeded by David Benson-Pope
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour Party List
Incumbent
Assumed office 
1996
Born February 5, 1945 (1945-02-05) (age 63)
London, United Kingdom
Political party Labour
Profession Lecturer

Michael John Cullen (born 5 February 1945, London) is a New Zealand politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, also Minister of Finance, Minister of Tertiary Education, and Attorney-General. He was the deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1996 until November 2008, when he resigned following a defeat in the general election.

Contents

Early life

Michael Cullen migrated to New Zealand while young and attended secondary school at Christ's College in Christchurch, and achieved an MA in History at Canterbury University. Receiving the Commonwealth Scholarship he then gained a Ph.D. in Social and Economic History from the University of Edinburgh. From 1971 to 1981 he was a lecturer at Otago University, with a term as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University from 1975 to 1976.[1]

Member of Parliament

Parl. Electorate List Pos. Party
40th St Kilda n/a Labour
41st St Kilda n/a Labour
42nd St Kilda n/a Labour
43rd St Kilda n/a Labour
44th St Kilda n/a Labour
45th Dunedin South 2 Labour
46th List 2 Labour
47th List 2 Labour
48th List 2 Labour
49th List 2 Labour

Cullen joined the Labour Party in 1974, and served on the party's Executive and Council between 1976 and 1981. In 1981 he was elected MP for the Dunedin electorate of St Kilda.

Fourth Labour Government

Main article: Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand

When Labour entered government in 1984, Cullen became Senior Whip. Due to his knowledge of economics, Cullen became increasingly involved in the disputes surrounding the Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas, who supported the liberalization of trade and the sale of state assets plus deep tax cuts. These goals, which were against traditional Labour policies, angered both party members and the public. When the Prime Minister, David Lange, attempted to limit the influence Douglas had on the government's direction, Cullen became involved on Lange's side. After Labour's re-election in 1987, Cullen was made Associate Minister of Finance (an attempt by Lange to provide an anti-reform counterbalance to the radical Douglas) and Minister of Social Welfare (an attempt to limit the impact of the reforms in that area)[citation needed].

Eventually, Douglas was forced to resign, but a month later the political controversies around the dispute prompted the resignation of Lange himself. Douglas was succeeded as Finance Minister by David Caygill, one of his allies (albeit a considerably less radical one). Cullen was made Associate Minister of Health, again to reduce the effect of reforms on that sector.

Opposition

When Labour lost the 1990 election (something attributed by many people to public anger at Douglas' reforms), Cullen returned to being Labour's spokesperson on social welfare. The following year, he replaced David Caygill as the party's chief finance spokesperson. When Caygill retired from politics in 1996 Cullen took the deputy leader's post as well. Before Labour's position in the polls improved, Cullen also made an attempt to oust Helen Clark as party leader, but failed. The two do not appear to bear each other any resentment, however. Cullen claims to be happy with his position as second, saying that in terms of personality, he is "a number two sort of person". Many commentators agree, believing that Cullen's strength lies more in administration than leadership.[citation needed]

Fifth Labour Government

Main article: Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand
Cullen delivering the 2008 budget press conference.

Labour's electoral victory in 1999 resulted in Cullen becoming Minister of Finance. After the 2002 election , it was decided that the size of Labour's junior coalition partner was not sufficient to justify its leader's high office, resulting in Jim Anderton stepping down as Deputy Prime Minister to make way for Michael Cullen.

In 2005 Cullen was appointed Attorney-General, following the election of Margaret Wilson as Speaker of the House. His appointment was controversial because of the his non-legal background (he was only the second non-lawyer to hold the post) and because of his previous criticisms of the judiciary, including the Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias. His term in the position ended following the 2005 general election. However, with the resignation of David Parker in March 2006, Cullen took over the position.

When Cullen was first appointed Minister of Finance, many parts of the business community were concerned that he would adopt unrealistic positions driven by his political views. Slowly, however, the business world lost much of its fear of him, and most people concede that he is a competent administrator. Viewed as secure in his role as deputy prime minister, he is not thought of as a likely contender as a possible future replacement for prime minister Helen Clark.[citation needed] He is considered to be one of the Labour Party's best parliamentary debaters, and is known for his sometimes "acerbic" sense of humour.

The day after the defeat of Labour in the 2008 general elections and Helen Clark's resignation as party leader, Cullen announced his resignation as deputy leader of the Labour Party.[2]

Political offices

Assembly seats
Preceded by
Bill Fraser		 Member of Parliament for St Kilda
1981 – 1996		 Succeeded by
abolished
Preceded by
(constituency created)		 Member of Parliament for Dunedin South
1996 – 1999		 Succeeded by
David Benson-Pope
Political offices
Preceded by
David Caygill		 Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party
1996 – 2008		 Succeeded by
Annette King
Preceded by
Jim Anderton		 Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
2002 – 2008		 Succeeded by
Bill English

References

  1. ^ "Hon Dr Michael Cullen". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  2. ^ "Cullen resigns after election defeat". New Zealand Herald (2008-11-09). Retrieved on 2008-11-09.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  • Clark, Margaret (ed.) (2001), Three Labour leaders : Nordmeyer, Kirk, Rowling , Palmerston North, [N.Z.]: Dunmore Press, ISBN 0-864-69394-X 
  • Cullen provided "Brief thoughts on three leaders" to this volume.
  • Cullen provided "Opening remarks" to this volume.
  • Cullen, Michael (1993), Medium term fiscal outlook, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Office of Opposition Spokesperson on Finance 
  • Cullen, Michael (2000), The Minister’s statement & overview, Wellington, [N.Z.]: The Treasury, ISBN 0-478-11802-3 
  • Cullen, Michael (2001), Taxation of Māori organisations: a Government discussion document, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Policy Advice Division, Inland Revenue Dept., ISBN 0-478-10345-X 
  • Cullen, Michael; Swain, Paul; Wright, John (2001), More time for business: tax simplification for small business: a Government discussion document, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Policy Advice Division, Inland Revenue Dept., ISBN 0-478-10342-5 
Persondata
NAME Cullen, Michael John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Politician, academic
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH London, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH






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