Sir Michael Cullen's life and legacy are being celebrated across the political spectrum today.
The former Deputy Prime Minister died in Whakatāne last night after being diagnosed with lung cancer last year.
He left politics in 2009 after a 30-year career with the Labour Party and was pivotal in setting up KiwiSaver, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Working for Families.
He was Finance Minister for nine years and Deputy Prime Minister for six. And he was a close friend, confidant and colleague of former Prime Minister Helen Clark.
"My heart goes out to Michael’s wife Anne, his children, and his wider family at this sad time.
"The diagnosis Michael got in February last year was devastating. In between then and now he's written a book on his life which is a marvellous read and sets the record straight from his perspective on many issues.
"But sadly, that diagnosis was not one that could be defied, and he will be hugely missed by all of us.
"I went down a couple of months ago with [former Labour MP and Speaker of the House] Margaret Wilson and we talked about a lot of things, old times and and current times.
"And I did go down again at the start of this week. The end was clearly very near, but he was still able to make a witty comment or two. And I thought he's going out on a good note, at peace with himself."
Clark and Cullen worked closely for 40 years. They both entered Parliament in 1981, and had known each other from the mid-1970s as young Labour Party activists.
Helen Clark said history will judge Sir Michael Cullen very kindly.
"He was such an incredible force in our government. If I ever had a problem, I could chuck it to Michael and hope for a solution to be found, which it generally was.
"Also in my observation, finance ministers are often 'Mr No'. Well Michael with the right case was 'Mr Yes' and he funded amazing things across the sphere. I was so touched in early 2000 when he came to me and said: 'You know, there's a bit of spare cash. What would you like to do for the arts?'
"That was a big package which really set a lot of the institutions up well for the coming years.
"There were huge conservation purchases, big social policy investments, initiatives people are mentioning like the NZ Superannuation Fund... Just so many things that he had his fingerprints firmly on."
Remembering the event when Sir Michael Cullen and others challenged her for the Labour leadership, Clark told Checkpoint it was not a disagreement over policy.
"It was really a question of whether I was ever going to be able to win an election and let's face it, the polling was pretty dire at the time.
"I hung on because I had more support in the Labour Party caucus and I had strong networks in the Labour Party."
After that Sir Michael never turned back on his loyalty to his partnership with Clark.
"He once said, of me, he said, 'I am the snow on which Helen's skis glide.'
"He was a deputy, and deputies support the leader and support leaders to do well. That takes a lot of character.
"He was an incredibly able, intelligent smart man, but he was able to settle into that role of Deputy and Finance Minister as well - very powerful roles where you can do a lot of steering the ship yourself."
