New Zealand Listener - May 26, 2018

28 LISTENER MAY 26 2018

T

he first of what are now

called the Cullen Breakfasts

was 20 years ago. Wellington

employment-law specialist

Peter Cullen invited a few of

his friends to his law office to

meet and chat with MP Jim

Anderton over tea and Weet-Bix.

At the most recent event, at the Wel-

lington Club on March 21, the star

attraction was Prime Minister Jacinda

Ardern. It drew 400 people, and almost as

many missed out.

There are few things that give the one-

time student politician greater pleasure

than hosting the breakfasts, which take

place every six weeks. One of five siblings,

and a father of three adult children, he

spent his childhood in Upper Hutt, but

the family moved to Paekākāriki when he

was a teenager and his world expanded.

Cullen is protective of his privacy and is,

perhaps, too well known for his own

liking. He can’t walk along Lambton

Quay without meeting someone

from the worlds he knows best: the

law, politics, religion and sport.

What do you remember of life

in Upper Hutt?

Money was tight in our household,

and life seemed quite dreary there,

although my parents put us on a

good path for education and four of

the five of us got university degrees.

Upper Hutt might be different these

days – I was seeing it through the

eyes of a child – but it was great to

leave it when Dad inherited some

money and we moved to Paekākāriki.

SHELF LIFE

Breakfasts of champions

One day, Peter Cullen decided to invite a few people to breakfast

at his law oice. He never imagined his idea would turn

into a fixture on the capital’s social and political calendar.

CLARE

DE LORE

What was so special about Paekākāriki?

It was like The End of the Golden

Weather: it never rained, the weather

was beautiful and we raced down to

the beach whenever we could. There

were such amazingly interesting

people in our neighbourhood. The

guy who lived next door to us played

the clarinet in the orchestra. Another

guy down the road played the trum-

pet. Other neighbours included Monte

Holcroft, the editor of the Listener,

Denis Glover and Steve O’Regan who

is now Sir Tipene. I liked going to

see Steve and talking about politics.

There were other interesting people,

too, though they were not famous.

How was university life?

I loved student life. I loved the people

and the freedom. It was during the

Vietnam War. There were lots of protests

against that, and against what was hap-

pening in South Africa. Student meetings

would sometimes attract thousands of

people. The law school was wonderful

and I had great teachers, such as Ivor

Richardson and George Barton.

How did you get involved in student politics?

In 1972, I became the president of the

student association. I was middle-of-

the-road, a safe-looking law student

with a liberal outlook. Tim Groser

[later a National Cabinet minister and

now New Zealand’s ambassador to

the US] stood against me. He was

fiercely to the left, and gave me a

good run. There was a big crowd

who’d gone to Hutt Valley High,

very gifted, including Groser,

Alec Shaw, and Rob Campbell.

What got you into employment law?

My first job was at Bell Gully, which

was a great common-law practice.

But I had a social-justice orienta-

tion from my university days, and I

thought I should be doing more in

that area, so I went to work for the

law-reform division of the Justice

Department. Then I fell under the

influence of two left-wing priests

who urged me to do more, and

You have to be grateful

for what you have;

these breakfasts are my

way of showing that.