Busy time learning to live in public eye

Labour MP David Cunliffe

Political editor Audrey Young interviews five ministers newly promoted to the Cabinet on their portfolios, Labour heritage and views on Waitangi Day. Second in the series is David Cunliffe.

Have you formed any goals yet in your portfolios?

In the first half of next year we are going to face a number of key regulatory decisions in relation to mobile phones and on the broadband infrastructure. We're going to have to make some key decisions about what's the best way to get the step-change in performance that we really need to bring us up the OECD ranking.

In immigration, we have introduced the Immigration Advisers Licensing Bill to clean up an industry that has had some pretty ragged edges. We have got a major review of the Immigration Act under way which we will be getting a discussion document out for consultation with stakeholders early in the New Year. We are looking hard at the immigration programme and how we think about that as well as the numbers of people that we take.

Now you are in the Cabinet, how different is it to being a minister outside Cabinet?

It is different. I think as a minister outside Cabinet you are in the public eye only at times when you are making particular high-profile decisions. As a minister inside Cabinet you are in the public eye all the time and people are looking for signals in anything you say and do. So I think you have to be very careful to work carefully through problems and show good judgment about how you communicate the answers.

Is the workload a lot higher?

It is very, very busy but I am still drinking through a fire-hose in terms of initial briefings as well as the on-going work. I think it will probably settle down a bit but we are moving forward rapidly with some key initiatives in both portfolios at the moment so it is keeping me busy.

Where do you get your most valuable advice from?

A whole range of sources. Obviously the most important advice stems from your departments and your office but in both the ICT and immigration fields I like to have independent sources of advice from key stakeholder groups, industry leaders, business groups, community groups. For example as an Auckland-based Minister of Immigration I have got long-standing contacts with a number of the ethnic communities and I have good personal relationships with many of the community leaders.

Who do you think is more powerful, the politicians, the press or the public service?

In the end we are all answerable to the people and I hope we are all trying to make New Zealand a better place for people to live in. That's why I am here, to make my contribution to that.

Who was the biggest political influence on you before you got to Parliament?

It's hard to pick one person. My dad was the chairman of the Pleasant Point branch of the Labour Party, an Anglican vicar in the rural South Island. They called him the Red Reverend and I remember going to Labour Party chook raffles in the local pub with him, so something must have rubbed off. I was fortunate to serve in Washington during the early days of the Clinton-Gore Administration and that '92 campaign I will never forget as a formative influence on the way I think about campaigning. Then I was a student in Boston where I worked a bit on Senator Ted Kennedy's campaign and got to know the Massachusetts Democratic Party a bit so that stuck with me.

Then I had my time in business which I really enjoyed and learned that business is not the enemy, it creates value, it should be a friend. I learned that numbers are your friend, too. If you can quantify problems it gets easier to solve them. BCG [Boston Consulting Group] was great for seeing how New Zealand business fitted into a global context and that stayed with me as well, I hope, as some of the project management problem solving skills I developed there. Then in 1996 I came back to Auckland. I worked on Judith Tizard's '96 election campaign and was her electorate chairman and got pretty involved with the Auckland Labour Party after that.

Who was the most successful Labour leader, except Helen Clark, and why?

If I was allowed to broaden Labour to "like-minded" I would probably say King Dick Seddon. If you could combine the passion of a Norman Kirk with the ethics of a Bill Rowling and the management skills of a Helen Clark you'd have a perfect politician, but I think Helen stands above all of them.

Is there a foreign political figure who has influenced or inspired you, except Nelson Mandela?

Part of my political growing up was in Washington working in the US Congress and seeing the rise of Bill Clinton. I was probably influenced as a young guy by the writings of Dag Hammarskjold, who was the UN Secretary-General (1953 to 1961). He talked a lot about a more civilised world and had a strong ethical base to his work.

What is the most memorable election you have fought and why?

The last one for two reasons. It was the biggest team I've ever had and the most fun we've ever had - 200 volunteers on the road on election day, a fantastic election night party and I think we literally painted the town in New Lynn red. It has also been the longest and most gruelling year of my life and the longest campaign. The lead switched almost daily in the last couple of weeks and we had to find not one but a couple of extra gears. Add to that the fact that my wife and I had a new baby earlier in the year and moved house and never quite finished unpacking and that our youngest was quite ill during the year, we've really had quite a full-on year.

What advice would you give a backbench MP aiming to get into Cabinet?

Holyoake was right. Breathe through you nose for the first good while. If I had my time again I'd probably do a wee bit more of that. Work hard, be straight up and learn as much as you can.

Do you look forward to Waitangi Day?

I do. I do. I think most Kiwis who have travelled a bit overseas would be aware that when they see the haka they get misty-eyed and for me my bicultural heritage is very, very important. It distinguishes me from the Lancashire miners and railway workers I am descended from and it defines who I am as a New Zealander.

Are you part-Maori?

No I'm not. I mean as a New Zealander we Pakeha New Zealanders draw on a bicultural heritage because we are here by virtue of the treaty partner.

What are you doing to unwind this summer?

I'm going to be lying on a beach, playing with my kids, fishing in the Hauraki Gulf and no doubt reading a few departmental briefing papers.

David Cunliffe
* Age: 42
* Portfolios: Immigration, Communications, Information Technology, Associate Minister Economic Development.
* Family: Married with two small boys.
* Work History: Former diplomatic officer, former business consultant, first elected to Parliament 1999 for Titirangi, now New Lynn. Formerly a minister outside Cabinet with associate portfolios.

* Tomorrow: Nanaia Mahuta