Chapter 12
The workload in Annette’s office throughout the nine years of the Clark Government was continuously heavy, particularly in the first three years of major reform, but she had the benefit of experienced ministerial advisers and capable political staff right throughout her ministerial career.
Chief of Staff Lloyd Falck says: ‘We were very lucky. Our staff got on so well. Annette was very opposed for quite a while to having Treasury advisers in our office, but they were all great people as well. We had the best and funniest office. It was well-known throughout the Beehive.’
The glue that held the office together was enjoyment of each other’s company — and a sense of fun and good humour even when the going was at its toughest. That ‘togetherness’ was reflected in relationships with other ministerial offices.
Annette believes the importance of social interaction between ministers, MPs and staff and friends cannot be overestimated. ‘There was a great deal of excitement in the early months of the government simply because we had won and were able to do something after long years in Opposition. Everyone was bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. You can see that in this new government as well. After nine years it is hard to maintain the excitement, of course. That’s happened to every government I have witnessed.
‘In the early years often on Thursday nights we would meet upstairs at Labour’s favourite restaurant, the Grand Century. Different people came and went. Helen was a regular, Michael Cullen was a regular. It was such a good idea. There was laughter and there were stories. And fun. And the government wasn’t paying. We all paid for ourselves.’
There were also social events at Premier House. Jenny’s father Kerry used to do the catering. ‘The most memorable evening was when Georgina Beyer sang her old cabaret number, “Summertime”,’ says Annette. ‘She still had it. On another night we ended up at Premier House. We had been at Judy Tai’s [Grand Century] but we had to evacuate because there was a bomb scare in the place. We loaded up all Judy Tai’s food and took it to Premier House and ate it there. It was a very social caucus and it was nice so many staff were involved. It was a real team-building exercise. My staff was a really tight team, though lots of people passed through as portfolios changed.’
Most ministers have their offices in the Beehive, but Annette was one of a smallish number who started out in 1999 in Bowen House. ‘There was no one good reason really. There was still a certain amount of reserve between some of those who had been in the Helen camp and those in the Mike camp, but Bowen House also had lovely offices with fantastic views. That was the main reason we went there . . . the beautiful offices.’
After Labour was re-elected in 2002, Annette shifted from the 18th floor of Bowen House to the Beehive. ‘One of the ways we kept a close link between Cabinet ministers was over the weekly George Foreman Grill in my office. We bought a grill and Jenny Rose’s job was to cook the sausages and sometimes steak, and we would have salads and bread rolls, and wine, of course, and the Minister of Finance would come in and visitors from around the building and occasionally the Prime Minister as well, and people, staff and ministers together, would congregate around my big table. There was lots of laughter. People don’t really understand a lot of those human things go on.
‘The grill nights actually started because of complaints about food we were getting at Bellamy’s. We decided to cook in my office on the sixth floor using a grill. It became a big event. Michael Cullen was always the first one there because Jenny cooked sausages as well as steak and he wasn’t allowed sausages at home. We used to have salads, bread, steak and sausage.’
Annette’s office might, as Lloyd says, have been more fun than any other in the Beehive, and it was also the office of romance. Apart from Annette herself marrying Ray Lind in the early months of the new government, three of her staff, Jenny Rose, receptionist Toni Reeves and racing secretary Trish Ranstead were in relationships with Labour MPs Rick Barker, Paul Swain and Jim Sutton respectively. Lloyd Falck, in his part-time role as a marriage celebrant, performed the marriage ceremony for all three couples and others in the office too.
Lloyd was head of the kindergarten movement for much of the 1990s, but by 1999 he was ready to get back into politics fulltime. He laughs: ‘I told Annette she couldn’t afford me. Six figures and six cylinders was what I needed.’ He laughs again. Labour didn’t pay salaries or provide perks like that.
Jenny Rose says she was inspired by Annette in the 11 years she worked for her. ‘Remember I was the girl from Cannons Creek, with no degree, but she could make you feel good enough to be Chief Justice or something like that. A lot of what I have done is down to her help and guidance. I would never have been able to speak in front of people. She had a way of saying, “Don’t be silly, of course you can do that, we’re going to do that right now.”
‘She’s got the sort of personality people want to be around. Not because she’s smart or kind, though she is, but she’s fun. Remember all the laughs we had. It was an amazing office to work in, the best office I have ever worked in.’
In her valedictory Annette paid tribute to her permanent staff and ministerial advisers over the nine years of govern-ment. Some rich characters passed through, some staying many years. Other permanent staff included Chilean Juan Pardo, John Saunders and Robin Boldarin, and a variety of ministerial advisers contributed huge amounts of expertise, including Chris Bunny and Bridget Sullivan from Treasury, Libby Tregear from police, and the extremely capable and hilariously effervescent transport adviser Anya Zohrab, who, Lloyd says, ‘shared the naughty office with the press team and used to drive John Saunders into my office’.