Kieran McAnulty

Kieran Michael McAnulty is a New Zealand politician.

McAnulty was born in Eketāhuna in 1985, and was adopted by Marie (née Monaghan) and Mike McAnulty.

Their families have lived in the Wairarapa area for more than 170 years, with his great grandmother's great grandfather, Henry Burling, arriving as an early settler in what is now the town of Featherston.

The McAnulty family is a historically "staunch" family of Labour Party supporters, although his mother's family included some National Party supporters.

Ted McAnulty, Kieran's great-grandfather, ("the only Labour-voting cockie in Eketāhuna" ) was the campaign manager for a Labour candidate running against Prime Minister Keith Holyoake in the Pahiatua electorate, at that time a safe National seat.

John Monaghan, the former chair of Fonterra, is his mother's cousin.

McAnulty was raised Catholic.

McAnulty became well-known for his distinctive, run-down red 1997 Mazda Bounty ute.

In his maiden speech, he described how it is missing a back door; later, it was reported "the radio sometimes falls out and the heater doesn’t work" and the ute, which had not been able to drive faster than "110kmh in a decade" and had gone further than 463,000 kilometers.

He attended St Mary's School in Carterton, St Patrick's School in Masterton, and Chanel College, where he was head boy in 2002.

He went on to the University of Otago where he completed a Bachelor of Arts, Postgraduate Diploma in Arts and Master of Arts in politics.

His 2011 master's thesis was titled "The role of political positioning in party performance in the 2008 New Zealand General Election."

He has previously worked for the T.A.B. as a bookmaker covering the racing industry and an economic development advisor for the Masterton District Council.

He has been a volunteer firefighter.

He met his first wife, Suzanne McNally, while traveling in her home country of Ireland on an overseas experience.

They married in 2011 and later divorced.

McAnulty married his second wife, the prime minister's press secretary Gia Garrick, in January 2023.

McAnulty stood in the North Island electorate of at the, but was defeated by National's Alastair Scott.

He had previously been offered the Wairarapa candidacy in 2011, but declined.

McAnulty stood for Labour in Wairarapa again in the.

Although he reduced Scott's majority, he failed to win the electorate.

He instead entered Parliament via the party list, where he had been ranked 38.

In September 2016, McAnulty wrestled to the ground a car thief who was trying to steal the ute in Masterton.

He was first elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2017, representing the New Zealand Labour Party.

In November 2017 he was appointed Labour's junior whip.

In his first term, he served on the primary production committee.

His maiden statement, given on 16 November 2017, focused on the values of fairness and equality.

On 25 September 2019, McAnulty was ejected from Parliament by the Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard for making disparaging remarks about National Party leader Simon Bridges during a Parliamentary debate about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Mallard also ejected New Zealand First MP Shane Jones for similar disruptive behaviour.

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wairarapa between 2020 and 2023, and is currently a list MP.

McAnulty was the Senior Whip of the Labour Party during part of the term of the Sixth Labour Government.

He later served as that government's Minister of Local Government, Minister for Emergency Management, Minister for Racing and Deputy Leader of the House.

He attracted media attention when he chauffeured Ardern in the ute during the 2020 election campaign and, after the election, when he sold it for charity and replaced it with a 2021 Mitsubishi hybrid electric Outlander.

In the 2020 New Zealand general election, McAnulty contested the Wairarapa electorate for Labour, winning by a margin of 6,545 votes over new candidate Mike Butterick.

On 2 November 2020, following the election, the Labour caucus elected McAnulty as its chief whip.

In August 2022, McAnulty was implicated in bullying accusations by fellow Labour MP Gaurav Sharma.

Sharma accused McAnulty of "gaslighting me, shouting at me, degrading me in front of caucus members and other attendees at events and telling me that I was a terrible MP".

The Labour Party, including Ardern, rejected the claims.

In January 2023, McAnulty claimed he was advised by parliamentary security to stop advertising the availability of his mobile office in his electorate because of death threats against him.

In a June 2022 reshuffle, McAnulty was appointed as Minister for Racing and Minister for Emergency Management, outside Cabinet, as well an associate minister in the local government and transport portfolios.