Photography: Robert Trathen.
For 20 years, Auckland MP Shanan Halbert and his partner Dr Anthony Jordan have built a life together mostly in the gaps of two demanding jobs – after flights home from Parliament and long shifts at the hospital. They knew it was never going to be easy – not just the distance, but the mental toll of it too.
“Before I was in politics, I used to fret about how we’d get time together, but we make it work,” says Shanan, 44.
“We’re polar opposites. I’m the warm, loving, generous one! Ours is an opposites-attract love story.”
Most Thursday afternoons, Labour MP Shanan is ready to fly home to the 80-year-old Birkenhead bungalow he shares with Anthony and their German shepherd Whiti. They’re finally enjoying the renovations to the house they bought in 2010.
“We moved back in three months ago and it’s been such an exciting milestone,” enthuses Shanan.
“I’ve always dreamed of having an open-plan kitchen to host lots of friends and family.”
A love that’s lasted 20 years
It’s a long way from when they first met through mutual friends 20 years ago, with Shanan and Anthony, now 45, discovering they didn’t have much in common on their first date.
“We’d both been to university at Auckland and we both came from small towns,” says Anthony, who was raised in Whangārei.
“But Shanan was very persistent and very tolerant of my idiosyncrasies.”
Meanwhile, Anthony is one of the most generous people Napier-born Shanan knows.
“He just has a much smaller group of friends and family he applies that to,” he shares.
“My strength – and weakness – is I have a much broader circle of people. My view is based on love and light, and hoping the world will be a better place.”
Anthony’s strong work ethic as a clinical immunologist and allergist, who also works on the general medicine wards at Auckland Hospital, was also an attraction for Shanan.
“It’s an incredible privilege for us both to serve others and care for people,” says Shanan, who wanted to be a politician since he was 14.
“We both had career pathways, but Ants’ was a lot clearer than mine. It took me six years of trying before I was actually elected.”
The personal cost of life in politics
Third election lucky, as he says, Shanan was voted in as the MP for Northcote in late 2020 and has been a list MP since 2024.
“It takes incredible patience, loyalty, commitment and financial support for a partner to continue being your champion without a straight-forward entry point,” says Shanan.
“Ants has always been my critical friend in politics. Sometimes that’s hard to receive and not always what you want to hear from your partner, but he’s the best person to give me advice.”
Anthony has never been a fan of politics.
He insists, “It’s awful. During Covid, I worked with the vaccination programme, which gave me a small insight into the public scrutiny politicians face, and I hated it. When Shanan said he wanted to get into politics, I was like, ‘Why would you want to do that to yourself, let alone us?’ Everything we do is up for public comment.”
Sadly, the couple has been subjected to some vicious abuse.
“Being a gay Māori man is a lightning rod to some people,” sighs Shanan, who is of Ngāti Whitikaupeka and Rongowhakaata descent.
“But I’m comfortable with who I am and as I’ve grown in politics, I’ve built resilience.”
Anthony, who has Ngātiwai heritage, sees the importance of what Shanan does and who he’s representing.
“In this current climate, it might not be the time to stick your head above the parapet, but if we can’t do it, there’ll be a poor kid at school thinking, ‘What’s my life going to be like if there’s no one out there talking for us?’”
When values come first
Anthony made his own principled stance in 2024, quitting as a board member of Pharmac just hours after Associate Health Minister David Seymour told the agency to stop factoring Te Tiriti o Waitangi into its decisions.
He explains, “It was simple for me in terms of saying, ‘I don’t agree with this. I don’t think it’s the right direction.’”
Shanan was “more than proud” of his partner’s stand.
“We’re both so committed to the progress Te Tiriti can bring to future Aotearoa,” he says.
At number 19 on Labour’s list for November’s election, Shanan’s confident he’ll return to Parliament for another three years.
He reflects, “I know politics is never a straightforward path. The last election, I found myself out of Parliament for three months when I didn’t expect it. I worked on our gardens at home. “I’m still hopeful that, as politicians, we can make a difference. It’s a weird time in global politics where we’ve lost sight of the importance of people, but I know New Zealand will reset itself and refocus on what really matters.”
