McAnulty was born in Eketāhuna in 1985, and was adopted by Marie (née Monaghan) and Mike McAnulty.[2][3][4][5] 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.[6] The McAnulty family is a historically "staunch" family of Labour Party supporters, although his mother's family included some National Party supporters.[2][7] Ted McAnulty, Kieran's great-grandfather, ("the only Labour-voting cockie in Eketāhuna"[8]) was the campaign manager for a Labour candidate running against Prime MinisterKeith Holyoake in the Pahiatua electorate, at that time a safe National seat. John Monaghan, the former chair of Fonterra, is his mother's cousin.[2]
McAnulty was raised Catholic.[9] He attended St Mary's School in Carterton, St Patrick's School in Masterton, and Chanel College, where he was head boy in 2002.[10][11] 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.[12] His 2011 master's thesis was titled "The role of political positioning in party performance in the 2008 New Zealand General Election."[13] 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.[6][14] He has been a volunteer firefighter.[11]
He met his first wife, Suzanne McNally, while traveling in her home country of Ireland on an overseas experience.[11] They married in 2011 and later divorced.[6][8][15] McAnulty married his second wife, the prime minister's press secretary Gia Garrick, in January 2023.[2][16]
McAnulty stood in the North Island electorate of Wairarapa at the 2014 election, but was defeated by National's Alastair Scott.[17] He had previously been offered the Wairarapa candidacy in 2011, but declined.[14]
First term, 2014–2017
McAnulty stood for Labour in Wairarapa again in the 2017 election. 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.[18][19]
In November 2017 he was appointed Labour's junior whip.[20] In his first term, he served on the primary production committee.[1] His maiden statement, given on 16 November 2017, focused on the values of fairness and equality.[6]
McAnulty reads the oath of allegiance at his appointment to the Executive Council, at Government House, Wellington, on 14 June 2022. Watching on are the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and Michael Webster, clerk of the Executive Council.
McAnulty became well-known for his distinctive, run-down red 1997 Mazda Bountyute. In his maiden speech, he described how it is missing a back door;[6] 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.[3][22][23] In September 2016, McAnulty wrestled to the ground a car thief who was trying to steal the ute in Masterton.[24] 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.[3][22][23]
Second term, 2020–2023
McAnulty in 2020
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.[25] On 2 November 2020, following the election, the Labour caucus elected McAnulty as its chief whip.[26]
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".[27] The Labour Party, including Ardern,[27] rejected the claims.[28]
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.[29]
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.[30] McAnulty joined the executive at a "uniquely challenging time" for local government, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, due to tensions and challenges related to the government's reforms in the portfolio on top of localised emergencies.[31] He completed a tour of visits to New Zealand's to 54 rural and provincial councils in his first five months.[32] He led the passage of the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Act 2022 on behalf of the Minister of Local Government, Nanaia Mahuta.[33][34]
Following a cabinet reshuffle that occurred on 31 January 2023, McAnulty succeeded Nanaia Mahuta as Minister of Local Government.[35] Prime Minister Chris Hipkins also confirmed that the Three Waters reform programme (which falls under the Local Government portfolio) would continue.[36] McAnulty continued as Minister for Racing and was also appointed Minister for Rural Communities and Deputy Leader of the House.[37] He later picked up the Minister for Regional Development role after Kiri Allan resigned from Cabinet.[38]
As Minister of Local Government, McAnulty announced a major overhaul of the Government's Three Waters reform programme, which was renamed the Water Services Reform Programme. The proposed four water services entities were expanded into ten entities but will retain the same split co-governance structure consisting of representatives of local councils and mana whenua representatives.[41] He defended the retention of the Government's water infrastructure programme, stating that simply ditching it would be "dumping our duty." McAnulty also defended the programme's co-governance element, stating that Māori people have a special interest in water that has been established by the Treaty of Waitangi and the court system.[42][43] He defended accusations that the co-governance element is "anti-democratic" by saying that "in each democratic system, there are specific factors that are unique to each country."[44]Newsroom reported that McAnulty received praise "for 'cutting to the chase' and explaining in simple terms that the reforms are first and foremost about cost savings."[45] He received the report of the Future for Local Government review established by his predecessor, but declined to commit to its recommendations before the 2023 general election.[46]
McAnulty, despite his Catholic faith, is in favour of legalised same-sex marriage[9] and more open abortion laws. He stated in Parliament when debating the Abortion Legislation Bill: "I was raised that my religious views are mine only. So I will not use my vote today to impose any particular view that I may have to prevent the choice of a woman to make on her own body."[55]
McAnulty is in favour of decriminalising cannabis, and has admitted to smoking cannabis twice.[56][57] He voted "yes" in both the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum and the 2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum.[8] Regarding the conflict between his Catholic religion and support for euthanasia, he said: "Not everyone believes in God. And as long as we have a structure in place that allows people to pursue their own personal beliefs, then how dare they impose their views on others?"[8]
