The title of this recording is "Shanan Halbert - Rainbow Politicians". It is described as: Shanan Halbert from the Labour Party talks about being a Member of Parliament. It was recorded in Parliament buildings, 1 Molesworth Street, Wellington on the 22nd November 2022. Shanan Halbert is being interviewed by Regis Perez.  Their names are spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 18 minutes. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. A brief description of the recording is: In this podcast Shanan Halbert from the Labour Party talks to Regis Perez about what it's like to be a Member of Parliament. The content in the recording covers the decades 1990s through to the 2020s. A brief summary of the recording is: In an insightful podcast held at Parliament buildings in Wellington, Shanan Halbert from the Labour Party speaks with Regis Perez about the unique experiences and challenges of being a Member of Parliament. During the conversation, which spans the political landscape from the 1990s to the 2020s, Halbert reflects on their personal journey from Hawke's Bay to Auckland for university education - the first in their family to do so - and the desire to ensure similar opportunities for others. The first year in Parliament is described as an emotional rollercoaster for Halbert, who not only had to learn the ins and outs of their role while being part of a large influx of MPs under Jacinda Ardern's leadership in 2020 but also coped with the grief of losing a parent on the election day. Despite the tense adjustment period and moments of self-doubt akin to imposter syndrome, Halbert emphasizes the value of seizing opportunities and the support received from teammates and ministers. The conversation touches on the pride and challenges of belonging to a government with one of the highest representations of queer political figures globally. Responsibilities included leading the Rainbow Caucus and navigating the concerns about representing the community adequately. Highlighting key legislative work, Halbert recounts the journey of contributing to the Labour Party's manifesto and being instrumental in progressing the conversion practices prohibition legislation through Parliament - a proud moment that was also marred by the stark reality of political maneuvers impacting marginalized groups. Looking to the future, Halbert advocates for continued progress for Takatapui and the broader rainbow community, recognizing the need for patience in achieving reform. The importance of a Labour-led government is underscored in making significant strides for the community’s rights, including marriage equality and legal recognition of identity on passports and birth certificates. The conversation acknowledges that true advancement requires both advocacy for human rights protections and addressing other vulnerabilities and inequalities faced by rainbow communities, especially around education, housing, and healthcare. A vision for inter-agency cooperation is shared by Halbert, preferring integrated approaches across government departments over establishing a singular Rainbow Ministry - seeking a holistic advancement of outcomes for the rainbow community. Halbert eloquently sums up the ongoing role of queer politicians in representing and backing the community, while also inviting them to love and support their representatives, maintaining mutual encouragement and unity. When discussing personal heroes, Halbert names influential figures like Georgina Beyer, Louisa Wall, and Grant Robertson as sources of strength and inspiration, applauding their trailblazing contributions to the community. Reflecting on their own journey of self-discovery, Halbert reveals a 24-year-old coming-out experience, emphasizing the diverse timelines with which individuals embrace their identities, with love being the central facet of life. Finally, Halbert reiterates education as a key tool in battling inequality, stressing the significance of early support for young people to be comfortable with their identity. A prosperous life, by Halbert's definition, encompasses self-love, mental health, and satisfaction, rather than just financial success. The session ends with Halbert encouraging queer individuals to acknowledge progress and the complexities of enacting change within the political system, assuring them of the continual support from all rainbow Members of Parliament. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  I grew up in the Hawke's Bay and, uh, I guess my sense of leadership came through, uh, the school that I went to, uh, and the leadership opportunities that they gave me. I was very, very lucky. Uh, I, uh, moved from Hawke's Bay up to Auckland to study at university and studied education. And I knew from that time, really, that the transition for me from... a small regional town to Big Tāmaki [00:00:30] Makaurau, Auckland, uh, and to go and study. I wanted to ensure that, I guess, uh, everyone else that followed me had that same opportunity. I saw how it changed my life. I was the first in my whānau to go to university, um, to go and live in the big city, and, you know, that's, that's set a pathway for me. For a very exciting, a very productive, and in many ways a very meaningful, um, [00:01:00] life and career. Um, how has your overall experience been working here? The first year was really tough. Uh, learning the ropes, I think. Understanding the environment, um, both within your own caucus. I came in as part of class of 2020. Which meant we had 65 MPs come in under Jacinda Ardern's leadership in the 2020 election. Uh, as a new person you don't [00:01:30] want to put a foot wrong and so you're nervous and conscious of that at the same time. Uh, the day I was elected, um, sadly my dad passed. And that was quite a bittersweet moment to, um, to achieve something that he wanted me to achieve, but also to lose my best friend on the same day. So, my first year in Parliament was really a mix of emotions, um, trying to do the best thing, trying to manage, um, the grief that, [00:02:00] and the dynamics that come with the loss of a loved one and a family. Um. But learning the ropes, I guess in this place you have to take every opportunity that's put in front of you. Sometimes you, you know, you think that you're, um, not quite up to it or you suffer from imposter syndrome. You, you suffer from that syndrome quite a lot. Um, but the moment that you just allow yourself to step into the role, see how it goes, do your best. Um, but [00:02:30] I've got an incredibly supportive team. Um, of ministers and caucus members, um, who I work with. Awesome. Um, being in a government with the most queer political figures in the world, which I think is pretty cool, um, how does it feel to be among one of them? Well, this was one of my imposter syndrome moments, you know, um, was I Gay enough. Did I know enough about the sector? Was I the right person to lead our [00:03:00] queerest rainbow caucus that this parliament's ever seen? But these jobs choose you in a funny way and you've got to um, take on that leadership role. So, to be that person to chair our Rainbow Caucus, um, you know, people before me, Tamati Coffey, Louisa Wall, you know, significant leaders in the rainbow space. My first bill, uh, was on conversion practices. Um, that was a really tough [00:03:30] one but, you know, something that we all really believed in. I'd followed that piece of work before my parliamentary time, um, when Young Labour and Young Greens presented the petition to Parliament to my colleague Maia Lubeck. I contributed to the Labour Party's manifesto to ensure that Labour had a commitment to banning conversion practices. And then to come in and see it as one of the first pieces of legislation that I was able to shepherd through the house, that [00:04:00] was, that was pretty special. But there was a confronting moment in this place where I really saw, uh, the downside of politics, where the most marginal people. were hung out to dry, effectively, for the sake of politics, and I found that quite sad. The fact in that, that, uh, we used, um, hormone blockers as the, uh, puberty blockers as the reason why we would, we wouldn't ban [00:04:30] conversion practice just didn't make sense to me, and maybe I've lived, you know, in a, in a world that's naive to some of the challenges. Um, that are in front of our rainbow communities, but, you know, that really brought it to the forefront. But I'm really proud at the same time that our members, alongside our cousins, the Greens, you know, that we really challenged, um, uh, a lot of those confronting views that came through. Religious [00:05:00] views that have been around for generations, but don't fit well in our modern world. Um, and it was important for me in particular to ensure that every... child every rangatahi that grows up, you know, has a great sense of identity of who they are, whether that be as Māori like me, as, you know, a gay man like me, um, or as non binary or trans, you know, that we now live in a modern world where people get to beautifully be who They are [00:05:30] and love who they love. So, you know, I'm really happy to and staunchly stand by that. Um, what's your future vision for Takatapui people of Aotearoa? Or where you wanna, you know, see, see us all in, let's say, 20, 30 years? I think the, I think the next few years, um, We could go on two paths, and I think this is where, um, the next election, [00:06:00] um, really sits in front of, um, our rainbow communities and asks the question, what governments achieve outcomes for our rainbow communities? And I'm certainly clear that a Labour led government, um, does achieve that. You know, when we look at marriage equality, when we look at conversion practices, when we look at ensuring that our trans community [00:06:30] can be recognised for who they are on their passport and birth certificate, that is a Labour government that achieves that for our communities. Sometimes that can be a crossroads with our community. wanting outcomes immediately, because they have waited for so long. And, um, what we can achieve here in Parliament is progressive steps, but it's very rarely that things come [00:07:00] all at once. Um, and so that requires patience, both on our side as politicians, patience from our rainbow communities. Um, but also, you know, recognition to know that we are behind our rainbow whānau. We've always been behind our rainbow whānau. Um, but the, the steps of progress are important. And I point to our government's achievements. Not only in this past five [00:07:30] years, but under previous leadership, like Helen Clark's leadership. Um, but we have to be quite frank and real about the prospects of 2023. Um, and that a, um, centre right government would really take us backwards on protecting the rights of our rainbow communities. And in fact, the progress. that we are making, um, and have made over the past five years. There's two parts to our rainbow [00:08:00] agenda, I think, at the moment. One is around, um, the core human rights functions, ensuring that non binary and trans, LGBTIQ communities are recognised equally under the law. It's everywhere that needs reform in order to do that. Um, the best way to achieve that is aligning it with existing programs of work to ensure that, um, that that progress is being made. [00:08:30] And then the other part, for me, is ensuring that given the vulnerability of our rainbow communities, who also happen to be Maori and Pacific communities, who also tend to be young people, that they have, um, the best opportunities in education, warm, dry housing, um, for them and their, their families to live in, uh, that they have access to proper healthcare and that they are recognized within the healthcare [00:09:00] system for who they are. And we can't lose sight of those core fundamentals for rainbow people. And that's, that's the, the additional program of work where a rainbow agenda doesn't sit. Um, independently, you know, from every other agency, my goal is to influence every government agency to ensure that they are achieving outcomes for our rainbow people and rainbow young people. And what we need to look [00:09:30] to, of course, is the way that we organize ourselves in this parliament to achieve it. That, um, people have talked about a rainbow ministry. I think that's one model of how we might get progress. But I also think that we should look into other structures, other ways, of how we, um, bring resources together. How we share expertise and knowledge across agencies, whether that be, um, with, um, [00:10:00] our new health reforms, whether that be in education with the Ministry of Education, in tertiary education, so on and so forth. How do you bring that all together and coordinate it into more meaningful outcomes for rainbow communities? That's our challenge. And I worry that if we, um, went into a ministry independently on its own, That we would miss opportunities that potentially sit in other organisations. So that's a piece of [00:10:30] work that I'm really interested in progressing. What can queer people do to, uh, support queer politicians? I think it's important for our queer communities to know that we are here and, um, We've been a part of their journey and we will always, always back them. The ability to achieve that in this place can take different pathways. And so [00:11:00] sometimes, you know, and I talked about patience before, um, is that I understand why our... Our kui community wants everything now. We've waited so long. Um, but it's important that we acknowledge that progress can come in steps. Um, that it does need to work as a part of this machine, be achieved within this machine. Um, but that confidence that all Rainbow MPs, no matter [00:11:30] which Rainbow MP, have their backs, their interests. And most of all, we are better represented in this place than we have ever been in, in this Parliament. Um, and I also say to our queer community, love us and support us at the same time. Remind us of what's important. Um, but like family, family sticks together. Thank you. [00:12:00] Do you have any gay heroes or queer heroes? Say as many as you want. I've got, I've got a few and it's the first time I probably would acknowledge them as heroes. Um, Georgina Beyer sticks out in my mind because she, um, was one of my first poli uh, experiences of the political system. I wasn't even out then when I met Georgina, but I was so proud of, [00:12:30] um, of what she had achieved as a, as an MP and one of the moments that stands out for me is when she was standing at the front of our parliament when Destiny Church. Um, was challenging their marriage equality and they were saying enough's enough. And here she was giving them a massive serve at the front and I'm really grateful um, for, for being able to watch that experience because that makes us stronger. And so these people have really carved the [00:13:00] pathway for, for people like me and those of us that are in Parliament now. Louisa Wall of course who's been, you know, a long time colleague in the Labour Party. Um, for the work that she's done, again in marriage equality, but, but being a disruptor within the system to, to make ourselves ask the questions of, you know, are we doing the best that we possibly, um, can be doing for our queer communities. Um, and, and these are all [00:13:30] political ones. I look up to Grant Robertson, you know, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, you know, um, very proud to have a husband and mokopuna and, you know, um, just a warm, loving man, um, who stands up for our people and our communities all the time. All the time. Awesome. Um, can I ask how your own personal coming to your own [00:14:00] self identity went for you growing up? Yeah. Mine took a little bit longer than some may think. And it's interesting when you meet people at, you know, this side of your life, and they, they assume you've, you've always been out, or always been gay. The truth is I didn't come out until I was 24, and that wasn't a resistance on, on, on my behalf. I don't think, anyway, at the time. I, I've always had [00:14:30] a strong sense of identity of who I, who I am. But, I guess when I... Started to get into my 20s, I had greater awareness of, um, of, of attraction and, um, at some point you follow that through or in the circumstances and realise that that's, that's where you fit and you explore that more and that, that for me happened in my 20s. [00:15:00] At the same time, I have friends that go back to our school days and, you know, they knew back then before I knew. Um, and so, you know, that all comes together. But, I don't think that there's a rush for people to truly understand who they are. I think that's a journey. Um, for me it was the right time. I always had a lot of support from my whānau, um, and still do today. And, uh, 13 years on, being with my [00:15:30] partner, you know, um, I love him, and we've built a wonderful life together where both of us get to work for our Māori and our rainbow communities. Um, for me it's in politics, and for him it's in health. Um, but, you know, the more support that we can give to young people, um, just to total call them over that time of discovery that you don't need to. Um, box yourself into being this, that or the [00:16:00] other. Into being LGBTIQ Um, identity is fluid. And that can reflect different parts of our life and that's okay. What's most important is knowing that love is love. And however that happens and whoever that happens with. You know, that's the beautiful thing of life. Yeah, I agree with that, yeah. Do you have a sort of, your own personal approach to, uh, battle or combat inequality in any sort of area? [00:16:30] I always come back to education as being critical in, in achieving, um, uh, equality and addressing inequality. And, um, particularly for our rainbow community. Um, I spoke about the importance of education, housing and health. They're core fundamentals for anyone in this country to lead a successful and [00:17:00] comfortable life. Um, we do need to, however, um, ensure that legislation That we put in, like the health reforms, is reflective of rainbow communities. Um, that it also reflects who they are in different other parts of their life. Whether that be, um, ethnically, or socio economically, or... Um, where they live across New Zealand, who they interact with. [00:17:30] Um, my focus will always be on young people. And the more we can focus on our earlier years, um, supporting our, our children and young people to grow up as strong individuals, clearly knowing their identity, and feeling comfortable with them. Um, I think that goes a long way when we, um, assist them through some of the battles [00:18:00] that they naturally face in life. Um, but with good education, with good health care, and a really nice, comfortable, warm place for them to live and grow their own family. Those are the, the things that lead to a structured, stable life, and with that comes prosperity and happiness. And prosperity for me isn't about how much you earn. [00:18:30] Prosperity is how much you love yourself, how much you love others. Where your mental health is at, your satisfaction and work. And all of those sorts of things. So there's so many measures on, on what a good life looks like. The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 1990s ; 2000s ; 2010s ; 2020s ; Aotearoa New Zealand ; Auckland ; Destiny Church ; Georgina Beyer ; Grant Robertson ; Hawkes Bay ; Louisa Wall ; Marriage Equality ; Member of Parliament ; Ministry of Education ; New Zealand Labour Party ; Pacific ; People ; Queer Politicians ; Regis Perez ; Shanan Halbert ; Space ; Wellington ; access ; agenda ; attraction ; binary ; birth certificate ; career ; children ; church ; class ; community ; confidence ; conversion practices ; discovery ; education ; election ; environment ; equality ; face ; family ; friends ; future ; gay ; government ; grief ; growing up ; happiness ; health ; health care ; hormone blockers ; housing ; human rights ; identity ; inequality ; journey ; knowledge ; law ; leadership ; legislation ; loss ; love ; love yourself ; marriage ; mental health ; mokopuna ; opportunity ; other ; passport ; patience ; petition ; politics ; puberty ; puberty blockers ; queer ; rainbow ; rangatahi ; recognition ; resistance ; sad ; school ; study ; support ; takatāpui ; tertiary education ; time ; tough ; trans ; transition ; truth ; understanding ; university ; vulnerability ; whānau ; work. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/rainbow_politicians_shanan_halbert.html. The master recording is also archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand.  For more details visit their website https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.1093090. Shanan Halbert also features audibly in the following recordings: "Parliament: first reading of the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill", "Announcement of the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill", "Grant Robertson and co", "Pride Hīkoi speeches (2024)", "40 Years Since Homosexual Law Reform" and "Wellington Pride Parade 2025". Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.