The Labour MP accused of bullying has finally broken his silence - although not by choice.
Newshub attended a debate Shanan Halbert was at in Auckland's Northcote. But a search for an interview ended up with a kerfuffle outside a bakehouse.
It's been five days since Newshub revealed allegations of bullying and intimidation made against Halbert.
"I haven't received any complaints at this stage," he told Newshub on Monday night.
But Labour has - and so has Newshub. Multiple former staffers - whose identities we'll protect - call him a bully.
He denies he is a bully.
Several former staffers told Newshub he was "manipulative", "scheming", "a narcissist" and that they live in fear of him, adding they felt intimidated, belittled, and unsafe.
After the North Shore Pasefika Forum, Newshub wanted to speak with Halbert about the allegations - but he saw us and walked back inside.
Instead, one of his supporters approached us.
"Why are you getting sucked into a malicious gossip thing?" the man asked.
The lights then went out and the doors started closing, raising the question of whether Halbert had gone out a back door.
So Newshub tried the other exit. Just when we thought he'd evaded us, Halbert turned up.
Earlier this year, Halbert said, "there's no place for that sort of behaviour for threatening behaviour or intimidation in Parliament".
He said he stood by that on Monday.
Halbert made that comment in September after National MP Tim van de Molen was censured for intimidating and bullying Halbert.
While we were questioning Halbert about the allegations against him - things took a turn.
"Can we stop for a minute?" he asked.
Turning around, we could see National's Northcote campaign manager Alex Foan filming our interview and being confronted by a Labour supporter called Hillary.
Foan asked: "Are you touching me?"
Hillary replied, "Yes I am."
Halbert then asked Hillary to "step back" and for Foan to "have some respect".
Foan said he was in a public place.
A National spokesperson told Newshub: "It was an over enthusiastic volunteer who got caught up in the moment. He has been spoken to and we’ve been assured it won’t happen again."
Van de Molen just wants to stay out of it.
Asked if Halbert needed to apologise, van de Molen said: "I'm just focussed on what matters here in the Waikato."
Newshub asked Labour leader Chris Hipkins if things were getting a bit intense in Northcote.
"Look, I haven't seen any evidence of that. Obviously, I can't account for every action of members of the public in an election campaign."
A search for answers ended up being a blowup outside the Beach Haven Bakehouse.
