Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Belgrade. Shearer left the United Nations to work as an adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Phil Goff for two years. In 2002 Shearer returned to the United Nations, serving as a Senior Adviser to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. In February 2003 Shearer was appointed head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem. During the conflict in Lebanon in 2006 he served as the Humanitarian Coordinator organising assistance for civilians caught up in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. In 2007 Shearer was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Deputy Special Representative (Humanitarian, Reconstruction and Development) for Iraq. While in Iraq, Shearer also served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the Humanitarian Coordinator. In this role he was responsible for managing over $2 billion in aid for developmental projects for 16 different UN agencies. In March 2013 Shearer admitted he had not declared a US-based bank account in which he received his salary from the UN, saying he had simply forgotten about it. Member of Parliament, 2009–2016 Before his election as a Member of Parliament Shearer had twice previously stood for the Labour party: in 1999 he stood as a list-only candidate and in 2002 he unsuccessfully contested the Whangārei electorate. In May 2009 he returned to New Zealand and won the Labour Party nomination for Mount Albert against seven other candidates. He then won the 2009 Mt Albert by-election on 13 June 2009 with 13,260 votes, a majority of 9,718 over National's Melissa Lee. Shearer extended his majority over Lee to 10,021 in the 2011 general election. In the 2014 general election, Shearer further extended his majority over Lee to 10,656. Labour Party leadership election, 2011 In December 2011, following the resignation of Phil Goff, Shearer contested for leadership of the Labour Party. His opponents were David Cunliffe and David Parker. Shearer was viewed as unlikely to win the election; Claire Trevett of The New Zealand Herald originally expected that only Cunliffe and Parker would run for the leader's role, and The Dominion Post Vernon Small wrote that "Mr Shearer's bid is seen as a way to lift his profile". On 9 December, Horizon Research released a demographically weighted survey which found that 35.4% of adult New Zealanders supported Shearer's bid for the leadership,