David Parker (New Zealand politician)
The Honourable David Parker MP | |
|---|---|
 Parker in 2020 | |
| 31st Attorney-General of New Zealand | |
Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 26 October 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Chris Finlayson |
| In office 19 October 2005 – 20 March 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Helen Clark |
| Preceded by | Michael Cullen |
| Succeeded by | Michael Cullen |
| 16th Minister for the Environment | |
Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 26 October 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Nick Smith |
| 12th Minister for Trade and Export Growth | |
| In office 26 October 2017 – 6 November 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Todd McClay |
| Succeeded by | Damien O'Connor |
| 7th Minister for Economic Development | |
| In office 26 October 2017 – 27 June 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Simon Bridges |
| Succeeded by | Phil Twyford |
| Deputy Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 15 September 2013 – 30 September 2014 | |
| Leader | David Cunliffe |
| Preceded by | Grant Robertson |
| Succeeded by | Annette King |
| 16th Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party | |
| In office 15 September 2013 – 30 September 2014 | |
| Leader | David Cunliffe |
| Preceded by | Grant Robertson |
| Succeeded by | Annette King |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour Party list | |
Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 17 September 2005 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Otago | |
| In office 27 July 2002 – 17 September 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Gavan Herlihy |
| Succeeded by | Jacqui Dean |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1960 (age 60–61) Roxburgh, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Children | 3[1] |
| Alma mater | University of Otago |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Website | davidparker |
David William Parker (born 1960) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Finance in the Sixth Labour Government. He previously served as a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government and as interim Leader of the Labour Party from September to November 2014. He represented the Otago electorate at the 47th Parliament and has since served as a list MP.
Before politics[]
David Parker was born in Roxburgh and grew up in Dunedin. He attended the University of Otago, studying law and business, and co-founded the Dunedin Community Law Centre.[2]
Before entering politics, Parker worked as a litigation partner in the law firm Anderson Lloyd Caudwell. He later had a business career in the agri-biotechnology field, including with Blis Technologies, where he was a manager.[3][4]
Member of Parliament[]
| New Zealand Parliament | ||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party |
| 2002–2005 | 47th | Otago | 47 | Labour |
| 2005–2008 | 48th | List | 37 | Labour |
| 2008–2011 | 49th | List | 17 | Labour |
| 2011–2014 | 50th | List | 4 | Labour |
| 2014–2017 | 51st | List | 2 | Labour |
| 2017–2020 | 52nd | List | 10 | Labour |
| 2020–present | 53rd | List | 9 | Labour |
Parker first gained election to Parliament as a Labour member in the 2002 election, winning an upset victory over National's Gavan Herlihy in the Otago seat. In the 2005 election, the National candidate Jacqui Dean defeated him in his Otago electorate seat, but he returned to the House due to his position on the Labour list. In the 2008 general election Parker and Dean both stood in the resurrected Waitaki electorate, with Dean winning by over 11,000 votes.[5] Nevertheless, due to his list position he was still returned to parliament. In the 2011 election, Parker stood in the Epsom electorate, where he came third behind ACT New Zealand's John Banks and National's Paul Goldsmith, but was again returned as a list MP.[6] In the 2014 election, Parker did not contest an electorate, but was number two on the Labour list.[7]
Fifth Labour Government[]
During the Fifth Labour Government, Parker served as Attorney-General and Minister of Transport and Energy from 2005 until March 2006. He resigned his position as Attorney-General on 20 March 2006 after an allegation that he had filed an incorrect declaration with the Companies Office on behalf of the property company Queens Park Mews Limited. On 21 March Parker also resigned his place in Cabinet as Minister of Energy, Minister of Transport, and Minister Responsible for Climate Change Issues.[8] An inquiry by the Companies Office cleared him of the charge of filing false returns.[9]
Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, re-appointed Parker to the Energy and Climate Change portfolios and to the Land Information portfolio on 2 May 2006. (The Attorney-General portfolio remained with Michael Cullen, and Annette King took over Parker's former Transport portfolio.)
In July 2007 Clark appointed Parker as the acting Minister for the Environment following the resignation of David Benson-Pope.[10]
Opposition[]
Following Labour's defeat in the 2008 general election, Parker became the Opposition spokesperson on Conservation, ACC and Shadow Attorney-General. On 15 June 2010, Opposition Leader Phil Goff appointed Parker to be Portfolio Spokesperson for Economic Development, a position formerly held by Shane Jones, and shifted the portfolio of Conservation to Chris Carter.
Parker ran for the party leadership in 2011, but withdrew part-way through the contest to support David Shearer's bid.
Parker then became the Labour spokesperson for Finance and the shadow Attorney-General (from February 2013).
From 17 September 2013, Parker was the deputy leader of the Labour Party. He retained his finance portfolio.
Following the poor performance of the Labour Party in the 2014 general election, and the eventual resignation of David Cunliffe as leader, Parker was appointed interim leader of the Labour Party. He then unsuccessfully ran in the 2014 Labour Party leadership election and he came third in the leadership election behind Andrew Little and Grant Robertson.[11] Little offered for Parker to continue as finance spokesperson, but Parker declined.[12] Instead, Parker was assigned a range of portfolios including shadow attorney-general and spokesperson for trade and export growth, the environment and, after the resignations of former leaders Goff and Shearer, foreign affairs.
Sixth Labour Government[]
During the 2017 general election, Parker was re-elected on the Labour Party list.[13] Following the formation of the Labour-led coalition government, he was sworn in as Attorney-General, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for the Environment, and Minister for Trade and Export Growth. He also became Associate Minister of Finance.[14]
In a June 2019 reshuffle, the economic development portfolio was reassigned to Phil Twyford. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this was so that Parker could focus more on water quality and trade negotiations with the European Union and United Kingdom.[15]
As Environment Minister, Parker has launched a "comprehensive overhaul" of the Resource Management Act 1991.[16]
During the 2020 general election, Parker was re-elected on the Labour Party list.[17] On 2 November, he was appointed as Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Finance.[18]
References[]
- ^ Small, Vernon (2 April 2011). "David Parker: MP who could be Labour's king". Stuff. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ "Candidate profile:David Parker". 3 News. 4 October 2011. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ "About". Archived from the original on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ "Hon David Parker". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ Waitaki results 2008. Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Official Count Results – Epsom". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
- ^ "Labour List for the 2014 Election Announced" (Press release). New Zealand Labour Party. Scoop. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ "Parker quits all Cabinet posts". The New Zealand Herald. 21 March 2006.
- ^ Audrey Young (27 April 2006). "Parker heads back into the Cabinet". The New Zealand Herald.
- ^ Rt. Hon Helen Clark, 27 July 2007, Acting Ministers in portfolios[permanent dead link], New Zealand Government Press Release, retrieved 25 November 2007.
- ^ Small, Vernon; Gulliver, Aimee (18 November 2014). "Andrew Little new Labour Party leader – by a whisker". Stuff. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
- ^ Young, Audrey (3 November 2017). "Grant Robertson: Finance Minister more than Dr No". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "2017 General Election - Official Result Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
- ^ "Ministerial List". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
- ^ "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Cabinet reshuffle - the ups and downs". Stuff. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Walls, Jason (24 July 2019). "Government wants to put a firmer focus on climate change when it shakes up the RMA". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ "2020 General Election and Referendums - Official Result Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ "Ministerial List for Announcement on Monday" (PDF). Beehive.govt.nz. New Zealand Government. 2 November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
External links[]
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- 1960 births
- Living people
- Attorneys-General of New Zealand
- New Zealand Labour Party MPs
- Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
- New Zealand lawyers
- New Zealand list MPs
- People from Roxburgh, New Zealand
- Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
- New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates
- University of Otago alumni
- 21st-century New Zealand politicians
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