Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Labour stalwart and former Cabinet Minister David Parker resigns from Parliament
Long-serving Labour MP David Parker has announced he will step down from Parliament in May.
Parker, who has been an MP since 2002, twice held the role of Attorney General, from 2005-2006, and from 2017-2023.
He also held the Trade, Revenue, Economic Development, Associate Finance, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, State Services, Transport and Land Information ministerial portfolios.
In a statement, he said he had served in his roles “to the best of my ability.”
In his first stint as environment minister he legislated the Emissions Trading Scheme, and in his second spearheaded the overhaul of the Resource Management Act (the latter was repealed by the current government).
As trade minister, Parker signed New Zealand up to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and ratified the PACER Plus agreement.
He resigned from his revenue portfolio ahead of the 2023 election, due to Labour ruling out a wealth tax policy.
First elected in 2002, after winning the Otago seat, Parker has been a list MP since 2005.
He was also Labour’s Deputy Leader from 2013-2014, under David Cunliffe, and later ran to replace Cunliffe as leader but came third behind Andrew Little and Grant Robertson.
He currently serves as Labour’s spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, and as Shadow Attorney General.
Parker said he left “enthusiastic for New Zealand and for the New Zealand Labour Party,” and thanked his colleagues and wished them well.
“I was a serial entrepreneur before coming to Parliament and have been an agent for change while here. I will return to the private sector and continue building a prosperous and egalitarian nation,” Parker said.
He intended to deliver his valedictory speech in early May, subject to confirmation from the Business Committee.
This is terrible, terrible, terrible news for Labour.
David Parker is one of the smartest Labour Politicians there has ever been.
His intellect, his brain, his ability to read vast swathes of everything and his ethical morality when it came to standing up for Egalitarianism will be deeply missed.
There has been a brutal ideological knife fight in the shadows as David pushed to get a wealth tax on the policy agenda. Chippy has done EVERYTHING to kill that Wealth tax.
David’s departure means the Wealth Tax has been taken out the back, shot and made into sausage rolls.
David’s departure speaks volumes of how little Labour are going to promise going in to the next election.
David leaving means Labour will not be our saviour at the next election and the Greens and Māori Party are going to have to do the heavy policy lifting because Labour will offer us the same dismal meaningless nothings they offered us when they said they would take GST off our fresh fruit and vegetables.
The one saving grace Labour could extend David right now is offer him a run for the Auckland mayoralty. With the Boomer King and his deputy likely to fight for the top job and split the vote, David Parker could run in Auckland.
If Andrew Little takes Wellington Mayoralty and David Parker takes Auckland, Labour has a chance of building for the next election.
David is a mate, he was at my 50th Birthday, his loss to the Left is enormous. Many respects comrade, run for the Auckland Mayoralty.
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I doubt he will bother to stand for mayor of Auckland because it is the jaffas that sent him to the other side of the house at the last election .Why would he waste his time trying to make their lives better when he can just get on with his own for a change .
The last decent person from any party in parliament is about to leave the building .Clearly he knows he is wasting his time and it is better to get on and do something for himself instead of trying to make things more equal for all of NZ .He is fighting against the tide of self centered greed driven voters whom only give a toss about them selves .
The boomer haters who think they should have all the trimmings of life yesterday.Yes some boomers have done well and own the family home ,but when they were buying that family home they had on car in the driveway ,no jetskis,trail bikes ,4×4 utes and the like .that is the difference .
The guy who wanted to give a tax cut to the poorest workers and beneficiaries, no tax on the first $10,000 of earnings, leaves the party. Even the right in Australia support no tax on the first $20,000.
Hipkins no policy, stand for nothing, flotsam floating around in the tide, waiting for a turn.
You said it. This news is another score for the right in Labour. Now all we need is Willy, who should be leader by all metrics, to leave. He is the last man standing.
Sad development that was likely bought on by Chippy’s latest Captain’s call. Hipkins spring loaded approval of $12 billion for arms and military before any LP discussions, would have been it for Parker after his own previous doing over on Wealth Tax.
David has a more nuanced take on international affairs and geo politics than anyone else in NZ Labour’s Caucus.
So it is back to vote Labour ‘cause we are not Nashnull…
Wont matter much Labour will not govern with someone called Chippy as the leader…….who else is there?
We will see, a wealth tax was not very popular in Aotearoa/NZ too many people moaned and said it was an envy tax. Probably better to have a capital gains tax to discourage people buying up multiple properties and using this to make money at the expense of others. Also, Labour will need to get rid of Acts policies hurting low-income peoples, reinstate the living wage for starters, get rid of the 90-day policy and these can be done with haste. And they will need to go through all of the new COC legislation, compile a list like the bald one did and go through it and get rid of what is not working or has the opposite effect to what it is trying to achieve.
The 12 billion dollars we are going to spend on war tools needs to be examined closely, is it really in our best interest or are we doing this to appease Trump and his cronies. I say this because our defence ministers language has been war like, provocative and undiplomatic. The COC who claimed to be a ‘yes’ government and our finance minister has stated, we do not have a money tree, yet she has managed to find 9 billion new dollars. In the meantime, our assets are being sold, and the privatisation agenda has been rolled out to sell public services, yet we were promised by the bald one during the election this would not happen. I can understand why so many NZers are so grumpy, and we have become a very divided country and why so much talent is leaving.
We need both taxes and a financial transactions tax and then do away with GST
Another beige leftist change agent.
He didnt even know what change is needed, much less push to get it.
Labour have been a party of doorstoppers for 40 years. They dead.
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