David was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity and the Minister of Forestry following the 2008 General Election. He also holds the Acting Minister for Economic Development portfolio.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1994 as the MP for the rural electorate of Selwyn. In the 1996 General Election, he won the Banks Peninsula electorate. In 1999 he became a list member based in Canterbury with specific responsibility for the Banks Peninsula electorate.

David was the Junior Government Whip in 1996, before being promoted to a Minister outside Cabinet in 1998. Ministerial responsibilities included Minister for Senior Citizens, Associate Minister for Food Fibre, Biosecurity and Border Control, Associate Minister for Revenue, and Associate Minister for Education. From 1999 he was the National Party spokesman for Finance, Housing, and Tourism. In 2002 he was made the spokesman for Agriculture, and Chaired the Primary Production Select Committee.

David was born in 1952, and attended St Bede's College in Christchurch. He is one of six current Members of Parliament who attended St Bede's College.

He completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree at Lincoln University before embarking on a farming and business career.

By 1974 he had established New Zealand's first commercial cattle embryo transplant company, and was instrumental in seeing cattle breeds such as Simmental, Charolais and Limousin established in both New Zealand and Australia.

During the 1980's he continued his involvement in the agriculture sector, establishing the Avon Park Simmental Stud and serving as the President of the Simmental Cattle Breeders' Society of New Zealand.

David currently farms a 2,500 stock unit farm on Banks Peninsula and owns a 7,500 stock unit farm at Cheviot, North Canterbury.

Top 5 Issues

1. Building a stronger economy
   • Balance the books sooner.
   • Borrow less so we can have lower interest rates for longer.
   • Keep personal taxes lower to encourage hard work.
   • Make New Zealand more competitive so our exporters can sell more overseas and create more real jobs.
   • Encourage savings and investments.
   • Use the mixed-Ownership model to fund infrastructure to help us grow faster.
   • Invest in skills training and tertiary education that gets results.
   
2. Building world-class infrastructure
   • Ultra-fast broadband for greater innovation.
   • More, and better, roads to ease congestion.
   • Investing in more rail and public transport.
   
3. Building a safer New Zealand
   • Staying strong on crime – tougher sentencing, stronger bail laws, and a focus on victims.
   • Keep working to lower the crime rate further so our families are safer.
   • Making our roads safer, so we can keep the road toll lower.
   
4. Rebuilding Christchurch
   • $5.5 billion recovery fund
   • Re-establishing essential infrastructure
   • More construction-related training
   
5. Building better public services
   • Better Schools – identifying and helping children falling behind, school reports in plain English.
   • World-class healthcare –more doctors and nurses, more operations, shorter waiting times.
   • Effective welfare- more people back into work, more incentives to work, payment cards for teens on benefits.
   

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