David Parker to bid farewell: Calls for Pacific Peace Zone

The Labour Party proposes establishing a Pacific Peace Zone should they return to power.

That’s the message from outgoing Labour Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson David Parker as he prepares to end a 23-year parliamentary career.

Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Parker says the Pacific's demilitarisation and isolation are significant advantages, especially in an era when global superpowers are vying for influence and positioning in the region.

“Our greatest attribute in the Pacific for New Zealand and all of the countries of the Pacific is that we are demilitarised, and we are isolated.

“It has lots of disadvantages, but it has advantages when it comes to protecting your own culture from too much change from a foreign power.

Parker says the Labour Party is advocating for a Pacific Peace Zone, which would serve as a framework for dialogue with Pacific countries and superpowers to prevent the region’s militarisation.

“It also requires us to be more generous in assisting the Pacific countries to succeed economically,” he says.

More aid for Pacific

As the United States withdraws many aid programmes in the Pacific, Parker says New Zealand must increase its support of Pacific countries in health, education, banking and internet services.

He says it’s important to help Pacific countries maximise the value of their fisheries.

MP David Parker says support for Pacific fisheries is important. Photo/Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency

“Helping the Pacific countries get the labour content so that they get some fish processing income as well, rather than those jobs being exported and that income not going back to the Pacific countries,” he says.

Fiji's Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, is also advocating for the Pacific to become an "ocean of peace" amid rising tensions between the United States and China and the challenges posed by climate change.

Rabuka’s proposal, rooted in Pacific values, aims to address conflicts in regions like Papua New Guinea, West Papua, and New Caledonia, promoting peace as a global good that Pacific nations can informally and voluntarily adopt.

​Labour leadership

Parker was born in Roxburgh and grew up in Dunedin. He attended Otago Boys' High School and later studied law and business at Otago University.

He was first elected to Parliament for Labour in 2002, in an upset win that saw him take the Otago electorate, which was then considered a marginal seat.

David Parker was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party between September 2013 and September 2014. Photo/Facebook

After losing the Otago electorate in 2005, he continued as a list MP and unsuccessfully contested the Epsom electorate in 2011 and 2014.

During his career, he served as Attorney General and Minister of Trade, Revenue, Economic Development, Associate Finance, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, State Services, Transport, and Land Information.

He was Labour deputy leader for one year from September 2013, under David Cunliffe’s tenure as Opposition leader, and briefly acted as leader before Andrew Little took over in 2014.

Parker says he’s worked with many “fantastic leaders” in the Labour Party, and there is no personal rift between him and current leader Chris Hipkins.

“We’ve obviously disagreed on tax issues, but he’s a very, very competent leader. I think he’s getting better as a leader, and he’ll take Labour to the election, and I think he’s likely to win it, as the polls are currently showing.”

From milk run to Parliament

Parker says he called time on his career after reflecting on his past experiences, including a childhood milk run.

“Twenty-three years, as I said to someone the other day, it's like two life sentences without parole, and even I'm allowed out of the place eventually,” Parker says.

He considered not standing in the 2023 election but stayed because he was dissatisfied with specific tax settings and wanted to reset the party’s foreign policy.

But it was when he returned from a recent trip overseas, feeling jetlagged and waking up at 4.30am to catch an early flight, that he realised it was time to step back from politics.

“I just reflected on the fact that 50 years ago, in 1975, I had a milk run that I had to get up for at 5am every morning, and I thought, my goodness, 50 years on, do I really want to be doing this forever?”

David Parker as Minister of Economic Development addressing the WTO Ministerial Conference in Argentina in 2017. Photo/WTO

Looking back, Parker says the experience has given him a deeper appreciation for the country he serves.

“Parliament’s full of good people because society is full of good people, and one of my reflections as a member of Parliament is that I leave this place with a better viewpoint of New Zealand than I arrived with.”

Parker will deliver his valedictory speech in early May.