Biography

Born in Roxburgh in 1960, David grew up in Dunedin and has a BCom (Accounting) and LLB from the University of Otago.

He was a litigation and managing partner in law firm Anderson Lloyd and was a co-founder of the Dunedin Community Law Centre.

David is an experienced CEO and company director in a range of industries and has experienced both success and failure. He was involved in a number of start-up businesses in the agri-biotechnology field including A2 Milk, and BLIS Technologies which he managed from start-up to the main board of the NZX.

He held various Ministerial portfolios in the Helen Clark Labour-led Government including Attorney-General, Energy, Climate Change, Transport, Land Information and State Services. In 2008 he was named by the Listener magazine as Environmentalist of the Year for his work as Minister of Energy and Climate Change.

After the 2020 election, David was reappointed Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Associate Minister of Finance, as well as being appointed as Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, and Minister of Revenue.