| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
| David Butcher | |
| Order2: | 52nd Postmaster-General |
| Term Start2: | 5 November 1988 |
| Term End2: | 14 August 1989 |
| Primeminister2: | David Lange Geoffrey Palmer |
| Predecessor2: | Richard Prebble |
| Successor2: | Position abolished |
| Order3: | 1st Minister of Commerce |
| Term Start3: | 24 August 1987 |
| Term End3: | 2 November 1990 |
| Primeminister3: | David Lange Geoffrey Palmer Mike Moore |
| Predecessor3: | Position established |
| Successor3: | Philip Burdon |
| Constituency Mp4: | Hastings |
| Parliament4: | New Zealand |
| Term Start4: | 25 November 1978 |
| Term End4: | 27 October 1990 |
| Predecessor4: | Bob Fenton |
| Successor4: | Jeff Whittaker |
| Birth Date: | 19 September 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Brighton, England |
| Birthname: | David John Butcher |
| Nationality: | New Zealander |
| Party: | Labour |
| Alma Mater: | Victoria University of Wellington |
David John Butcher (born 19 September 1948) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was a Cabinet minister in the Fourth Labour Government.
Butcher was born in Brighton, England, on 19 September 1948, the son of Dorothy May Butcher (née Guppy) and Frank George Butcher.[1] The family migrated to New Zealand in 1963, and he attended Karamu High School in Hastings with broadcaster Paul Holmes, and Victoria University of Wellington.[2] While at Victoria, he was president of the Victoria University Labour Club.[3] He graduated with an economics degree and became a member of the New Zealand Association of Economists.[4] From 1972 to 1974, he worked as an economist in the Labour Department, Wellington. During 1974–75 he travelled overseas in Asia and Europe. From 1976 until 1978, he was a field officer for the Wellington Clerical Workers' Union and the New Zealand Labourers' Union in Hawke's Bay. He was a member of the Hawkes Bay Trade Council and its nominee on the council of the Hawkes Bay Community College.
Butcher became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1975,[5] and in 1980, Butcher married Mary Georgina Hall.[1]
Butcher stood unsuccessfully for the seat of three times, in the, and, before becoming an MP for the seat of in the .[6] Prior to entering parliament he was a member of the New Zealand Council of Labour Party.[4] In 1983 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for State Insurance and the Government Life Office by Labour leader David Lange.[7] In 1986 he represented the New Zealand government at an agricultural ministers conference in Hobart.
During the Fourth Labour Government, Butcher served as a Cabinet minister, with posts including Minister of Commerce, Minister of Energy, Minister of Trade and Industry and Postmaster-General. As Minister of Energy, Butcher had responsibility for ensuring that privatised utilities operated in a competitive environment, or were subjected to appropriate regulation. He was also associate Minister of Finance and mostly a supporter of the Rogernomics agenda of finance minister Roger Douglas. As Minister of Energy he sold the government-owned Petrocorp for $801 million to Rossport Investments Ltd on 31 March 1988.[8]
He represented the Hastings electorate in Parliament until 1990, when he was defeated by National's Jeff Whittaker, one of a number of losses contributing to the fall of the Fourth Labour Government. His defeat was not expected with most expecting him to be re-elected with a reduced majority.[9]
In 1990, Butcher was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[1]
Since 1990, Butcher has been the manager of David Butcher and Associates (DBA), and has worked on assignments in several countries.[10] He worked in a business consultancy deal with the Asian Development Bank. In 2000, he was fined $10,000 plus reparations, for fraudulently claiming expenses on airline tickets under a travel rebate scheme for former MPs.[11] [12]
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