"I'm standing as your candidate for the beautiful Taranaki-King Country electorate. You deserve a representative who will be a passionate advocate for the region, and who understands how people, environment and society all depend on each other.

“We need good jobs with living wages that provide a future for all of us. More people working for better pay will boost our economy and increase our standard of living. To drive that, we need to recognise what we offer on the world stage and understand what will boost our earnings.

“We have some big challenges to face, with the cost of living continuing to rise, increasingly divided communities, toughening trade environments, and the impacts of climate change being clearly felt in this electorate.

"I want to be your Member of Parliament in a Labour government that is committed to ensuring we all have good jobs, healthcare we can afford, and healthy homes that don’t take up your entire income.

David and his family live in the Waikato, where he is actively involved in conservation projects and community initiatives, including voluntary work with Sanctuary Mountain and with a community garden in Waharoa.

David worked in conservation in New Zealand before completing a PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University in the United States. He worked as a crop pollination scientist at Plant and Food Research for 15 years, and also was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland for the last 8 years. He left these roles in early 2026 to allow more time to work on other initiatives he is involved in.

He is founder and director of Bushcast, a company that provides automated radio tracking for wildlife management and research.