Rick Barker

The Honourable Rick Barker
File:Rick Barker.jpg
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Hastings
In office 1993 – 1996
Preceded by	Jeff Whitaker
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Tukituki
In office 1996 – 2005
Succeeded by	Craig Foss
Personal details
Born	(1951-10-27) 27 October 1951
Political party	Labour

Richard John Barker (born 27 October 1951) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party, and was a middle-ranking Cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.

Early life

Barker was born in the town of Greymouth, on New Zealand's West Coast. He attended Greymouth High School and then the University of Otago. After working as a shop assistant, bartender, storeworker, farmhand, driver, factory worker, and quarrier, he became involved in the trade unions, primarily those relating to the service sector. He eventually became National Secretary of the Service Workers' Union.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1993–1996	44th	Hastings		Labour
1996–1999	45th	Tukituki	28	Labour
1999–2002	46th	Tukituki	31	Labour
2002–2005	47th	Tukituki	24	Labour
2005–2008	48th	List	21	Labour
2008–2011	49th	List	34	Labour

Barker became a member of the Labour Party in 1973, and served for a time as the Industrial Representative on the party's National Council. In the 1993 elections, he successfully stood as the Labour Party candidate for the Hastings electorate, winning a seat that was previously held by the National Party. He was re-elected in 1996, 1999, and 2002 for the reconfigured seat of Tukituki. In 2005 he lost the seat in what was a large swing against the sitting Labour government in the provincial areas and returned to Parliament as a list MP. In 2008 Barker tried unsuccessfully to regain the seat of Tukituki and for the second time was returned to parliament as a Labour list MP. He stood in one of the safest National seats, Taranaki-King Country, in 2011 and was not high enough on the Labour list to remain an MP.

Cabinet minister

In 2002 Labour was re-elected for a second term and Barker was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Customs, Minister for Courts, Associate Minister of Justice, and Associate Minister of Social Services and Employment. During the 2002-2005 term, he was given additional responsibility as Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector and Minister for Small Business.

In 2005, Barker was re-appointed to Cabinet as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister for Courts, Minister of Civil Defence and Minister of Veterans' Affairs. Barker lost his ministerial warrants following Labour's defeat in the 2008 election; however, Barker was appointed by the House of Representatives to the role of Assistant Speaker for the 49th New Zealand Parliament for the session 2008-11.

As a cabinet minister, Barker was entitled to the title of The Honourable and became The Hon. Rick (Richard) Barker which is a title he was granted for the rest of his life after his term of office.

Regional Councillor

Today (2013) he is an elected member of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

External links

• [1] at the New Zealand Parliament website

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Jeff Whitaker	Member of Parliament for Hastings 1993–1996	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Tukituki 1996–2005	Succeeded by Craig Foss