Sir David Cunningham Carter (born 3 April 1952) is a New Zealand National Party politician who served as the 29th Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017 and as a Cabinet Minister in the Fourth and Fifth National Governments. He represented the Selwyn electorate in the 44th Parliament and the Banks Peninsula electorate in the 45th Parliament. He served as a list MP from 1999 until he retired at the 2020 election. Early life Carter was born in Christchurch in 1952, the son of Merle and Maurice Carter. He attended St Bede's College, and has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree from Lincoln University. He has farmed sheep and cattle for over 30 years, and established the first commercial cattle-embryo transplant company in New Zealand in 1974. Member of Parliament Carter stood in the electorate in the as a successor to Gail McIntosh, but was defeated by Labour's Ruth Dyson. Carter was first elected to Parliament in the 1994 by-election in Selwyn, replacing the resigning Ruth Richardson. In the 1996 general election he won the Banks Peninsula electorate against Dyson. In the 1999 election he was defeated by Dyson, but entered Parliament as a list MP. In the 2002 election, he failed to recapture the seat and remained a list MP. From 1998 until the National Party's defeat in 1999 Carter was Minister for Senior Citizens, Associate Minister of Revenue, and Associate Minister for Food, Fibre, Biosecurity and Border Control. At the very end of National's term in office, he was also Associate Minister of Education. In 2008, Carter was initially chosen as the National candidate for the resurrected safe National seat of Selwyn, but opposition to this saw the National candidacy up for grabs again. He pulled out and the candidacy was eventually won by Amy Adams, who won the seat. Carter was given a high list placing of nine instead and did not contest an electorate. After National's election victory, he took the portfolios of Agriculture, Biosecurity and Forestry. Minister of Agriculture In May 2010, Carter issued a ban on kosher slaughter, rejecting the recommendations of his advisers. Carter held shares in a firm that exports meat, and prior to instituting the ban he met senior managers of the firm who wanted a ban on kosher slaughter to reduce their competition. Minister of Primary Industries After the 2011 election, Carter was appointed Minister