Parker back - but not as Attorney-General

David Parker

Labour MP David Parker is returning to Cabinet, getting some but not all of his old jobs back.

Mr Parker resigned his roles as transport, energy and climate change minister as well as Attorney-General in March after allegations he filed false documents with the Companies Office. Last week he was cleared of wrongdoing.

Labour MPs today voted to have him back in Cabinet and he is expected to be sworn in tomorrow.

"Well, you would have heard the applause in the caucus when I nominated David Parker to come back into the Cabinet," Prime Minister Helen Clark told waiting reporters.

"People feel that David was an innocent person who was injured by a smear attack and they're delighted to see him come back as a minister."

She said Mr Parker would return to his energy and climate change roles and get the new job of minister for land information, a role previously held by Pete Hodgson.

Annette King would become the new transport minister.

Helen Clark said Ms King had got "her feet under the table" with the police and state services portfolios and needed more work.

"In addition, I've decided it's a good idea to broaden the team of people who are dealing with issues related to climate change, and transport is a very key part of that."

Mr Parker said he could not see how the Prime Minister could re-appoint him as attorney-general while there was a complaint to the law society.

But Helen Clark also said today that Mr Parker might regain the Attorney-General portfolio if the complaint to the Otago District Law Society proved to have as "little foundation" as other allegations levelled against Mr Parker.

Mr Parker was the subject of an Investigate magazine story involving an allegation by a former business associate of Mr Parker, Dunedin property developer Russell Hyslop.

Investigate's publisher, Ian Wishart, has said there is more information about Mr Parker to come.

Helen Clark said she was sure more allegations would be made because that was the way Wishart operated.

"But the last set of allegations came to nothing and no doubt he's working closely with Mr Hyslop in the complaint to the Law Society," she said. "As I say, if it has as much substance as the complaint we've just been through, you wouldn't be losing sleep over it."

Mr Parker said his last dealings with Mr Hyslop were more than a decade ago so any other information that came out had to be old.

"I didn't see this one coming.... Mr Hyslop has made allegations in the past which are proven to be unfounded. I can't control what other people do, like Mr Wishart or Mr Hyslop, and I can't respond to unstated allegations," Mr Parker said.

"Who wants to go through again what I've been through in the last six weeks? I mean, I've got the human response that you just think 'oh, here we go again', but I don't believe I've done anything wrong."

The whole episode had proved politics was a "tough game", Mr Parker said.

"I'm just looking forward to getting back to what I was doing six weeks ago, which is working on what I think are important issues."

- NZPA