Craig Raymond Robert Foss (born 4 July 1963) is a New Zealand investment banker and politician. He was elected to the

Hawke's Bay Regional Council Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

in October 2019 and was previously the Member of Parliament for from

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

until

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Early years and family

Foss was born on 4 July 1963 in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

, the son of Raymond Foss and Rosemary Dwyer. He attended

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, completing a BCA. He worked in the

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

sector. He was Chief Dealer for the

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking)#New Zealand, big four banks. It has been operating since October 1861, and since 1992 has been owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), retaining local governance with a New Z ...

. Subsequently, he worked for Credit Suisse Financial Products as Interest Rate Risk Manager in London and Tokyo. Foss married Kristal in 1993; they have two daughters together. Foss owns a small farm and some tourist accommodation.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Foss represented the Tukituki electorate for twelve years but was not successful in winning the electorate at his first attempt. In the , he was beaten by Labour's incumbent, Rick Barker, by 6,410 votes. He was ranked 47th on the National Party list, not high enough to enter Parliament as a list MP. Foss contested Tukituki again in and defeated Barker to enter Parliament for the first time. He was returned for three further elections and his majority peaking at nearly 10,000 votes in 2011. Foss voted in favour of the

Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand, which since 19 August 2013, allows same-sex couples to legally marry. The Act was proposed as a member's bill by MP Louisa Wall in May 2012, an ...

. The National Party formed a government in 2008. Foss was the chair of the

Finance and Expenditure Committee The Finance and Expenditure Committee (known as the Public Accounts Committee until 1962, and as the Public Expenditure Committee, from 1962) is a select committee of the House of Representatives, the unicameral chamber of the New Zealand Parliame ...

from 2008 until June 2011, when he was appointed a minister outside Cabinet. He held the

Civil Defence Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, ...

Racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

and

Senior Citizens Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

portfolios, as well as associate ministerial responsibilities in local government and commerce, replacing John Carter who left to take up a High Commissioner post in the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

. After the 2011 election, Foss was promoted to be a minister inside the Cabinet, as Minister of Broadcasting and

Minister of Commerce A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial poli ...

. He was also an associate minister in the education and ACC portfolios. As associate minister of education, Foss had responsibility for the ill-fated rollout of

Novopay Novopay is a web-based payroll system for state and state integrated schools in New Zealand, processing the pay of 110,000 teaching and support staff at 2,457 schools. It was purchased by the New Zealand Ministry of Education for $182 million ove ...

. In January 2013 he was removed from the education portfolio and reassigned to be Minister of Consumer Affairs. In this term he also held brief acting appointments as Minister for Climate Change Issues, after the 2012 resignation of Nick Smith, and as Minister for ACC, after the 2014 resignation of

Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National P ...

. National was elected for a third term in 2014, and Foss was appointed Minister for Small Business, Minister of Statistics, Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Associate Minister of Immigration, and Associate Minister of Transport, but no longer served in the Cabinet. On 14 December 2016, following a change to the National Party leadership, Foss announced that he would retire from politics at the 2017 general election. He relinquished his ministerial roles on 20 December 2016. The Tukituki electorate was won at the election by Lawrence Yule, who had succeeded Foss as the National Party's candidate.

Local government

Foss was elected to the

in the

2019 New Zealand local elections The 2019 New Zealand local elections () were triennial elections held in New Zealand on Saturday 12 October 2019. Election schedule Key dates relating to the local elections were as follows: Results In Auckland, Phil Goff was re-elected ...

, alongside his former parliamentary rival Rick Barker.

References

External links

Craig Foss MP
official site
Profile
at National party , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Foss, Craig 1963 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs People from Lower Hutt Victoria University of Wellington alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates 21st-century New Zealand politicians People educated at Naenae College