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 ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region i ...

in October 2019 and was previously the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for from

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

until

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Early years and family

Foss was born on 4 July 1963 in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a 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 metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

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

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, completing a BCA. He worked in the

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts 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 markets. Because ...

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), big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in D ...

. 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 Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's incumbent,

Rick Barker 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. Biography Early life and career Barker was bo ...

, 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, and wa ...

. 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 ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

Racing In sport, 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 goa ...

and

Senior Citizens Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human biological life cycle, life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage ...

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 ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

. 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 polic ...

. He was also an associate minister in the education and

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

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 The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) ( mi, Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara) is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the country's No-fault insurance, no-fault accidental injury compensation scheme, commonly referred ...

, after the 2014 resignation of

Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...

. 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 Lawrence Arden Yule (born 1963) is a New Zealand politician. He was Mayor of Hastings from 2001 to 2017, and a Member of Parliament representing the Tukituki electorate for the National Party from 2017 to 2020. Political career Mayor of Hastin ...

, who had succeeded Foss as the National Party's candidate.

Local government

Foss was elected to the

in the 2019 New Zealand local elections, alongside his former parliamentary rival

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