Craig Foss was elected as the Member of Parliament for Tukituki in 2005 with 17,239 votes, a winning margin of 2,402. At the 2008 General Election, Craig received 17,904 votes, increasing his majority to 6,447.

Prior to being appointed a Minister, Craig was Chairman of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee. He was Deputy Chair of the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee and was a member of the Primary Production Committee and the Officers of Parliament Committee.

Since entering Parliament, Craig has concentrated on being embedded in his community and advocating for Hawke’s Bays interests. Craig’s policy interests of finance, economy and agriculture rest on his previous career in investment banking and on the importance of land-based industries to Hawke’s Bay.

Craig was born and educated in Lower Hutt. In his 7th form year at Naenae College, he was selected as an AFS exchange student to Ohio, USA. Craig has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University.

In 1985, Craig was hired by the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ), treasury in Wellington. Craig also managed the BNZ Singapore treasury office for six months in 1990. During his time at the BNZ he covered most financial instruments and was rapidly promoted leading to the position of Chief Dealer Long Term Interest Rates in 1991. This was an extraordinary period in New Zealand’s financial market history.

Deregulation throughout the 1980’s forced New Zealand institutions to compete globally and provided a steep learning curve for participants.

Credit Suisse Financial Products, London, (CSFP), employed Craig in 1993. After managing the financial risks across many European markets, he was appointed to Director of European Trading in 1996. In 1998 Craig moved to Tokyo, to manage CSFP’s Japan and Pacific trading operations. This period also saw him promoted to Interest Rate Risk Manager, Credit Suisse Financial Products, Europe and Japan.

Craig and his wife, Kristal, were married in 1993 and have two daughters. They live on a small farm at Waimarama.

Family, friends, rugby and the beach are Craig’s favourite pastimes.

Community activities
• Former Representative Trustee, Sport Hawke’s Bay
• Patron Hawke’s Bay Vintage Machinery Club

Top 5 Issues

1. Building a stronger economy
   • Balance the books sooner.
   • Borrow less so we can have lower interest rates for longer.
   • Keep personal taxes lower to encourage hard work.
   • Make New Zealand more competitive so our exporters can sell more overseas and create more real jobs.
   • Encourage savings and investments.
   • Use the mixed-Ownership model to fund infrastructure to help us grow faster.
   • Invest in skills training and tertiary education that gets results.
2. Building world-class infrastructure
   • Ultra-fast broadband for greater innovation.
   • More, and better, roads to ease congestion.
   • Investing in more rail and public transport.
3. Building a safer New Zealand
   • Staying strong on crime – tougher sentencing, stronger bail laws, and a focus on victims.
   • Keep working to lower the crime rate further so our families are safer.
   • Making our roads safer, so we can keep the road toll lower.
4. Rebuilding Christchurch
   • $5.5 billion recovery fund
   • Re-establishing essential infrastructure
   • More construction-related training
5. Building better public services
   • Better Schools – identifying and helping children falling behind, school reports in plain English.
   • World-class healthcare –more doctors and nurses, more operations, shorter waiting times.
   • Effective welfare- more people back into work, more incentives to work, payment cards for teens on benefits.

Personal Profile