Marama Davidson calls out FMA chair Craig Stobo for submitting on ‘most politically controversial Bill in recent decades’

Friday, 12 December 2025

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has called for Financial Markets Authority (FMA) chair Craig Stobo’s submission in support of ACT’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill to be considered in MBIE’s investigation into his conduct.

Stobo has temporarily stepped aside from his role as FMA Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko chair until the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has completed its investigation into “matters” that neither it, nor Stobo, nor Commerce Minister Scott Simpson will reveal.

Sources believe those matters may include concerns about Stobo’s appearances on the right-leaning The Platform media outlet as an economic commentator, discussing economic and political topics.

Stobo also made a personal submission to ACT’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, which was published on Parliament’s website on May 2025.

In the submission, Stobo supported the bill, which he said was needed to “clarify in statute for all New Zealanders” the principles of the Treaty, to ensure that New Zealand could “prosper as a modern representative democracy”.

He said it was clear there were two, or more, interpretations of the Treaty, which created uncertainty over sovereignty and property rights.

The bill was politically divisive, gathering over 300,000 written submissions, with most opposed to the bill.

Davidson said: “Publicly submitting on the most politically controversial bill in recent decades is clearly inappropriate for a public servant of Stobo's position, which compromises confidence that he can exercise the political neutrality required for his role.”

She said: “There are clear rules around political neutrality in the code of conduct for Crown board members that should be upheld across the political spectrum.

“The investigation under way should reveal the full extent of whether and how this principle has been breached.”

Davidson was referring to the code of conduct for Crown entity board members, which calls on them to remain “politically impartial”.

The code says Crown entity board members would “act in a politically impartial manner”, and irrespective of their political interests, conduct themselves in a way that enabled them to “act effectively under current and future governments”.

And, the code says that even when acting in a private capacity, Crown entity board members should “avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role or which could erode the public’s trust in the entity”.

The code suggests that board members were expected to discuss with the chair of their board any proposal to make political comment, or to undertake any significant political activity.

A spokesperson for the Labour Party, which was also critical of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, said: “We’ll let the investigation play out before commenting.”

Stobo has declined to speak with The Post about MBIE’s investigation, and would not comment on Davidson’s call.

Simpson said he would not be making any more comments until MBIE’s investigation was complete.

In 2023, concerns about political neutrality cost Rob Campbell his job as chair of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.

Campbell spoke publicly in support of co-governance in health, prompting ACT leader David Seymour to call his comments, “an egregious breach of the code of conduct”.

ACT leader David Seymour claimed statements by Campbell about Three Waters and co-governance breached the code of conduct for board members of Crown entities.