Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand)

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) (Internal Affairs) (Māori: Te Tari Taiwhenua) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling laws; registering births, deaths, marriages and civil unions; supplying support services to Ministers of the Crown; and advising the government on a range of relevant policies and issues, part of a number of functions performed by Internal Affairs.

Other services provided by the Department include a translation service, publication of the New Zealand Gazette (the official newspaper of the New Zealand Government), a flag hire service, management of VIP visits to New Zealand, running the Lake Taupo harbourmaster's office (under a special agreement with the local iwi) and the administration of offshore islands.

On 25 March 2010, the former Minister of State Services Tony Ryall announced that Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand would be merged into the Department.^[2] Library and Archives stakeholders have expressed serious concerns about the changes proposed.^[3] During the late 1990s both the Library and Archives were separated from the Department along with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

History

The Department of Internal Affairs traces its roots back to the Colonial Secretary's Office, which from the time New Zealand became a British colony, in 1840, was responsible for almost all central Government duties. The Department was the first government department to be established in New Zealand, and it became the home for a diverse range of government functions providing services to New Zealanders and advice to Ministers of the Crown. Hence the title of Bassetts history of the department The Mother of All Departments.

Many of these responsibilities were lost as new departments and ministries were formed. The office's name was changed to the Department of Internal Affairs from 19 November 1907. The changes continues to the present day, as new roles and functions have come into the Department and others have been transferred elsewhere.^[4]

Related organisations

The Department of Internal Affairs includes the Office of Ethnic Affairs, which provides information to ethnic communities and policy advice to the government and the Local Government Commission, which makes decisions on the structure and representation requirements of local government. The Department's present activities also include the implementation of recent dog control and local government legislation.

The Department has responsibility for supporting the community and voluntary sector through the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector.

The Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs is also the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO), with responsibility for developing and overseeing the government's ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) strategy and providing strategic advice on related matters. The Department also includes the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Māturanga o Aotearoa and Archives New Zealand, Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga. These two organisations were integrated into the Department on 1 February 2011

The Department provides secretariat support for several entities including:

• The Gambling Commission
• The Local Government Commission
• Commissions of Inquiry and ad hoc bodies such as the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine tragedy and the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
• The Library and Information Advisory Commission, Ngā Kaiwhakamārama i ngā Kohikohinga Kōrero
• The Public Lending Right Advisory Group
• The Guardians Kaitiaki of the Alexander Turnbull Library
• The Archives Council
• The Film and Literature Board of Review
• The Confidential Listening and Assistance Service

Ministers

The Department serves 6 portfolios and 7 ministers.^[5]

List of Ministers of Internal Affairs

The following persons have served as the New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs^[6] since the Department of Internal Affairs replaced the Colonial Secretary's office from 19 November 1907.

• John Findlay 1907-1909 (Colonial Secretary from 23 November 1906 after the death of Albert Pitt)
• David Buddo 1909-1912
• George Warren Russell 1912
• Francis Henry Dillon Bell 1912-1915^[7]
• George Warren Russell 1915-1919
• John B. Hine 1919-1920
• George James Anderson 1920-1921
• William Downie Stewart 1921-1923
• Richard Francis Bollard 1923-1927
• Sir Maui Pomare 1927-1928^[8]
• Philip Aldborough de la Perrelle 1928-1931
• Adam Hamilton 1931-1933^[9]
• James Alexander Young 1933-1935
• William (Bill) Parry 1935-1949^[10]
• William Bodkin 1949-1954^[11]
• Sidney Walter Smith 1954-1957
• William Theophilus Anderton 1957-1960
• Frank Léon Aroha Götz (1960-1963)
• David Coutts Seath 1963-1972
• Allan Highet 1972
• Henry May 1972-1975
• Allan Highet 1975-1984
• Peter Tapsell 1984-1987
• Michael Bassett 1987-1990
• Margaret Austin 1990^[12]
• Graeme Lee (1990-1993)
• Warren Cooper 1993-1996^[13]
• Peter Dunne 1996
• Jack Elder 1996-1999
• Mark Burton 1999-2000
• George Hawkins 2000-2005
• Rick Barker 2005-2008
• Richard Worth 2008-2009
• Nathan Guy 2009^[14]-2011
• Amy Adams 2011^[15]-2012
• Chris Tremain 2012-2014
• Peter Dunne 2014- ^[16]

See also

• New Zealand Birth Certificate
• Censorship in New Zealand
• Gambling in New Zealand
• Five Nations Passport Group

Bibliography

• Bassett, Michael The Mother of All Departments (1997, Auckland University Press, Auckland) ISBN 1-86940-175-1

References

External links

• Department of Internal Affairs website
• Local Government Commission
• Ministry of Civil Defence
• Office of Ethnic Affairs