Resource material › Corporate Publications › Statement of Intent 2013-16Tauāki Whakamaunga Atu
Nature and Scope of Functions
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Our purpose
Internal Affairs serves and connects people, communities and government to build a safe, prosperous and respected nation
Our roles and functions
The Department has a historically broad range of responsibilities and functions including:
- implementing the Government’s Better Public Services Result 10: New Zealanders can complete their transactions with government easily in a digital environment
- providing functional leadership for government ICT as home of the Government Chief Information Officer and all-of-government information and communications technology
- managing and protecting the integrity of national identity information and ensuring the provision of identity documents e.g. passports
- building national emergency readiness, response and recovery capability to support communities to manage through emergencies and managing the response to large-scale civil defence events
- regulating activities in the following sectors: gambling, censorship, government recordkeeping, unsolicited electronic messages, anti-money laundering, private security personnel and private investigators and charitable sector
- providing policy advice to government on local government, ethnic affairs, the community and voluntary sector, civil defence and emergency management, and in fire, identity, technology, information management, gambling and racing policy
- building and preserving New Zealand’s documentary heritage and public records as a national asset
- providing information, resources and advice to communities, charities and ethnic groups and administering grant funding schemes
- supporting the effective operation of government and the Executive
- coordinating and managing official guests of government visits to New Zealand
- supporting Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry, and a range of advisory and statutory bodies
- monitoring the performance of two Crown entities[1], and the Local Government Funding Agency, and managing the appointment process for members of trusts, committees and boards.
In order to effectively accomplish this broad range of responsibilities and functions the Department is made up of six branches and the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management. A diagram illustrating our organisational structure is provided in Appendix 1.
A full list of legislation that the Department administers can be found on http://www.dia.govt.nz.
Our ministerial portfolios
We are responsible to six Ministers and administer seven portfolios within a single Vote Internal Affairs. The Minister of Internal Affairs is the Vote Minister and the Responsible Minister overseeing the Government’s ownership interests in the Department.
| Portfolio | Minister |
|---|---|
| Internal Affairs | Hon Chris Tremain |
| Local Government | |
| Ministerial Services | Rt Hon John Key |
| Ethnic Affairs | Hon Judith Collins |
| Racing | Hon Nathan Guy |
| Civil Defence | Hon Nikki Kaye |
| Community and Voluntary Sector | Hon Jo Goodhew |
Footnotes
[1] New Zealand Fire Service Commission and the Office of Film and Literature Classification.