Born out of a sheer desire to build a secure, dignified, and prosperous nation, the government of New Zealand created a body. The body created to push this desire is the Department of Internal Affairs. This department is saddled with specific responsibilities that make up the real core of the drive for the nation that is desired.
Not until its establishment in 1840, the Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand, was formerly the Colonial Secretary’s Office. The Colonial Secretary’s Office performed all of these duties during colonial rule. But, shortly after, the department was founded, making it the first established government department in New Zealand.
The Department of Internal Affairs is at the heart of various governmental operations and services in the country. The department delivers services to the citizens of New Zealand, foreigners, and the various ministries in the nation. This functionality explains why the department is regarded as “The Mother of All Departments.”
Notwithstanding new departments and ministries established later on assuming roles previously handled by the Department of Internal Affairs, this department remains vital to the governance of the nation.
Duties performed by the department of internal affairs
The Department of Internal Affairs is a public service wing of New Zealand’s government that is responsible for several fundamental duties in a desire to maintain a suitable image of the nation.
The several duties performed by the Department of Internal Affairs all impact the running of the nation in general. These duties also include setting regulations to guide gambling activities at new NZ casinos online in different parts of the country. Other responsibilities the department takes on are:
- Passport Issuance
- Processing Lottery Grants Application
- Administering Citizenship Application Procedures
- Censorship Enforcement
- Setting Gambling Regulations
- Birth Registration
- Death Registration and Death Certificates Issuance
- Marital Registration
- Registering Civil Unions
- Cushioning the Workload on Ministers
- Advising the Government of New Zealand on Various Issues
- Translation Duties
- New Zealand Gazette Publication
- Flag Hire Service
- Administration of the Harbormaster’s office of Lake Taupo and other offshore islands.
Important information about the department of internal affairs
- The department’s headquarters is located at 45 Pipitea Street, Thornton, WELLINGTON 6011.
- You can either contact the department via their free phone line, 080025788, or the official phone line, +6444957200.
- They run their operations on an annual budget estimated to be worth about $721,026,000, judging by the financial reports of the 2019/2020 administrative year.
- The official website of the department is http://www.dia.govt.nz/, and their Gmail address is info@dia.govt.nz. At the same time, their P.O Box address is PO Box 805 Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
- The Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) also serves as the Chief Executive of this department.
- With effect from the first day of February 2011, the department now includes Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand.
Child agencies of the department
The Department of Internal Affairs comprises a list of child agencies:
- Archives New Zealand
- Local Government Commission
- National Library of New Zealand
- Office of the Community and Voluntary Sector
- Office of Ethnic Communities
- Charities Services
- Film and Literature Board of Review
- Passports Office
- New Zealand Lottery Grants Board
Executives in the department
There are many executives in this department and some other portfolios that are associated with the department’s services.
- Minister of internal affairs Tracey Martins
- Minister for local government Nanaia Mahuta
- Chief executive and secretary of the department, government chief digital officer, as well as Secretary for local government Paul James
- Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector Poto Williams
- Minister for government digital services Kris Kaafo
- Minister for racing Rt. Winston Peters
Structure of the department of internal affairs
The department’s duties can also be pictured from their structural layout.
- Policy regulation and communities arm
This arm of the department handles services bordering around setting and enforcing regulations guiding censorship, spam, and gambling. This branch also deals with ethical issues like anti-money laundering operations, monitoring crown entities, and ethnic communities.
- Digital public service
This arm is critical to the online experience of government policies and moves by the citizens.
- Information and knowledge services arm
The National Library, Archives New Zealand, Government Chief Privacy Officer, and Government Information Services are all parts of this arm of the department.
- Organisation capability services
This arm of the department is the corporate cushioning provided for different other parastatals. Parastatals like the ministers, the department itself, and statutory commissions. Those under this arm of the department also cater to VIP ceremonies (Transportation and Visits in general).
- Service delivery and operations arm
Here, they cater for issues ranging from citizenship applications, passport applications to other services like marriage, birth, and death registrations. This arm also funds community operations, authenticates documents, and handles the translation service.
- Organisation Strategy and Performance
They are in charge of giving support to the executive leadership team headed by the chief executive in areas of government assistance and strategic management.