New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs
From Open Encyclopedia
Image:Departmentofinternalaffairs.gif The Department of Internal Affairs (In Māori, Te Tari Taiwhenua) is a state sector organisaton of New Zealand whose roles include, but are not limited to, the issue of passports; administration of civil unions, citizenship applications, and lottery grants; enforcement of censorship and gambling law; and registration of births, deaths and marriages throughout the country. New Zealand's Minister of Internal Affairs is the Hon. Rick Barker.
History
The Department can trace its roots back to the Colonial Secretary's Office, which from the time New Zealand first became a British colony, in 1840, was responsible for almost all central Government duties. Many of these responsibilities were lost as new departments and ministries were formed, and by the time New Zealand became a dominion and the office's name was changed to the Department of Internal Affairs in 1907, it was acknowledged to be the appropriate home for government functions that were not large enough to justify a separate administrative structure and did not fit conveniently into another agency. This role has continues to the present day, as new tasks have been taken on and others have been transferred elsewhere.
Role
The Department of Internal Affairs encompasses several organisations. These include the Office of Ethnic Affairs, which provides information to ethnic communities and policy advice to the government; the Ministry of Civil Defence, which manages and responds to disasters in New Zealand; and the Local Government Commission, which makes decisions on the structure and representation requirements of Local Government in New Zealand. The Department's present activities also include the implementation of recent dog control and Local Government legislation.
Other services provided by the department include a translation service, publication of the New Zealand Gazette (the official newspaper of the Government of New Zealand), a flag hire service, management of VIP visits to New Zealand, and the administration of New Zealand offshore islands.
