The Department of Internal Affairs

Te Tari Taiwhenua | Department of Internal Affairs

Building a safe, prosperous and respected nation



 

Our organisation

The Department has seven branches:

In addition to the groups and functions listed below, each branch includes a Development and Support group, to provide direct support to the Deputy CE on strategic and business issues.

Te Urungi - Māori, Strategy and Performance 

The role of the Māori Strategy and Performance branch is to provide strategic management and governance support to the Chief Executive and the Executive Leadership Team. Collectively it is accountable for:

  • facilitating effective governance of the Department
  • leading and facilitating development of the Department's strategic direction
  • working collaboratively with the branches to successfully achieve the Department's strategic priorities.

It has the following groups:

  • Legal
  • Communications
  • Strategy and Performance
  • Governance, Risk and Assurance
  • Enterprise Portfolio Management Office
  • Branch Development and Support

Te Haumi – Enterprise Partnerships (EP)

Te Haumi - Enterprise Partnerships covers a range of entitites, functions, and institutions. The role of the branch is to provide continuous support o semi-autonomous entities, helping to deliver on their aspirations and outcomes. The nature of each partnership will depend on the needs of the entity.

Te Haumi - Enterprise Partnerships branch includes the following groups and functions:

National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa

The National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa enriches the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations by:

  • collecting, preserving, and protecting New Zealand's documentary heritage and making it accessible
  • supplimenting and furthering the work of other libraries in New Zealand
  • working collaborativelywith other institutions having simlar purposes, including those forming part of the international libary community.

The National Library administers the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa Act 2003 through the statutory roles of the National Librarian and the Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library.

For more information, visit: National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.

Archives New Zealand, Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Archives New Zealand serves as the official guardian of New Zealand's public archives and works to enhance their accessibility and promote good information management by regulating government recordkeeping.

Archives New Zealand administers the Public Records Act 2005, which establishes the regulatory framework for information and records management across the public sector in New Zealand.

The Chief Archivist is appointed under the Public Records Act 2005 and exercises a leadership role in facilitating and co-ordinating archival activities in New Zealand and statutory independence in regulating government recordkeeping.

For more information, visit: Archives New Zealand, Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Te Ara Tahi

Te Ara Tahi is a shared programme of transformation, jointly led by the National Library of New Zealand, Archrives New Zealand and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision comprising of these four pillars:

  • Digital - providing fit-for-purpose digital infrastruture and capability for the institutions, underpinning modern and intuitive digital access services for users
  • Mātauranga Māori - embedding Te Ao Māori and Mātauranga Māori capability in the institutions, to enable them to respond to the needs and aspirations of whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori in accessing and caring for taonga, and to support Māori in their role as kaitiaki of taonga
  • Tāhuhu - delivering fit-for-purpose, resilient physical repositories, and spaces to enable the preservation of collections and joined-up, collaborative services for users
  • People & Partnerships - supporting the institutions to develop customer-centred ways of working

Ministerial Services

Ministerial Services are responsible for providing a range of services to the Executive arm of the New Zealand government, including:

  • administrative support to the Prime Minister and Ministers of the Crown
  • managing Ministerial entitlements in accordance with relevant legislation
  • managing Crown-owned Ministerial residences including Premier House (the official residence of the Prime Minister)
  • providing VIP Transport services to Ministers and other customers including the Leader of the Opposition, senior Judiciary, and dignitaries; and managing the Crown fleet, including Ministerial self-drive vehicles
  • organising and co-ordinating guest of government visits, state and ministerial functions, and national commemorative events such as ANZAC Day

Independent Statutory Bodies

The Gambling Commission

The Gambling Commission is an independent statutory decision-making body established under the Gambling Act 2003. The Gambling Commission hears casino licensing applications and appeals on licensing and enforcement decisions made by the Secretary for Internal Affairs in relation to gaming machines and other non-casino gambling activities. The Gambling Commission has the powers of a Commission of Inquiry and does not report to, or receive direction from, the Department.

The Local Government Commission

The Local Government Commission is an independent statutory body established by legislation. The Commission has specific statutory responsibilities under several statutes. These include the Local Government Act 2002, relating to the provision of information and good practice about local government, as well as the local government reorganisation process, and the Local Electoral Act 2001 relating to local government representation arrangements. The Local Government Commission does not report to, or receive direction from, the Department.

The Film and Literature Board of Review

The Film and Literature Board of Review is an independent statutory body established under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 (the Act). The Board reviews the classifications of various publications according to the criteria specified in the Act.  Te Haumi provide all secretariat and administrative functions to the Board. The Board does not report to, or receive direction from, the Department.

Toi Hiranga - Regulation and Policy

The role of the branch is to:

  • provide policy advice to the Department’s Ministers
  • perform regulatory and compliance functions
  • carry out monitoring of, and advice on appointments for a number of Crown Entities

 The Policy, Regulation and Communities branch includes the following groups and functions:

Policy

Regulatory Services

The Department's approach to compliance and enforcement in this area is set out in the document: http://www.dia.govt.nz/compliance

The Department's strategic intent for Regulatory Services is set out in the document: Regulatory Services Group Strategy 2021–2026 (PDF, 1MB) 

See also: The Department's Prosecution Policy

Kāwai ki te Iwi - Service Delivery Operations

Kāwai ki te Iwi - Service Delivery and Operations (SDO) is one of DIA's most public facing branches, providing customers with a wide variety of services, products and advice. The services included under SDO are for community development grants and advice, passport and citizenship applications, births, deaths, marriages, civil union and name change registrations, charities services and identity verification and document authentication services.

The Service Delivery and Operations branch includes the following functions:

Hāpai Hapori - Communuity Operations 

Community Operations leads the Department’s direct interface with New Zealand communities, primarily by providing information, resources and advice to communities and the administration of grant funding. We are responsible for delivering community advisory and funding administration services throughout New Zealand and supporting communities to be resilient and achieve their aspirations. 

We have 16 service delivery offices located from Kaitaia to Invercargill.

Our services support communities, hapū and iwi, organisations and networks to identify their priorities and to develop strategies for achieving them.

For more information see communitymatters.govt.nz

Charities Services

Charities Services’ vision is that our work contributes to a well-governed, transparent and thriving charitable sector that has strong public support. We register charitable entities, and educate, monitor and (where appropriate) investigate registered charities. We also support Te Rātā Atawhai, the independent Charities Registration Board, a three-person board that makes decisions about the charitable status of organisations. You can access the Charities Services website here: Charities Services.

Mauri o te Tangata - Services and Access

Services & Access has responsibility for activities that require customer interactions. The group's work includes working towards the building of a common customer experience spanning all SDO products and services – and providing customers with information to assist their understanding of the services available to them. Services & Access are also responsible for driving uptake of customer self-service and ensuring service consistency across all customer channels. Services & Access is responsible for supporting customers to interact with us easily and digitally and resolving complaints. Services & Access also supports intermediaries who work with our customers such as councils, funeral directors, and celebrants.

Te Pou Manawa - Partners and Products

Partners & Products has accountability for the design of life events products and information sharing services including legislative change, product pricing and government services bundling opportunities (such as Smartstart), and the delivery and management of information sharing products and services. They take a focused and consistent approach to product design and the management of partnering relationships and commercial arrangements.  

Te Pahekoheko - Operations

Delivers clear and accurate operational policy, a customer-centric approach to processing/production of identity and life events service, training, investigations, and management/maintenance of information & systems for an end-to-end customer experience.

Pou Ārahi

Contributes to the successful service delivery outcomes for whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori organisations by improving capability, visibility, service improvement & relationships.

Te Ara Manaaki 

Te Ara Manaaki is a business unit and programme set up to support Service Delivery and Operations to reimagine how we deliver our services around the wants and needs of our customers. Our vision is to transform the way New Zealanders access our identity and life event services – putting our customers and their whānau at the heart of everything we do, and continuously make it easier for them to access services.

Planning, Design and Assurance

This business unit focuses on the core functions of planning, business case development, programme/project initiation, prioritisation and dependency management, design, analytics, organisational capacity, business assurance, and performance measurement and reporting.

Passports

DIA provides functions relating to passports operations. You can find more information at the Passports website.

Citizenship

DIA provides functions relating to citizenship operations. See New Zealand citizenship.

Births, Deaths and Marriages

DIA registers and maintains New Zealand birth, death, marriage, civil union and name change information and provides access to that information by issuing certificates and printouts. The BDM office also appoints marriage and civil union celebrants, and issues certificates of no impediment for people who wish to marry or enter into a civil union overseas. See Births, deaths and marriages.

Authentication Unit

Learn about requirements for using NZ-issued documents for use overseas here: Use your NZ documents overseas.

Te Pūtahi Whakawhiti Reo - The Translation Service

We provide professional translation and other language services including quality assessment, typesetting, transcription and cultural advice to businesses, central and local government and private individuals.

Whether you're applying for Immigration or Citizenship, need to communicate information to non-English speaking communities in NZ or around the world, or need documents translated for legal, employment or travel purposes… we'll be able to help you: Translation Service

Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa - New Zealand Gazette

The New Zealand Gazette is the official newspaper of the New Zealand government. It is an authoritative journal of constitutional record and contains official commercial and government notifications that are required by legislation to be published. Notices are published online continuously, from 9am–5pm on working days, and are freely available to the public. Notices include business proceedings, bankruptcies, land notices, parliamentary notices, and notifications from government departments and agencies. See: New Zealand Gazette

Te Kōtui Whitiwhiti - Digital Public Service 

The Digital Public Service branch works with and through agencies to drive and deliver customer-centred digital government.

Its role is to support and enable agencies to progress a modern and adaptive public service that can respond to New Zealanders' expectations of faster, more agile, accessible, inclusive and integrated government services. It does this by focusing on building agency capability to work together as a public service, identifying opportunities to design joined-up, responsive and robust digital services that accelerate our shift to a unified public service.

The branch supports the role of the Government Chief Digital Officer in its broader context of driving a more unified digital public service, framed in the Strategy for a Digital Public Service.

The branch is made up of five groups:

System Strategy and Initiatives

The System Strategy & Initiatives Group brings together the strategic functions and the incubation of initiatives and projects. It develops and iterates the Strategy for a Digital Public Service and other Ministerial priorities by developing the building blocks for public sector digital transformation and by seizing opportunities and solving problems at a system level.
Supported by a multidisciplinary team with deep subject matter expertise, and additional specialist functions, this Group is accountable for a work programme of initiatives and projects, strategic thinking and research that build public sector awareness, engagement and ownership of a digital Public Service. This group also provides strategic leadership and central guidance on emerging technologies.

The key strategic relationships for the branch are held in this group, including Ministers, the Digital Government Leadership Group, other functional leadership roles, Chief Executives, DCEs and possibly CFO roles within agencies.

The Te Pou Matahiko role is held within this Group and is designed to guide and advise the GCDO and the branch on engaging with Māori on the digital government strategy and strategic issues that impact Māori, whanau, hapu, iwi, Māori organisations and relevant government agencies. The role is also responsible for linking in to the Department’s Te Aka Taiwhenua strategy and function.

Agency Partnerships and Capability

The Agency Partnerships and Capability Group acts as the ‘change agent’ for the branch by working with and through agencies to plan and execute the digital transformation of the Public Service – ensuring the transformation is underpinned by sound investment and embeds integrated standards and defined investment, integrated services, privacy, security and assurance practices.

The Group brings together the advisory functions that support and enable agencies in the changes they need to make to align with the Strategy for a Digital Public Service. It also provides the holistic view of the GCDO’s relationships and work with public service agencies and sectors, giving the GCDO and the DCE a ‘go to’ point for the overview of agency relationships and the ‘agency by agency state of play’ on digital transformation.
The General Manager Agency Partnerships and Capability also holds the functional leadership role of Government Chief Privacy Officer (GCPO). The GCPO leads an all-of-government approach to privacy and provides agencies with advice to help them build capability.

All-of-Government Services Delivery

The All-of-Government Services Delivery Group brings together the functions that deliver services to or for the public sector, enabling service delivery synergies to be optimised. The Group is responsible for standardising and consolidating agency ICT infrastructure and services and working with the vendor market to deliver modern digital procurement models for digital and ICT.

It also develops and champions all of government web standards and use of common capabilities, as well as providing agencies with centralised ‘essential’ information products and services (e.g. the Gazette and Domain Name Service).
The Group brings together the teams from Commercial Strategy and Delivery (CSD) and Government Information Services (GIS), with some additional capacity introduced in GIS.

Digital Identity Programme

The Digital Identity Programme brings together subject matter experts on Digital identity to address regulatory gaps and accelerate the development of trusted and people-centred digital identity services.

The Programme leads engagement with stakeholders from across the public and private sector to develop and test a Trust Framework, a set of best practice rules and standards for digital identity services. The programme will support the development of the Trust Framework Bill, which will establish the Trust Framework and its core functions in legislation. It will also report on options for the government’s ongoing role as a provider of digital identity services.

Their work acknowledges digital identity, the user-consented, digitally-enabled sharing of personal and organisational information as a key enabler of digital transformation across the public sector and the economy, and a foundation in Rautaki mō tētahi Rāngai Kāwanatanga Matihiko, the Strategy for a Digital Public Service.

Planning, Performance and Support

The Planning, Performance and Support Group develops, maintains and governs the branch-wide workplan, and leads the branch Leadership Team to prioritise, commission and/or decommission work as appropriate.

The group also provides the GCDO and Deputy GCDO with oversight and visibility of progress against all initiatives (lead, support, deliver) in the wider GCDO work programme; leading the Department’s corporate accountability planning, reporting and compliance activities on behalf of the branch; servicing ministerial and government stakeholder needs; and coordinating and supporting the branch’s international engagement.

Ue te Hīnātore  - Local Government

The Local Government branch provides expertise and experience across central and local government agencies to build relationships, provide a two-way conduit for issues playing out in local government, and support a range of activities that are critical for communities and are a shared priority for both arms of government.

It develops strong relationships with relevant policy agencies in central government – for example, Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand Transport Agency, Department of Conservation, Ministry of Health, The Treasury – as well as working with lead groups across the sector such as Local Government New Zealand and Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa (formerly SOLGM), is key to the team’s approach.

Partnerships Directors spend considerable time in their regional “constituencies’’ connecting with local government and gathering and providing information. In addition Partnerships Directors have particular portfolio responsibilities through which they provide leadership for key joint initiatives between central and local government. A guide to for central local government engagement can be found here:

The Local Government Policy Group supports emerging priority policy matters impacting local government.

He Pou Aronui - Organisational Capability and Services

The Organisational Capability and Services branch provides corporate support functions to other business groups in the Department, in finance, human resources, ICT support (Technology Services and Solutions), property, procurement, safety and security, information management and privacy. 

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Related Information

Read our Pūrongo Ā Tau – Annual Report

Read our Ngā Takune Rautaki – Strategic Intentions

Read our Disclosure of Chief Executive's Expenses

Read our Gender pay gap action plan

Read our DIA Engagement survey results