The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing

passports A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

; administering applications for

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

and

lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

grants; enforcing

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

laws; registering

births Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

deaths Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sho ...

marriages Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

and

civil unions A civil union (also known as a Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. Civi ...

; supplying support services to ministers; and advising the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

on a range of relevant policies and issues. Other services provided by the department include a translation service, publication of the ''

New Zealand Gazette The ''New Zealand Gazette'' (), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record the New Zealand Government (government gazette), serving as the medium by which decisions of Government are promulgated. Published since ...

'' (the official government newspaper), a flag hire service, management of VIP visits to New Zealand, running the

Lake Taupō Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's northeastern shore. With ...

harbourmaster's office (under a special agreement with the local

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

) and the administration of offshore islands.

History

19th century

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 A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

, 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. A former

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Michael Bassett Michael Edward Rainton Bassett (born 28 August 1938) is a former Labour Party member of the New Zealand House of Representatives and cabinet minister in the reformist fourth Labour government. He is also a noted New Zealand historian, and h ...

, wrote a history of the department, ''The Mother of All Departments'', the title of which reflects this status. The department's role has changed over time as new departments and ministries have been formed. The Colonial Secretary was the chief aide of the

governor of New Zealand A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

. Until 1848 his office dealt with all correspondence between the governor and his employees, and between officials and the public. Other early functions included inspecting sheep, running prisons, supervising government printing, licensing auctioneers, registering births, deaths and marriages, collecting statistics, and responsibility for gambling, fire brigades, constitutional matters (including running elections) and citizenship. Some of these functions are still duties of the modern department, which gained its present name in 1907, but other functions eventually grew into standalone government agencies. As the department's functions have changed over time, there has become a growing acknowledgement that it carries responsibility for all government functions which are not substantial enough to justify a standalone organisation or do not fit well into any other existing departments. From 1853 the Colonial Secretary's Office coordinated the relationship between central government and provincial government and, when the provinces were abolished in 1876, took on responsibility for the new system of local government.

20th century

Over the twentieth century the department's functions would include cultural affairs, civil defence, a translation service, conservation, tourism, sport and recreation, support for ethnic communities, and support services for government ministers. Several new government departments have been formed by establishing new agencies around former Internal Affairs services. The electoral office moved to the Department of Justice in 1950 before becoming an independent

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in 2010. The Department of Industries and Commerce took over the statistics function in 1931; an independent Department of Statistics was created in 1957. The Department of Conservation was established in 1987 by merging the department's wildlife service with other similar entities. The

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand () is charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003). Under the ...

and

Archives New Zealand Archives New Zealand ( Māori: ''Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga'') is New Zealand's national archive and the official guardian of its public archives. As the government's recordkeeping authority, it administers the Public Records Act 2005 an ...

were separated from the department in the late 1990s but merged back in 2011. A standalone Ministry of Cultural Affairs (now the

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the Creative New Zealand, arts, Culture of New Zealand, culture, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, built heritage, Sport Ne ...

, which in the present day also has responsibility for the sport and recreation portfolio) was established in 1991. The department briefly held responsibility for tourism from 1998 until 2000, when this was combined with other former Ministry of Commerce functions in the new Ministry of Economic Development, now the

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment ( MBIE; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with "delivering policy, services, advice and regulation" which contribute to New Zealand's economic productivity and business ...

21st century

The National Emergency Management Agency, which had been a business unit within the department since before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, was transferred to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in 2009. The Office of Ethnic Communities, originally a single part-time position within the department, became the new Ministry for Ethnic Communities in 2021. The department has also gained responsibilities that previously belonged to other agencies. In 2009 the department took responsibility for government technology services from the

State Services Commission The Public Service Commission (PSC; ), called the State Services Commission until 2020, is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing, and improving the performance of the public sector organisations ...

. The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector was transferred to the department from the Ministry of Social Development in 2011. In 2021, the department gained the legal ability to process requests from people wishing to change their sex on their birth certificate, including to a non-binary marker, rather than them needing to go through the court system. In 2024, the government announced that the department would become the sole supervisor of the anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism regulatory system, taking over functions currently overseen by the Reserve Bank and Financial Markets Authority. In mid-April 2024, the department experienced a backlog in processing

New Zealand passport New Zealand passports () are Passport, passports issued to New Zealand nationality law, New Zealand citizens for the purpose of international travel by the Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), Department of Internal Affairs. New Zealan ...

applications due to the installation of computer system upgrades in March 2024 and increased seasonal demand. Standard passport processing took eight weeks while urgent passport processing took three days. The number of passports processed dropped from 38,000 in February 2024 to half that number in March 2024. On 14 May 2024, the department apologised for delays in wait times for processing passport applications.

Structure

The head of the department holds concurrent roles as Chief Executive, Secretary for Internal Affairs, Secretary for Local Government and Government Chief Digital Officer.

Business groups

As at 12 February 2025: * Policy and Te Tiriti * Partnerships and Commissions * Enterprise Services * Digital Services * Regulatory and Identity Services * Office of the Chief Executive

Related organisations

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 of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions * 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 6 ministers. In addition, the department also has responsibilities to the

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

in relation to community trusts and to the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in relation to the Peace and Disarmament Education Trust and the Pacific Development Conservation Trust.

Bibliography

* Bassett, Michael ''The Mother of All Departments'' (1997, Auckland University Press, Auckland)

References

External links

*
Local Government Commission

Ministry of Civil Defence

Office of Ethnic Affairs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Department Of Internal Affairs (New Zealand) Internal affairs Society of New Zealand

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Ministries established in 1840 Financial regulatory authorities of New Zealand 1840 establishments in New Zealand