Amalgamation

There are currently 82 ministerial positions in government, shared among 28 ministers, who are responsible for 41 government departments. This complicated mess of responsibilities often makes it difficult to know who is in charge, and many functions are duplicated, triplicated, or worse.

To solve this, I propose amalgamating the 41 government departments into 9 departments controlled by the executive branch plus one controlled by the speaker of the house. Each executive department would be directly managed by a cabinet minister acting as CEO, who would be appointed by the Prime Minister.

Department of Internal Affairs:

Amalgamated from parts of:

• Department of Internal Affairs

• Department of Conservation

• Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Civil Defence Functions)

• Land Information NZ

• Ministry of Primary Industries

• Ministry of Culture and Heritage

• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Development

This expanded department would take responsibility for:

• Biosecurity

• Customs

• Immigration

• Passport Office

• Registration of Birth, Deaths, & Marriages

• Civil Defence

• Fire and Emergency NZ

• Search and Rescue

• Approval of conservation projects

• Heritage & Archives Management

• Geographic Information

• Fisheries Management

• Oil, Gas, and Mineral Extraction Rights

• Radio Spectrum Management

Department of Defence:

Amalgamation of:

• Ministry of Defence

• NZ Defence Force

• GCSB

• NZSIS

Department of Finance:

Amalgamation of:

• The Treasury

• Inland Revenue Department

• Ministry of Social Development

• Controller and Auditor-General

• Statistics NZ

Department of Justice:

Amalgamation of:

• Ministry of Justice

• Department of Corrections

Department of Police:

Amalgamation of:

• NZ Police

• Crown Law Office

• Serious Fraud Office

Department of Education:

Amalgamation of:

• Ministry of Education

• Education Review Office

The following departments would remain (although many functions would be reduced):

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

• Ministry of Health

• Ministry of Transport

Parliamentary Service:

This department would be the responsibility of the speaker of the house and would not be controlled by the executive branch. It would be an amalgamation of:

• Parliamentary Service

• Parliamentary Counsel Office

• Office of the Clerk

• Office of the Ombudsman

• Department of Internal Affairs (Ministerial Support Functions)

• Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Government Buildings)

The following Departments would be completely disbanded:

• Ministry for the Environment

• Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Development

• Ministry of Maori Development

• Ministry for Pacific Peoples

• Ministry for Children

• Ministry for Women

• Public Service Commission

• Ministry for Regulation

• Social Investment Agency