New Zealand Treasury

Last updated

The Treasury
Te Tai Ōhanga
New Zealand Treasury logo.svg
Agency overview
Formed1840
Jurisdiction New Zealand
HeadquartersLevel 3,
1 The Terrace,
Wellington 6011
Employees529
Annual budgetVote Finance
Total budget for 2019/20
Decrease2.svg$6,149,948,000 [1]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
Website treasury.govt.nz

The New Zealand Treasury (Māori : Te Tai Ōhanga) is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the Government on economic policy, assisting with improving the performance of New Zealand's economy, and managing financial resources. The Minister responsible for the Treasury is the Minister of Finance of New Zealand; however, from 1996 to 2002, there existed a more specific position of Treasurer of New Zealand. The role was created for Winston Peters by the Fourth National Government under Jim Bolger after the 1996 election, and abolished by Helen Clark’s government in 2002.

Contents

Treasury has four main functions:

History

The Treasury is one of New Zealand's oldest institutions, having been first established in 1840. Initially the Treasury consisted of just a few officials responsible for managing the Government's day-to-day financial affairs. In the 1920s the department took on a supervisory role over other departments’ spending and oversight of government borrowing. [3]

However, the most dramatic change to the role of the Treasury came in the 1950s when the department began to develop its role as economic advisor to the Government. The Treasury "hit the spotlight" in this role during a wave of far-reaching, and often controversial, economic reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s. This period also coincided with a general shift towards higher scrutiny of government activity and performance, making the Finance portfolio and Treasury operations more transparent.

Since the 1950s, the Treasury has evolved from being a control agency to a "central agency". During this time, departments have become largely free to manage their own resources, with the Treasury's role being to provide central agency leadership, co-ordination and monitoring.

Between 2008 and 2011 Treasury administered the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Under the scheme the government bailed out nine finance firms including South Canterbury Finance to the value of approximately $2 billion. [4]

Today[ when? ] the Treasury employs 363 people, is the Government's lead advisor on economic and financial policy, and has the overall vision of helping governments achieve higher living standards for New Zealanders.

Role

Specific areas of work undertaken by the Treasury include:

Ministers

The Treasury serves 8 portfolios and 7 ministers. [6]

OFFICEHOLDERPORTFOLIO(S)OTHER RESPONSIBILITY(IES)
Hon Nicola Willis Lead Minister (The Treasury)
Minister of Finance
Minister for the Public Service
Hon David Seymour Minister for Regulation Associate Minister of Finance
Hon Shane Jones Minister for Regional DevelopmentAssociate Minister of Finance
Hon Chris Bishop Minister of Infrastructure Associate Minister of Finance
Hon Paul Goldsmith Minister of State Owned Enterprises
Hon Matt Doocey Minister for ACC
Hon Simon Watts Minister of Revenue

List of secretaries to the Treasury

The Secretary to the Treasury is the public service head of the department. The role was created in 1873 when the offices of paymaster-general and under treasurer were amalgamated. [7]

NamePortraitTerm of office
1Charles Thomas Batkin1873–1878
2James Clark Gavin1878–1890
3James Barnes Heywood1890–1906
4Robert Joseph Collins Colonel Robert Joseph Collins.jpg 1906–1910
5Joseph William Poynton Joseph William Poynton.jpg 1910–1912
6George Frederick Colin Campbell George Frederick Colin Campbell (cropped).jpg 1912–1921
7James Jacob Esson James Jacob Esson.jpg 1922–1925
8Robert Edward Hayes Robert Edward Hayes.jpg 1925–1929
9Alexander Dallas Park Alexander Dallas Park.jpg 1930–1935
10George Charles Rodda1935–1939
11 Bernard C. Ashwin 1939–1955
12 Ed Greensmith 1955–1964
13Doug Barker1964–
14 Noel Davis −1968
15 Henry Lang 1968–1977
16 Noel Vernon Lough 1977–1980
17 Bernie Galvin 1980–1986
18 Graham Scott 1986–1993
19 Murray Horn 1993–1998
20 Alan Bollard Alan Bollard cropped MPS2008-06-05 10-14-57.jpg 1998 – April 2002
— Mark Prebble (acting) Mark Prebble CNZM (cropped).jpg April 2002 – 8 April 2003
21 John Whitehead 8 April 2003 – 1 June 2011
22 Gabriel Makhlouf Gabriel Makhlouf.jpg 1 June 2011 – 27 June 2019
23 Caralee McLiesh 16 September 2019 –

Structure

Senior leadership [8]

Units within the Treasury

Debt Management Office

The New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO) is the part of The Treasury responsible for managing the Crown's debt, its cash flows and its interest-bearing deposits. The 1988 reforms of the Government's financial management led to its establishment with the aim of improving the management of the Government's debt portfolio. [9]

Central Agencies Shared Services

Central Agencies Shared Services (CASS) is a shared services centre housed within the Treasury. Set up in March 2012, it provides information technology and management, human resources, and finance services to the Treasury, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Public Service Commission. [10] Aside from providing these services, the goal of CASS is to set an example for other state sector organisations in sharing service delivery functions. [11]

Crown company monitoring

The Crown owns many companies, including state-owned enterprises, Crown entities, and Crown Research Institutes. The Treasury's Commercial Operations group assists the Crown in the running of these. This group includes what was the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit (COMU, pronounced "co-moo") from November 2009 to February 2014, [12] and before that the Crown Company Monitoring and Advisory Unit. [13]

Controversies

The Treasury has courted controversy, particularly since the Rogernomics reforms of the 1980s. Given the agency's key influence and impact on fiscal policy, it has been accused by critics in recent years of inaccurate forecasts, [14] regulatory capture and political partisanism, [15] [16] [17] [18] and accepting corporate gifts from the financial industry. [19] [20]

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References

  1. ↑ "Total Appropriations for Each Vote". Budget 2019. The Treasury.
  2. ↑ "Ministerial List". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet . Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. ↑ "History of the Treasury". The Treasury. 10 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Treasury: Implementing and managing the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme" (PDF). Office of the Auditor-General. New Zealand Government. September 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "prefu-befu and what it means for your interest rates". Stuff/Fairfax. 2023.
  6. ↑ "Our Ministers". The Treasury. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "Parliament". New Zealand Mail. 26 October 1872. p. 2. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "Treasury Organisation Structure – The Treasury – New Zealand". treasury.govt.nz. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Welcome to the New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO)". New Zealand Debt Management Office. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  10. ↑ "Central Agencies Shared Services (CASS)". The Treasury. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Setting up Central Agencies Shared Services (PDF) (Report). Wellington: Controller and Auditor-General of New Zealand. June 2014. p. 7.
  12. ↑ "Treasury completes review of commercial operations". Treasury. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  13. ↑ "Corporate governance". 2010 Annual Portfolio Report. Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Bernard Hickey (15 May 2011). "Take forecasts with grain of salt". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland.
  15. ↑ "Treasury defends accounting practice of not booking potential SOE dividend losses from SOE sell-down until after election". Interest.co.nz. 29 February 2012.
  16. ↑ John Hartevelt (21 March 2012). "Stick to knitting, teachers tell Treasury". Dominion Post. Wellington.
  17. ↑ John Armstrong (7 April 2012). "Commission fiddles while its cred burns". The New Zealand Herald. Wellington.
  18. ↑ Paul McBeth (24 January 2012). "Treasury stuck in its ways – stakeholders". The New Zealand Herald.
  19. ↑ John Hartevelt (23 July 2011). "Treasury gift investigation considered". Dominion Post. Wellington.
  20. ↑ John Hartevelt (22 July 2011). "Greens demand audit over corporate gifts". Dominion Post. Wellington.
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