The Treasury (New Zealand)

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The Treasury
Māori : Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa
The Treasury of New Zealand
Jurisdiction Public finances
legal form Public Service Department
Legal basis Public Finance Act 1989
Headquarters Wellington
Establishment date 1840
minister Grant Robertson Labor Party
since October 26, 2017
Employee 300
As of 2015
budget 4th NZ $ 600 million
as of 2014
Website : www.treasury.govt.nz

The Treasury is New Zealand's Treasury Department. It advises the government on issues relating to the country's economic, financial and regulatory policy. As the central public service department , it is its job to support other ministries and authorities in achieving better line records.

vision

In the vision of the tax authorities it is postulated to achieve a higher standard of living for the New Zealanders. One would like to achieve this by ensuring economic growth, reducing risks, creating a social infrastructure, ensuring equality and justice and, in the future, sustainability.

Responsible ministers

The Ministry of Finance reports to the Minister of Finance and, depending on the formation of the government, reports to some other ministers. Under the government of John Key as of 2014, these were Steven Joyce - Minister for Regulatory Reform, Minister of Science and Innovation, Associate Minister of Finance, Paula Bennett - Associate Minister of Finance and Todd McClay - Minister for State Owned Enterprises.

Responsible for laws

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for drafting the following laws:

  • Public Finance Act 1989 - Public Finance Act
  • State Sector Act 2004 - law that regulates the state
  • Crown Entities Act 2004 - Crown Companies Act
  • State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 - State-Owned Enterprises Act

history

The Treasury was founded in 1840, the year the Treaty of Waitangi was signed , making it one of the oldest government agencies in New Zealand. The agency's first treasurer , George Cooper , was an extremely well paid man. With an annual salary of £ 600  , he was the highest paid government official of his time alongside the Chief Commissioner of Land Claims and Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson . His first official act was to take a UK government loan of £ 5,000 in gold coins for the new colony and secure the money.

Until the first general election in 1854, the governors of New Zealand ruled the colony and, together with the Colonial Secretary (in charge of public services), determined the functioning of the Treasury, whose main task was to implement the requirements of the British government and the expenditure of the Control colony. With the formation of the first government in 1856, Parliament also got the opportunity to vote on the colony's annual budget. But the parliamentarians' ability to do this was still limited.

In 1870 the position of Auditor-General was created to review colony expenses for relevance and legitimacy. With that, The Treasury lost control and influence and it was in 1888 the Audit Department that presented to Parliament an analysis of New Zealand's public spending, beginning in 1832, underlining the Treasury Department's loss of power. Until 1907 the Minister of Finance prepared his own budget without the support of the Treasury Department and was only controlled by the Audit Department and the Auditor-General. When New Zealand became a Dominion in 1907 , that was to change under the government of Joseph Ward . For the next 15 years, financial management was reassigned to the Treasury Department. During this time, the workforce grew from 32 in 1896 to 55 in 1914 and to 87 in the early 1930s.

In the early 1920s, a professional accounting system was introduced to achieve stricter control of expenditure; the debt settlement service already accounted for around 40% of all government spending. Getting government spending under control became one of the Treasury Department's most important tasks, even after the Great Depression . In order to remove monetary stability from the influence of politics, The Treasury campaigned for the establishment of an independent central bank in New Zealand in the early 1930s. Backed by the financial experts of the Bank of England , Otto Ernst Niemeyer , in 1934, finally, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand founded.

Shortly after the Labor Party took over government in 1935, demands came from the party to remove reactionary people and people of poor social background from the agency. Private shareholders were also immediately removed by law from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and paid out. The Treasury Department's role as economic advisor to the government was difficult in these times, as Labor politicians were suspicious of the agency's economists. This only changed from the 1960s onwards, after Labor was replaced for the second time by the National Party , which saw the Treasury Department's task not only in financial management, but also as an advisor on economic issues.

When Robert Muldoon from the National Party took over government, not only New Zealand but also the Treasury Department faced difficult times. As a result of the oil crisis in the 1970s and Great Britain's accession to the European Community , New Zealand lost or weakened important markets. The government's actions to revive the economy ran counter to the recommendations of the Treasury Department economists. Tensions mounted and the Muldoon government's move did not work.

Interestingly, the correspondence between The Treasury and government policy did not return until National was replaced by Labor in 1984 and Roger Douglas became Treasury Secretary. Douglas ended the previous government's restrictive fiscal policies, devalued the New Zealand dollar and released its exchange rate. He cut subsidies, halved the tax rate, introduced the Goods and Services Tax of 10% and ensured that former state-owned companies were privatized. His radical financial and economic policy was nicknamed Rogernomics . Even if Labor no longer found itself in Douglas’s policies and internal party conflicts led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Lange in 1989 , Douglas’s policies were in line with The Treasury. Managing the economy was one of the most important tasks of the Treasury Department until the mid-1990s. The Asian financial crisis called for support for the government's consolidation course.

The professionalization of the Treasury Department and the occupation of well-trained experts, at the latest since the 1920s, meant that the agency became the most important advisor to the respective governments on financial and economic policy issues.

literature

  • Malcolm McKinnon : Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . Auckland University Press , Auckland 2003, ISBN 1-86940-296-0 (English).
  • The Treasury Annual Report 2013/14 . The Treasury , Wellington 2014, ISBN 978-0-478-42191-0 (English, online PDF 1.1 MB [accessed July 26, 2015]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b History of the Treasury. The Treasury, October 10, 2014, accessed July 26, 2015 .
  2. ^ Hon. Grant Robertson . New Zealand Parliament , June 19, 2018, accessed August 3, 2018 .
  3. ↑ The Treasury Annual Report 2013/14 . Wellington 2014, p.  84 .
  4. ↑ Who we are. The Treasury, October 9, 2014, accessed July 26, 2015 .
  5. ↑ The Treasury Annual Report 2013/14 . Wellington 2014, p.  2-3 .
  6. ^ Treasury Ministers. The Treasury, October 9, 2014, accessed July 26, 2015 .
  7. ^ Legislation Administered by the Treasury. The Treasury, March 21, 2011, accessed July 26, 2015 .
  8. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 24-25 .
  9. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 31-33 .
  10. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 39-41 .
  11. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 74-75 .
  12. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 59 .
  13. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 95 .
  14. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 91 .
  15. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 101 .
  16. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 124 .
  17. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 156 .
  18. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 223 .
  19. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 274 .
  20. ^ McKinnon: Treasury - The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 . 2003, p. 313, 317 .
  21. ↑ In the Revolution's Twilight - The Ascendance of Roger Douglas. The Free Radical, accessed July 27, 2015 .