New Zealand Treasury


The New Zealand Treasury 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.
Treasury has four main functions:
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.
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.
Today 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:
The Treasury serves 4 portfolios and 7 ministers.
OFFICEHOLDERPORTFOLIOOTHER RESPONSIBILITY
Hon Grant RobertsonLead Minister
Minister of Finance
Rt Hon Winston PetersDeputy Prime Minister
Minister for State-Owned Enterprises
Hon Dr David ClarkAssociate Minister of Finance
Hon David ParkerAssociate Minister of Finance
Hon Stuart NashMinister of Revenue
Hon Shane JonesMinister of InfrastructureAssociate Minister of Finance
Hon James ShawAssociate Minister of Finance

List of Secretaries to the Treasury

The Secretary to the Treasury is the public service head of the department.
NameDates
George Cooper1840–1842
Alexander Shepherd1842–1856
Christopher Richmond1857–1858
-
G. C. Rodda1935–1939
Bernard C. Ashwin1939–1955
Ed Greensmith1955–1964
Doug Barker1964–
Noel Davis−1968
Henry Lang1968–1977
Noel Vernon Lough1977–1980
Bernie Galvin1980–1986
Graham Scott1986–1993
Murray Horn1993–1998
Alan Bollard1998 – April 2002
Mark Prebble April 2002 – 8 April 2003
John Whitehead8 April 2003 – 1 June 2011
Gabriel Makhlouf1 June 2011 – 27 June 2019
Caralee McLiesh16 September 2019 –

Structure

Senior leadership

Debt Management Office

The New Zealand Debt Management Office 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.

Central Agencies Shared Services

Central Agencies Shared Services 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 State Services Commission. Aside from providing these services, the goal of CASS is to set an example for other state sector organisations in sharing service delivery functions.

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 from November 2009 to February 2014, and before that the Crown Company Monitoring and Advisory Unit.

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, regulatory capture and political partisanism, and accepting corporate gifts from the financial industry.