11 March 2011
Agriculture and forestry minister David Carter has welcomed a government decision to merge the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry with the Ministry of Fisheries. "This merger creates a single organisation which will be an efficient and co-ordinated voice for all New Zealand's primary industries. Most importantly, it will provide integrated policy advice to better support the government's agenda for long-term economic growth from our primary producers. New Zealand's future prosperity relies on the strength and productivity of our primary industries."The new agency will be better equipped to work with primary sector stakeholders, including iwi, local government and international trading partners on regulatory, food and biosecurity issues. It will also reduce duplication and operational costs, and I expect a proportion of these savings will be shared with the sectors the agency works with to reduce the costs of doing business," said Mr Carter.
A merger date of 1 February 2012 has been agreed, to allow time for stakeholder engagement, staff consultation, planning, any legislative change required and to prepare both agencies for the merger.
Announcing the move, minister of state services Tony Ryall said the merger will deliver better results for New Zealanders by reducing back-office bureaucracy and lowering the cost of delivering government services.
"This merger is part of the government's ongoing programme to improve public services during times of increasing financial restraint and rising public expectation of service delivery," he said.
The government expects annual savings of at least $10 million, with further savings expected over time through merging corporate administration processes and rationalising accommodation. One-off costs of transition will be met from within existing baselines without impacting on service delivery.
This follows the re-amalgamation last year of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority which had been separated in July 2007.
The Ministry of Fisheries was established as a stand-alone agency in 1995 after being separated from MAF, New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. After the departure of Fisheries, MAF became the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1998 the Ministry of Agriculture merged with the Ministry of Forestry which had been created following the dis-establishment of the NZ Forest Service in 1987.
The government has not yet announced the name of the new ministry, but the buzz around the Beehive is that it will be called the Ministry of Primary Industry.
Primary source: NZ Goverment media releases. Historical information: Wikipedia