Repositioning the Ministry

In order to meet the challenges posed by the priorities of the government, and adoption of Fisheries 2030, the Ministry will have to be more agile and work in a different way. The organisation design review undertaken in 2008/09 was designed to improve our performance and effectiveness, and enable us to deliver on the government’s priorities. At the same time it enabled the Ministry to strengthen accountabilities and clarify the organisation’s leadership and decision-making.

The key changes will deliver:

• A Ministry whose primary focus is on fisheries management. This requires full commitment to objectives-based management, with fisheries managers being the budget holder for research, compliance, and observer services.
• A tighter brief for fisheries managers, with a clearer focus on the core role of government and with a different approach to engagement.
• A field operations group based around three regional hubs, with focused intelligence and planning services.
• A strategy group with widened responsibilities.
• A flexible, Ministry-wide strategic project and change management team, that can act on issues of high organisational importance and support other groups on priority initiatives.
• A deputy chief executive for Treaty Partnership and Obligations to Māori to strengthen these accountabilities.
  

Decisions on the repositioning were announced in June 2009 with the new structure and staff appointments being implemented in the first half of 2009/10.