Statement of Intent
Director-General’s Introduction
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s (MAF’s) Statement of Intent (SOI) should not vary in content that much from year to year. After all, the big picture drivers that shape our work, strategic objectives, and the challenges and opportunities we face, do not often shift substantially from one period to the next.
For this year’s SOI, those big picture drivers are much as they were previously, but the look and form of our document has altered somewhat. These changes have come about for a couple of reasons.
The first is the Government’s decision in 2007 to establish the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) as a stand-alone department of state. The NZFSA was previously a semi-autonomous body attached to MAF and, as such, its outcomes were included in the wider MAF SOI. With this change to our structure, we have dropped one of our previous intermediate outcomes – Safe and Suitable Food.
The second change is one of form. In line with guidance offered to all government departments, we have aimed to simplify the SOI and to align its format to the Treasury’s Estimates document. This should allow easier mapping from one document to the other.
In terms of the substance of our strategic directions and drivers, however, little has changed. MAF is more than ever a busy organisation, with a strong focus on what it needs to do to make a difference in our sphere of activity. While we have major new initiatives to progress in future, all of these are consistent with the well-established theme of a sustainable development agency working with our land-based primary industries, and engaged in the processes of shifting risk goods across the border safely and efficiently.
MAF’s major new initiatives now in progress include:
• leading the development and governance of the forestry and agricultural components of the Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme;
• establishing and operationalising the Government’s innovation partnership with the food and pastoral industries, as announced in the 2008 Budget;
• preparing to incorporate the activities of the former state-owned enterprise, Timberlands West Coast, into the work of our Crown Forestry group, if the Government decides to proceed with this;
• working with the combined group of border agencies to develop and implement integrated, customer-focused systems and processes at the border that effectively provide a single window view of the border regulatory and risk management functions to the users of border services.
As well as our load of business-as-usual activities, these initiatives will ensure that our work in 2008–11 helps create the country New Zealander’s aspire to.
Murray Sherwin
Director-General
Contact for Enquiries
Strategy and Performance Group
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0738
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