The following section provides a commentary on the Ministry's key achievements during the 2003/04 year, and identifies how the Ministry's work contributes to its specified outcomes.
The review of the Antiquities Act 1975 aims to make the operation of the Act more effective by more clearly and comprehensively describing those objects that require export applications.
The Antiquities Amendment Bill will also enable New Zealand to participate in the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970) and the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995). Participation in these two Conventions will require New Zealand to introduce restrictions on the importation from other countries of stolen or illegally exported heritage objects.
Policy proposals for the Antiquities Amendment Bill were approved by Cabinet in October 2003, and drafting instructions for the Bill were submitted to the Parliamentary Counsel Office in December 2003. National Interest Analyses were presented to the House for New Zealand's proposed accession to the UNESCO and UNIDROIT Conventions. These were referred for examination to the Government Administration Select Committee.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Bill was introduced in early 2003. The Ministry provided advice to the Government Administration Select Committee, which considered the Bill. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act came in to force on 6 April 2004.
The Act replaces the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 1988, re-establishes the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as an ‘autonomous' non-company Crown entity and specifies the Orchestra's principal objectives and functions.
During the year, the Ministry worked on the development of the Historic Places Amendment Bill, which is designed to strengthen the New Zealand Historic Places Trust's governance arrangements, categorise the Trust as a Crown entity, provide for greater public involvement in the process of registering historic heritage, and adjust and clarify some provisions of the Historic Places Act 1993.
The Bill was introduced to the House in September 2004 and was referred to the Government Administration Select Committee. Public submissions on the Bill are currently being sought.
In the 2003 Budget, $563,000 was allocated to this fund to provide incentives for the conservation of nationally significant heritage properties in private ownership. The fund is administered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
During the year, the Ministry worked with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust to develop its policy for distributing grants from the fund, to clarify accountability and ensure that the fund will operate effectively. The policy was approved by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage in May 2004, and a number of funding allocations have been made to property owners.
As one of several new government initiatives to support New Zealand writers and literature, the Ministry commissioned a report on the size and nature of the New Zealand book publishing industry, with a particular focus on export earnings.
Based on the report's findings, the Ministry led consultation with the sector on the establishment of an audience development strategy for New Zealand literature. Creative New Zealand has designed and begun implementing the strategy, with input from the Ministry and the literary and publishing sectors.
The Ministry, in co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the New Zealand Film Commission, negotiated amendments to New Zealand's film co-production agreement with Italy. The amended agreement was signed by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage in Rome in May 2004.
A new co-production agreement with Singapore was also prepared for signing, and substantial progress was made towards finalising a new co-production agreement with Germany.
Following consultation with leading screen producers and relevant government departments, the Ministry has helped to develop a new template setting out New Zealand's preferred position on co-production film agreements.
The Ministry published the third report in a series that monitors the sponsorship environment in which cultural organisations operate. The report was based on findings from an online survey of 100 corporate sponsors and 39 cultural organisations.
The research sought information on the types of activities that were supported, the levels of sponsorship support, what drives sponsorship decisions, and what the benefits are for corporate sponsors and the organisations they support.
The nationally significant Kemp House and Stone Store in Kerikeri are at risk of being damaged or destroyed by flooding caused by the piers of a nearby bridge, which acts as a dam when the Kerikeri River is in flood.
In the 2003 Budget, Ministers agreed that an appropriation for the proposed bypass would be ‘treated as a fiscal risk in the 2003/04 contingency'. In recognition of its national significance, the Ministry worked with the Far North District Council and Transfund throughout the year to advance this project. Resource consents and a designation were obtained by the Council in March 2004, and revised costings prepared by June.
The Ministry assisted the Council to prepare an application to Transfund for a 75% financial assistance rate for the cost of the bypass. Cabinet approval of government funding to meet the remaining 25% from Arts, Culture and Heritage funding has been secured since the end of the year in review.
In response to Taking on the World, the report of the Screen Production Taskforce produced in March 2003, the government agreed that the Ministry would review the existing government mechanisms for supporting screen production. The review was carried out in consultation with a steering group representing the State Services Commission, Te Puni Kōkiri, the Treasury, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Following initial sector consultation, the Ministry released a discussion document in March 2004 which outlined objectives and principles for government support and identified challenges and associated issues for the screen sector. It also explored ideas about funding and organisational arrangements that would enable the development and delivery of a coherent approach which linked and balanced government's objectives across the whole screen sector.
Nineteen submissions were received, 17 of which represented the views of agencies or organisations in the sector. Informed by these submissions, the Ministry advised the government in June 2004 that overall the screen sector:
In June 2004 Cabinet agreed to establish a Screen Co-ordination Group of agency board chairs and chief executives, to be convened by the Ministry. The primary role of the Group is to enhance co-ordination, co-operation, information sharing and the better alignment of agency priorities and implementation. In particular, it is expected to manage co-ordination and overlap issues arising from the many screen funding pathways.
In April 2004, Cabinet agreed that a policy should be developed for best-practice management of government departments' heritage properties. The policy's development reflects the government's commitment to provide leadership in historic heritage management.
The Ministry has engaged a team of heritage experts to develop the best-practice general policy and we will work with departments responsible for heritage properties to develop guidelines which apply the policy to the circumstances of each department.
This Group, convened by the Ministry, includes the chief executives of the Ministry for the Environment, Department of Conservation, Te Puni Kōkiri, and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The Group met twice during the year to discuss heritage issues of shared interest with a view to ensuring co-ordination of programmes. Issues discussed included the upgrade of the New Zealand Archaeological Association's Site Recording Scheme,the best-practice policy for management of government departments' heritage properties, and the Resource Management Act review.
This year the Radio New Zealand Amendment Act completed the final stages of the parliamentary process of legislative review, as a result of the first five-yearly review of the Radio New Zealand Charter. Such reviews are an important means of ensuring that major government-supported institutions are publicly accountable and that their empowering legislation is up to date and effective. The new Act came into force on 1 July 2004.
A working group established by the government in 2002 to investigate television violence in New Zealand was chaired by Dr Rajen Prasad and included representatives of broadcasting, academic, regulatory and community interests.
In April 2004 the group presented its report Towards Precautionary Risk Management of TV Violence in New Zealand together with the research report Television Violence in New Zealand: A Study of Programming and Policy in International Context, commissioned from the Centre for Communication Research at the Auckland University of Technology. The government is currently studying the report and its recommendations.
The Ministry, which had earlier advised the government on the terms of reference and composition of the group, provided a secretariat to the group, managed the research contract, and oversaw the preparation and distribution of the reports in print and on a dedicated website, www.tv-violence.org.nz.
The Ministry prepared the paper Broadcasting in New Zealand: A 2003 Stocktake for consultation with the public and the private sector on strategic issues in broadcasting. Responses to this paper combined with presentations made at a major conference, New Future for Public Broadcasting, in November 2003 have been used to inform the Ministry and Minister of Broadcasting on critical issues for a programme of policy work for the remainder of this decade. The programme is being developed from a set of principles to guide government involvement in public broadcasting.
Following consideration of papers on digital television, Cabinet approved a series of policy decisions to lay the ground for the introduction of digital television in this country. The work was led by the Ministry of Economic Development. This Ministry contributed papers and advice relating to public broadcasting and the continuation of analogue transmission to remote areas.
A discussion paper raising issues about the introduction of digital audio broadcasting was published and disseminated. Responses were collated and form the basis for industry consultation which commenced in July 2004.
Most of the government's funding and support for arts, culture and heritage services is delivered by agencies at arm's length from government. The quality of those agencies' performance is vital to the achievement of the government's desired outcomes. By helping to ensure effective service delivery by agencies, the Ministry's agency advisory role makes an important contribution to the achievement of the government's arts, culture and heritage outcomes.
The Ministry monitors agencies' service performance and accountability, and where necessary supports agencies in meeting their accountability requirements, developing capability, and enhancing their strategic risk management. The Ministry also provides advice to the government on agencies' effectiveness in meeting both the government's short-term interests, through the delivery of funded programmes, and its longer-term interests, such as outcomes, strategic direction and agency capability.
The Ministry performed these roles in relation to the following agencies during 2003/04:
In 2003/04 a major focus for the Ministry with respect to agencies was to support the whole-of-government approach to improve contracting with funded organisations. This work followed the 2003 reviews of various contract failings, and the Treasury's December 2003 revision of its Guidelines for Contracting with Non-Government Organisations.
The Ministry reviewed its contracts with the funded agencies and recommended changes in a number of areas, including improving the outcomes focus, removing the automatic rollover of expired agreements, requiring a discussion on the use of operating surpluses, and strengthening the provisions on sanctions for non-performance. These changes were agreed to by Ministers and the funded organisations.
The Ministry continued work with the State Services Commission on the details of consequential amendments to empowering Acts as a result of the Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill. Work was also done with the Ministerial Review Unit at the State Services Commission, providing advice on how the Ministry administered policies targeted toward the needs of ethnic groups, whether on the basis of need, right, or legal obligation.
The Ministry also worked with Te Puni Kōkiri on the development of a Māori Language Strategy for the arts sector. This has implications for Creative New Zealand and Te Matatini, the Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Society.
This year, the Ministry has continued to provide support to enhance agencies' capability, risk management strategies, performance and governance. Work has focused on the smaller agencies, helping them identify and address areas of risk as well as develop their capacity to deliver funded outputs and contribute to the government's outcomes.
Work in 2003/04 included holding induction workshops for new members of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, Creative New Zealand's Council, and the National War Memorial Advisory Committee, adding a governance and appointments section to the Ministry's website, and publishing the first of a planned regular series of Governance e-newsletters.
The Ministry continued to be proactive in establishing and consolidating relationships with other government departments and agencies involved in appointments and governance. The Ministry was represented on a working committee set up to co-ordinate a larger group of governance personnel from across the public sector.
The government wants to ensure that nationally significant museum collections are adequately housed and easily accessible, giving New Zealanders the opportunity to understand their culture and heritage. While primary responsibility for regional museums rests with their communities, the government supports this aim by making grants to major regional museums for capital construction projects.
During 2003/04, funding was confirmed to support the multi-year redevelopment projects of the Auckland Museum ($5.3 million) and Canterbury Museum ($2 million). Proposed developments by the Nelson Provincial Museum and the Sarjeant Gallery in Wanganui were given offers of funding, subject to conditions, from the 2004/05 funding round.
The Ministry worked with the New Zealand Archaeological Association, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and the Department of Conservation on proposals for providing government support to enable the Association to complete its project to upgrade its records of archaeological sites. The funding secured by the Association for this purpose in the 2004 Budget will contribute to greater access to and understanding of New Zealand's archaeological heritage.
The cultural statistics programme is a joint initiative between the Ministry and Statistics New Zealand to provide high-quality information about the cultural sector. This information contributes to an increased understanding of the nature of New Zealand's culture and heritage.
In 2003/04, work commenced on a project to develop a set of cultural indicators for New Zealand. The project is overseen by a steering group of interested government departments and is scheduled to be completed in late 2004. In addition, work was undertaken to update information previously produced under the programme. Government Spending on Culture 1999-2003 and Employment in the Cultural Sector will be published in late 2004.
The Ministry is responsible for providing advice on the allocation of non-commercial broadcast frequencies, managing of licence applications, and monitoring broadcaster compliance with licence conditions.
In 2003/04, the Ministry commenced a project to improve the non-commercial licensing regime, and worked with the Radio Spectrum Management Group in the Ministry of Economic Development to manage relicensing matters and respond to public enquiries on non-commercial licence issues.
The Ministry conducted an ‘expressions of interest' process for the reallocation of the Channel 40 UHF TV licence in Wellington, and began this process for the 810AM radio frequency in Auckland.
New Zealanders are becoming increasingly interested in this country's rich and diverse past. The Ministry builds on and responds to this interest by producing accessible and informative studies that help people to better understand New Zealand's history. We pay close attention to how those histories are written and produced; the emphasis is on producing lively, engaging accounts of the past that people find useful, reliable, and entertaining.
New Zealanders are also obtaining their history through a variety of media, and we make it accessible to people in forms such as illustrated histories, websites, seminars and oral histories. The historians participate in radio programmes, contribute to newspaper and magazine items, give advice on historical matters, and run training workshops in the community.
Historians from the Ministry deliver the weekly ‘History' slot on TV1's Good Morning show. This initiative takes New Zealand history to a broad cross-section of the population and is an important way of contributing to the greater understanding and awareness of our country's past.
Producing histories of government and the activities of the state is a core function for the Ministry. Three major histories of the state's activities were published during the year, and together these offer major advances in our understanding of New Zealand's past.
In the last decade or so public interest in war history internationally has grown substantially, and New Zealand is no exception to this trend. People are keen to learn about the place of war in our past, and to understand how it has moulded society and individuals.
We have responded to this interest through producing war histories that are scholarly yet written to engage a general readership. Some of the war histories are produced as books with an additional website component on the Ministry's history website, www.nzhistory.net.nz. Others are produced as oral histories, with edited extracts reproduced as books and websites.
The website ‘exhibitions' adapt and enhance print publications, incorporating sound, including oral histories and film where available. During the year the Ministry prepared two war history exhibitions, and launched a specific ‘New Zealanders at War' section of www.nzhistory.net.nz. Such exhibitions make New Zealand's war history available to the international community, as well as to a wider range of users in New Zealand, including schools.
Two major war histories were published during the year. New Zealand and the Second World War: The People, the Battles and the Legacy is an overview of New Zealand's involvement in the Second World War. It is a highly illustrated and accessible account that is designed to appeal to readers who may know little of this important period in our history.
A Fair Sort of Battering: New Zealanders Remember the Italian Campaign is a collection of stories from men and women who served in Italy during the Second World War. It is the third in a series of oral histories that seek to offer New Zealanders highly personal perspectives of war.
The Ministry appointed an oral historian to manage the newly established War Oral History Programme to record the stories of former servicemen and women from all the wars in which New Zealand has taken part, from the Second World War on. New Zealand's D-Day veterans are the first group to be interviewed.
On 2 September 2004 the Speaker, Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt, launched an online adaptation of The House: New Zealand's House of Representatives 1854–2004 at www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/parlt-hist.
This is a multimedia exhibition including words, photographs, cartoons, film, sound extracts, commentaries, and an interactive series of panoramas. The combination of media puts this online history of Parliament at the forefront of digital histories of parliaments internationally.
The House online traces Parliament's history through various themes: MPs, staff and spectators, buildings and grounds, the business of the House. There are special features including Parliament seen through postcards, Parliament in cartoons, Parliament in poetry complete with sound recordings of the poems, and Parliament in te reo.
The most significant and innovative feature of the site is a series of stunning panoramas showing the buildings and grounds, and providing a virtual tour of Parliament. The panoramas include 360 x 180-degree images made by combining data captured from a rotational slit-scan film camera with that from a digital camera with a fisheye lens.
The panoramas show details of all of the main public rooms in Parliament Buildings, but also offer views of rooms not on public display, such as the Speaker's Office. Most of the panoramas have a sound commentary, with those showing the new and old Māori Affairs Select Committee rooms also having commentary in te reo.
The House online is the second of three major projects the Ministry is completing for the 150th anniversary of Parliament. The first, the book of the same name, was published in May; work is under way on the third project, a CD of the site suitable for schools.
The Ministry offers a Fellowship in Māori History for projects that fit within the scope of the History Group, such as histories of activities of the state or histories of war. The Fellow for 2004–6 is Monty Soutar, who is completing a history of C Company of 28 Maori Battalion, which fought with distinction during the Second World War.
The Ministry's history website, www.nzhistory.net.nz, continues to be New Zealand's premier history website. With over 100,000 visitor sessions each month — upwards of one million a year — the site is a vital way of informing New Zealand, and the rest of the world, about this country's past. The site is multi-media, and features text, still and moving images, sounds, quizzes, oral histories and digitised versions of original documents.
There are currently more than 40 ‘exhibitions' on the site, many of which are online adaptations and enhancements of the Ministry's book publications. Five new exhibitions were added during the year. These included an exhibition on the Italian campaign timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Cassino, and an exhibition on D-Day released on the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
In keeping with the Ministry's role in producing war histories, sections of the site were redesigned under the heading ‘New Zealanders at War'; design of the ‘Second World War' section in particular was advanced.
A major adaptation and enhancement of the print publication The House: New Zealand's House of Representatives 1854–2004 was added to the site.
The Ministry is in the process of redesigning the entire site. The first two stages of the redesign have been completed in association with an external provider, and plans are in hand for the implementation of some of this work. This will include a section designed for teachers of New Zealand history.
There was substantial progress during the second year of the project to prepare Te Ara, the online Encyclopedia of New Zealand. By 30 June 2004, all the 104 entries for the initial launch of the encyclopedia had been received and checked. Over 2,000 images, sounds and films to accompany the text had also been chosen, and most of the entries had been edited.
The launch in February 2005 will include 96 entries about ‘The New Zealanders'. There will be essays on the different settlement groups, from English, Scots and Irish to Cambodians and Tokelauans, and an introduction to the major Māori tribes.
There will be contextual essays giving the story of people's arrival in the country, such as an entry on ‘When did people first arrive in New Zealand?' and one on ‘The voyage out' to New Zealand. As part of the resources for this last entry, New Zealanders were asked to send in stories about voyages to New Zealand. Over 250 stories were received, and about 20 will be used on the site.
The launch will also see eight entries providing an overview of New Zealand, and a complete searchable version of An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand edited by A.H. McLintock and published in 1966. This year, the Encyclopaedia has been digitised and fully prepared for the web.
Work on the design of Te Ara, which means ‘the pathway' in Māori, was completed and received warmly by those who have seen it. The design will allow for different levels of users, from primary schoolchildren wanting a quick easy summary through to scholars or those seeking to access the site in the Māori language.
Work also began on the next theme of Te Ara, entitled ‘Earth, Sea and Sky'. A science editor and two science writers were appointed. By year-end, 88 of the proposed 120 entries had been commissioned and 13 entries had been received. This theme will look at such subjects as volcanoes, earthquakes, seabirds, fish and the night sky. Excellent cooperation has developed with the Crown Research Institutes, especially GNS and NIWA.
Over last summer we invited people to send in stories about their voyage to New Zealand, or that of an ancestor. We were staggered at the response, receiving over 250 contributions, many of them supported by photos.
They included many accounts of the perils of the nineteenth century journey out in small sailing ships. There were sad tales of babies lost and drunken doctors, of the smell of pigs and the taste of stale water. We also received many happier descriptions from ‘Captain Cookers' – British immigrants who crammed into six-berth cabins on the Captain Cook, on which they were fed propaganda about the wonders of New Zealand as they looked forward to a new life in the 1950s.
But terror and adventure occurred even in the twentieth century. One correspondent told of how his family set off from England in the Queen Mary in 1949. The first stop was Cherbourg in France. In the pitch blackness of night, the anchor snagged an anti-submarine cable and the ship threatened to drift towards a sunken wreck which would have pierced its hull. Eventually it ran aground on a sandbar.
Queen Mary returned to Southampton to have its hull plugged with concrete. After five days they set off again into an Atlantic storm. When the family reached New York, they went on by train to San Francisco, but found on arrival that they had lost their air booking. The only option was a troop-carrying plane belonging to Siamese Airways. Their seats were stretched canvas and their beds were lilos ‘which we inflated by removing a centre bung from one of the small viewing windows and pushing the tube into the slip-stream'.
Twenty-six days after they had first left England, the family arrived in a very sleepy Auckland.
During 2003/04 the Ministry maintained work on the DNZB online website with two updates and the addition of 95 images and 64 sound files. A further 70 images were also obtained for loading in 2004/05. The site is now attracting a steady 20,000 visitors a month. Entries in Te Ara will also be linked to relevant DNZB biographies.
Each year the Ministry oversees a substantial programme of maintenance of national monuments and war and historic graves all over New Zealand. This year, notable projects included tracing the graves of South African War casualties who died within New Zealand from war-related causes within a year of their discharge; completion of the works inside the tower of the Savage Memorial in Auckland; and completion of the fencing of the war graves plot in the Magiagi Cemetery, Apia, Samoa.
The Director-General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission visited New Zealand in February 2004 and inspected a range of cemeteries around the country which contain war graves.
Some basic maintenance work was undertaken at the National War Memorial, including replacement of the skylights in the Hall of Memories, repairs to the windows, repainting of the doors and balcony railings, and re-fixing of the bird screens. Despite the inconvenience caused by the maintenance work, the memorial continued to host major military anniversary commemorations such as Anzac Day.
Work began on preparing the site for the construction of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, which is due to be completed in early November 2004.
For several years, the Ministry has been working on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior project, which will repatriate the body of an unknown New Zealand soldier who was killed in World War One for burial at the National War Memorial in Wellington.
The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior will serve as a focus of remembrance of the sacrifice made by New Zealand servicemen and women in overseas wars. Of the approximately 30,000 New Zealand fatalities in the wars of the twentieth century, there were 9,000 whose identity could not be determined or whose bodies were never recovered. Many were known to be New Zealanders by their uniform or badges, but could not otherwise be identified.
One unknown New Zealand soldier of World War One will be selected to return to New Zealand. We will not know his name, rank, regiment, race, religion or any other detail of his life. He represents all New Zealanders who became lost to their families through war, and could be related to almost any of us.
The body of the Unknown Warrior will be chosen by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission from a cemetery in France, in the area where the greatest number of New Zealand regiments and battalions fought. The body will be handed over to a representative of New Zealand at an appropriate ceremony.
The Unknown Warrior will then be returned to New Zealand in November 2004 on an RNZAF aircraft with an accompanying honour guard. The official dedication of the Tomb is scheduled to take place on Armistice Day, 11 November 2004.
In the meantime, the Ministry has overseen an upgrade of the National War Memorial and the design of the tomb. The Tomb will be located in front of the National War Memorial in Wellington and was designed by New Zealand artist and sculptor Kingsley Baird. The design is inspired by the Southern Cross constellation and will be constructed of black granite, Takaka marble, pounamu and bronze.
The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior project is being co-ordinated by the Ministry. Other government departments involved include the New Zealand Defence Force, Veterans Affairs New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs (Visits and Ceremonial Office), Te Puni Kōkiri, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
It is supported by the National War Memorial Advisory Council, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Royal New Zealand Returned Services Association, Te Ati Awa (represented by the Wellington Tenths Trust), and the Wellington City Council.
Through the scheme to indemnify touring exhibitions, the Ministry assists in bringing to New Zealand exhibitions which would not have otherwise been able to visit this country.
Over the past year, the following exhibitions were held: Chinese Dinosaurs at the Otago Museum, The Pre-Raphaelite Dream: Paintings and Drawings from the Tate at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Rosalie Gascoigne at the City Gallery, Wellington, and Temple of Doom: Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru at the Otago Museum.
The return of the New Zealand-owned works from the exhibition Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith, which had been showing in Sydney, was also covered by the scheme.
Under the Antiquities Act 1975, 56 applications to export antiquities were processed during the year; 16 of those approved were for permanent export, and 38 were for temporary export. Two permanent export applications were declined.
As part of the administration of the Act, the Ministry is responsible for finding suitable custodians for newly found Māori artifacts. This involves working closely with Māori communities to decide how an artifact can best be cared for.
During the year, the Ministry was notified of a major find at Kaitorete Spit, on Lake Ellesmere's seaward boundary. Fragments of a korowai (cloak) were found and have been carbon-dated at around 1500AD. This is two centuries older than any other cloak found in New Zealand. The korowai fragments are currently housed at the Canterbury Museum.
Government funding is provided to support Waitangi Day commemorations. This year 55 grants were made to communities to fund Waitangi Day commemorative events. In addition, both the programme of events at Waitangi and the Governor-General's function in Wellington were funded.
The Ministry has worked closely with the government's economic agencies on strategies and initiatives to develop New Zealand's creative industries. The Ministry-led Screen Funding Review resulted from recommendations of the Screen Production Taskforce, convened as part of the Growth and Innovation Framework.
The Ministry also provided input into the establishment of the New Zealand Screen Council, another outcome of the Screen Production Taskforce's recommendations, and provided advice on the establishment of the Large Budget Screen Production Grant administered by the NZ Film Commission.
A start was also made on establishing an annual screen production survey as part of the government's official statistics, with the Ministry working with the Ministry of Economic Development, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Statistics New Zealand and the Screen Council.
The Ministry provided advice to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise during both the consultation phase undertaken by the Music Industry Export Development Group and the subsequent preparation of the Group's report to the Minister for Economic Development. The Group was charged primarily with recommending ways in which the New Zealand music industry and government can work together in partnership to enhance the export potential of New Zealand music.
To promote New Zealand publishing, the Ministry and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise commissioned complementary reports on book exporting and domestic capability. The Ministry's report is informing an audience development strategy for literature which will link with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's role in enhancing the export-readiness of the wider sector.
The Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly convened two meetings of the Cultural Diplomacy Co-ordinating Group in July and October 2003. The Ministry also secured funding, as part of the Growth and Innovation Framework: Global Connectedness package of initiatives, for a Cultural Diplomacy International Programme.
The programme aims to help establish and/or maintain a New Zealand cultural presence in key overseas regions or countries in order to boost New Zealand's profile and economic, trade, tourism, diplomatic and cultural interests. Budgeted at $2.35 million annually, the programme will commence in 2004/05.
The Ministry has played an active part in promoting and disseminating research about the demand for cultural tourism in New Zealand. We organised a presentation in Wellington of the research highlighting the importance of tourism to cultural organisations, and the opportunities it offers them to reach new markets.
This was the first in a series of regional presentations in collaboration with Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Te Papa, Tourism New Zealand, regional economic development agencies and regional tourism offices.
The Ministry continued to participate as a member of the Sustainable Development Co-ordinating Group overseeing the implementation of the government's Sustainable Development Programme of Action.
The Ministry commissioned the report: New Zealand Water Bodies: Cultural Heritage Assessment – Criteria and Methodology. This report contributes to identifying water bodies of national importance as part of the Waterbodies of National Significance project within the Quality and Allocation of Freshwater Programme of Action.
The Ministry contributed to the Ministry for the Environment's development of an Urban Design Protocol for New Zealand as part of the Sustainable Cities Programme of Action.
For the first time, the Local Government Act 2002 identified cultural wellbeing as a discrete purpose of local government. The Ministry helped facilitate two regional workshops, in Wanganui and Wairarapa, to promote dialogue among the cultural sector and local government on how best to meet cultural wellbeing objectives.
The Ministry was also part of an ad-hoc Deputy Secretaries group considering ways to improve the alignment of central and local government contributions to regional outcomes. In this context the Ministry's key focus was on providing leadership for central government's response to regional initiatives for cultural wellbeing.
As part of the direct Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations led by the Office of Treaty Settlements, the Ministry is responsible for negotiating protocols to develop positive working relationships with signatory iwi in terms of the administration of the Antiquities Act 1975.
Following the enactment of the Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Act, the Antiquities Protocol with Te Runanga o Ngati Tama Trust was finalised and issued by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage in December 2003.
The Ministry continued to negotiate Antiquities Protocols with mandated representatives for Te Arawa Lakes, Whanganui River, Ngati Mutunga, and Te Rarawa.
The Ministry's capability is represented by its ability to access the appropriate combination of resources to achieve its outcomes efficiently and effectively. As an organisation, the Ministry cannot accomplish all of its work successfully unless it is clearly focused on its role, has the right people, and has appropriate systems and support in place.
Considerable emphasis continues to be given to ensuring that staff are very clear about the role of the Ministry, including the context in which they must operate, and about the specific functions for which they are responsible.
As the Ministry has grown larger, with broader functions and more sophisticated systems, it has become increasingly important that it formally defines for all staff the context in which they work. The role of staff as impartial public servants is periodically the subject of explicit discussion within the Ministry. So too is the fact that public servants always serve the government of the day. Ministry staff undertake their work with a clear sense of the government's priorities and policy parameters. These matters have been emphasised at induction courses for the 40 or so staff who have joined the Ministry during the past two years, and in messages from the Chief Executive in staff meetings, the in-house newsletter and occasional Ministry-wide emails.
Staff are also reminded regularly of their obligations and responsibilities to act appropriately in their use of public resources, and the Ministry recognises an associated obligation to ensure that the New Zealand public is informed about how these resources are used in the Ministry's work. The organisation produces a twice-yearly newsletter, along with more targeted communications for specific sets of stakeholders. It also maintains a corporate website, and care is taken to ensure that this website is as accessible as possible.
The preparatory work done in 2002 on developing the Ministry's 2003 Statement of Intent identified as critical the need to secure the resources necessary to ensure that the Ministry would have the capability to support the government to achieve its aspirations for the sector. The government provided the Ministry with additional baseline funding of $1.5 million in the 2003/04 Budget, which allowed it to realign its resourcing to address key priorities more effectively.
The early part of the year in review therefore saw a further period of growth and development for the Ministry as it recruited new staff and implemented the enhancements this new funding supported.
The 2003/04 year has been one of consolidating and maturing as an organisation in terms of human resource capability.
There has been continued recruitment over the past year, related to the growth in the Ministry's functions rather than to turnover. The way we recruit is reviewed on an ongoing basis, in particular where we advertise and the selection process, in order to ensure that we are attracting the widest variety of people and are as objective as possible in interviewing and selection.
We have had little difficulty attracting good quality people, due in part to a wider understanding about the work of the Ministry and to our placement as a finalist in Unlimited magazine's ‘20 Best Places to work' for a second consecutive year. Our recruitment and retention strategies have remained effective throughout the year in regard to target groups being attracted and appointed, and in terms of assisting the career progression of key staff.
During 2003/04 a professional development programme was implemented successfully and, along with individual development, some wider Ministry training occurred to provide capability in support of the Ministry's key strategies from the 2003 Statement of Intent.
Project management training has supported the strategy of advancing key projects, while presentation skills training, as well as some short workshops on mentoring and communicating with stakeholders, has particularly supported the Ministry in improving connections with others.
As outlined in the Statement of Intent, a positive organisational culture is a key source of comparative advantage for the Ministry in the highly competitive market from which we draw our staff. PSA membership has been growing in the Ministry, and the collective agreement that was implemented in late 2002 has proven to be a sound basis for sustaining ongoing employee relations harmony.
Various family-friendly initiatives were introduced during the year. Two full-time administrative positions were converted into four part-time roles, which enabled the employment of four people who wished to return to the workforce but also to have time to look after their children. Of our 80 permanent and fixed-term staff in June 2004, ten were working 32 hours or fewer per week.
During the year a Safety and Wellness Action Team was formed and trained to manage occupational health and safety matters affecting the Ministry. Its first task was to update the overarching Health and Safety policy and its associated procedures. The team maintains an ongoing monitoring role to ensure a healthy workplace. The Ministry has also facilitated staff access to a number of services that support personal wellbeing.
Further development of the Ministry's human resource information system occurred during the year with greater use of reporting from the payroll system and the tracking of training data in support of the professional development programme. Information from the payroll system, as well as an analysis of trends from the ‘20 Best Places to Work' survey, have helped us to maintain an overview of the health of the organisation and to highlight areas of future focus for the Ministry's HR strategy.
The Ministry publishes the twice-yearly newsletter Culture and Heritage News from the Ministry. During the year we made information available through this general newsletter, through more specialist communications with particular interest groups such as those involved with Te Ara, and on the Ministry's websites.
The corporate website www.mch.govt.nz is used to disseminate information about the Ministry's operations and activities, and to provide links to other parts of the New Zealand culture and heritage sector. The site attracts around 30,000 visitor sessions a month. Care is taken to ensure that the content is updated as necessary, on at least a weekly basis, and that it is accessible to as many web users as possible, including those with disabilities and those using older technology. The website's compliance with the State Services Commission's guidelines has been independently assessed, and rated as the best of the sites audited by the company.
The Ministry has given particular attention to specific groups of stakeholders with a programme of continuing capability strengthening. The Ministry's four Ministers remain a key focus of this strategy. Regular meetings are held with Ministers' office representatives to ensure effective liaison and support, and Ministers are invited to the Ministry from time to time.
Other important stakeholders with whom the Ministry has specifically communicated are organisations and groups with a particular interest or potential role in relation to, for example, Te Ara or the work of the Ministry's History Group; and the governing boards and management of Crown entities and other cultural organisations receiving funding through the Ministry. The Ministry arranges and takes part in monthly meetings with Crown entity and cultural agency chief executives, and ensures that new board members are effectively briefed for their role.
The Ministry has identified improving connections with its stakeholders as a key focus. During 2003/04 a communications adviser was contracted to the Ministry to provide advice on a range of projects. We have recently appointed a permanent media and publications adviser which will mean that the Ministry's communications programme is formalised and enhanced.
The Ministry has specific interests in culture and heritage, including Māori culture and heritage matters. New Zealand is a land of many cultures, and Māori have a particular place as tangata whenua. The Ministry continues to build its capability to ensure it reflects different cultural perspectives, including a Māori perspective, in its work and advice. For example, work on the first theme of Te Ara, the online Encyclopedia of New Zealand, involved wide-ranging involvement from many cultural groups in the community to reflect their stories of settlement in this country.
Māori Advisory Groups have been established to assist the Ministry's understanding of the Māori culture and heritage viewpoint and to ensure that the Ministry has prudent external advice when required.
The Ministry continues to build internal staffing capability through learning and teaching programmes. The Wānanga o Aotearoa, an established training provider, provided language lessons internally for 18 weeks. Staff who have sought their own learning and teaching courses have been encouraged. Presentations by the Kaihautu on Māori customs, and the inclusion of visiting speakers on Māori issues, support the Ministry's endeavour to improve internal capability. A Māori responsiveness manual has been developed to assist staff when engaging Māori customs and protocols. All staff have the opportunity to participate in pōwhiri, waiata and other Māori tikanga sessions.
The advancement of Te Ara, the online Encyclopedia of New Zealand project, during 2003 added both size and complexity to the Ministry's information management requirements. As a consequence, additional funding was provided by the government in the 2004 Budget to meet the costs of implementing satisfactory web-hosting arrangements for Te Ara and to enable the establishment of an in-house IT Adviser position. This new role was filled immediately, and web-hosting arrangements for Te Ara were also in place by 30 June 2004.
A web-based accounting system was successfully implemented during the first half of 2003/04. Additional hardware to facilitate web-hosting for Te Ara and to cope with the expansion of the Ministry's in-house systems was purchased and implemented during the year, and Microsoft XP was rolled out to all users.
A full review of the Ministry's Microsoft licensing requirements was also carried out during the year, and a three-year ‘Select' agreement was entered into in order to secure a guaranteed upgrade path at minimal cost. The Ministry's secure electronic environment was further enhanced with the implementation of the updated version of the inter-departmental ‘SEEMail' system.
During the year Ministry staff continued to enjoy access to very good library and research resources to support them in their work. By year-end, the overhaul of the Ministry's paper-based file classification system which had commenced in 2002 was complete, and the Ministry's general records and information management policies had been updated and expanded. A discussion paper was produced prior to year-end that outlined ideas for further developing knowledge and information management in the Ministry, and it is intended to implement strategies proposed in this paper over the next two years.
The financial statements showed the Ministry stayed within its departmental appropriations.
There has been provision made in the balance sheet to return to the Crown a surplus of $90,000 on its operations for the 2003/04 year. Of this, only $1,000 is operating under expenditure; the remainder of the surplus is additional revenue generated from third parties, mostly in relation to contracted histories for public sector-clients.
Service performance shows the achievement, or over achievement in many instances, of output targets.
Audit New Zealand has again rated the Ministry's performance for the year as ‘excellent' in each of their five assessment categories covering financial and service performance.
