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Defence Act 1990

Secretary of Defence, Chief of Defence Force, and Chiefs of Service

30: Delegation of functions, duties, and powers

You could also call this:

"When someone in charge gives another person permission to do a task for them"

Illustration for Defence Act 1990

You can think of delegation like giving someone permission to do a task on your behalf. The Minister can delegate some of their tasks to the Chief of Defence Force. The Chief of Defence Force can also delegate tasks to members of the Defence Force. You need to know that the Chief of Service can delegate tasks to members of the Defence Force too. They can give these tasks to specific people or to a group of people with a certain role. The person who is given the task can do it as if they were directly told to do it by the law. The person who delegated the task can take it back at any time. This does not affect anything that was done while the task was delegated. The person who delegated the task can still do the task themselves if they want to. If someone says they are doing a task because they were delegated to do it, you can assume they are allowed to do it. However, this does not apply to tasks that are about giving orders. The Minister, Chief of Defence Force, and Chief of Service can all delegate tasks, but they have to follow the rules.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM206031.

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Part 3Secretary of Defence, Chief of Defence Force, and Chiefs of Service

30Delegation of functions, duties, and powers

  1. The Minister may, from time to time, by writing under the Minister’s hand, either generally or particularly, delegate to the Chief of Defence Force any of the Minister’s functions, duties, or powers, including functions, duties, or powers delegated to the Minister under this Act or any other enactment.

  2. The Chief of Defence Force may, from time to time, by writing under his or her hand, either generally or particularly, delegate to any member of the Defence Force, any of the functions, duties, and powers of the Chief of Defence Force, including any functions, duties, and powers delegated to the Chief of Defence Force by the Minister.

  3. Any Chief of Service may, from time to time, by writing under his or her hand, either generally or particularly, delegate to any member of the Defence Force any of the functions, duties, or powers of the Chief of Service, including functions, duties, and powers delegated to the Chief of Service by the Chief of Defence Force.

  4. Notwithstanding any of the preceding provisions of this section, no function, duty, or power delegated to any person under this section shall be subdelegated by that person if such subdelegation was prohibited by the delegating authority.

  5. A delegation under this section may be made to a person referred to by name, or to the holder of a specified appointment, or to members of a specified class.

  6. Subject to any general or special directions given or conditions attached by the delegating authority, the person to whom any functions, duties, or powers have been delegated may exercise those functions, duties, or powers in the same manner and to the same extent as if they had been directly conferred on that person by this Act and not by delegation.

  7. Any such delegation may at any time be revoked in whole or in part by the delegating authority, but no such revocation shall affect anything done under the delegation.

  8. No delegation under this section shall prevent the exercise by the delegating authority of the delegating authority’s functions, duties, or powers.

  9. The fact that a person purports to exercise any function, duty, or power pursuant to a delegation made under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be sufficient evidence that the person is acting within the scope of the authority conferred by the delegation.

  10. Nothing in this section applies to functions, duties, or powers of command.

Notes
  • Section 30(3): amended, on , by section 4 of the Defence Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 51).