33 Persons who are to make decisions for agencies and Ministers

(1) An application to an agency is to be dealt with on behalf of the agency by—

(a) if the agency is a department or public authority—the agency's principal officer; or

(b) if the agency is a local government—

(i) the agency's principal officer; or

(ii) another officer of the agency who the local government, by resolution, nominates.

(2) A nomination under subsection (1)(b)(ii) may be general or limited to a particular application.

(3) An application to a Minister may be dealt with by the person the Minister directs, either generally or in a particular case.

(4) Under subsection (1)(a), an agency's principal officer may delegate the power to deal with the application to—

(a) another officer of the agency; or

(b) if the principal officer of a portfolio agency agrees—the principal officer of the portfolio agency.

(5) The principal officer of a portfolio agency may subdelegate a power delegated to him or her under subsection (4)(b).

(6) In this section—

portfolio agency, in relation to an agency, means another department or public authority that is administered by the Minister who administers the agency.