Hiranthi Abeygoonesekera

Director: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

I work as one of the Directors in the Legal Ethics and Privacy Branch (LEAP) of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. We have four Directors in our branch and we either lead high risk and complex matters or support the different legal teams to navigate through difficult situations.

My current role as a Director in the LEAP team gives me a wonderful opportunity to work on high profile, sensitive matters that requires me to be a safe pair of hands helping decision makers to work through the law and ethics and the machinery of government. I’m also a member of the branch Leadership team.

MBIE is a large ministry entrusted with several responsibilities. MBIE administers 14 portfolios across 9 Ministers.  MBIE provides policy advice and delivers regulatory systems that cover interests ranging from building and construction, housing and urban development, broadcasting, communications and digital media, commerce and consumer affairs, energy and resources, infrastructure, regional economic development, research, science and innovation, small business and tourism, ACC, employment, immigration, workplace Relations and Safety. In addition, MBIE provide a range of front-line services, including Immigration New Zealand, the Companies Office, the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, the Insolvency and Trustee Service, mediation services, consumerprotection.govt.nz, employment.govt.nz, and business.govt.nz. MBIE also monitor and oversee 25 Crown entities and a range of statutory and advisory boards and MBIE has a functional leadership role to improve the effectiveness of cross-government procurement and property management. During Covid, MBIE managed MIQ and the essential services portfolio of work interfacing with businesses, including aspects of border controls through immigration.

I find working in government exciting because it gives me an opportunity to be part of some significant initiatives that support the people of New Zealand. Being a government lawyer has helped me understand the machinery of government and be appreciative of the challenges it faces.

Being a lawyer in an organisation with so many different functions provides a great opportunity to engage in diverse areas of legal work. Our branch, led by our Chief Legal Advisor Ann Brennan, comprises a litigation team, commercial team, legislation team, corporate and registries team, privacy team and an Integrity Team.

I have over 25 years’ experience working as a lawyer in Government and in a Crown entity environment. Prior to working at MBIE, I worked at the Ministry of Housing, Housing New Zealand, Capital and Coast District Health Board and the Department of Internal Affairs.

Having worked in both core government and Crown entities, I have had the opportunity to advise policy makers, Ministers, decision makers and Boards.

I have worked on policy and legislation matters, represented my clients in Court, drafted commercial contracts and advised on procurement matters, advised on several different public law and regulatory matters, and advised on medico legal matters. I have also sat on a number of governance committees such as the risk and assurance committee and procurement committee.  I have advised on several high-profile investigations as well as conducted investigations.

Some of the exciting work I handled in my career as a lawyer related to a billion-dollar procurement of clinical services, negotiating contracts when the New Wellington Hospital was built, developing medico- legal training for health professionals, developing legal workshops, management of judicial review cases, being lead counsel responding to several government inquiries including three Royal Commissions of Inquiry. I have managed and led legal teams in some of my roles.

In my current role as a Director in the Legal Ethics and Privacy Team at MBIE I also get called upon to assist other lawyers on complex matters that require careful deliberation and thoughtful insight. I enjoy mentoring junior staff.

I enjoy working with such a wide range of clients across MBIE whose knowledge and expertise widens my own knowledge of matters. I enjoy partnering with them to get the best outcomes for the organisation.

I find working in government exciting because it gives me an opportunity to be part of some significant initiatives that support the people of New Zealand. Being a government lawyer has helped me understand the machinery of government and be appreciative of the challenges it faces.

I have no doubt that working as a lawyer in Government will give any new lawyer wonderful opportunities to support great outcomes for New Zealand.

I am proud to work with a future focused team at MBIE where diversity and inclusion is encouraged and where our people take part in Mana Āki,  a foundation-level learning programme that aims to build intercultural competence in New Zealand's public service, participate in the Wall Walk an interactive workshop designed to raise collective awareness of key events in the history of New Zealand’s bicultural relations, and Beyond Diversity a transformational unconscious bias training with a focus on racial equity.