Minister for Families and Social Services
| Minister for Families and Social Services | |
|---|---|
| Department of Social Services | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Appointer | Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia |
| Formation | 1939 |
| Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme | |
|---|---|
| Department of Social Services | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Appointer | Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia |
| Inaugural holder | Jenny Macklin (as Minister for Disability Reform) |
| Formation | 14 December 2011 |
| Minister for Housing | |
|---|---|
| Department of Social Services | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Appointer | Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia |
| Formation | 1963 |
| Assistant Minister for Children and Families | |
|---|---|
| Department of Social Services | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Appointer | Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia |
| Formation | 20 December 2017 |
The Australian Minister for Families and Social Services oversees Australian government social services, including mental health, families and children's policy, and support for carers and people with disabilities, and seniors.[1]
Anne Ruston was appointed Minister for Families and Social Services in May 2019, following swearing in by the Governor-General. The Hon. Paul Fletcher served as Minister for Families and Social Services from 2018 to 2019.
The current Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme is Linda Reynolds since 2021.
The current Minister for Housing is Michael Sukkar since 2019.
The current Assistant Minister for Children and Families is the Hon. Michelle Landry MP, since 26 August 2018.
Portfolio[]
In the Government of Australia, the Ministers administer the portfolio through the Department of Social Services. Other portfolio bodies for which the Ministers are responsible include:
- Australian Institute of Family Studies
- National Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) Coordination and Development Committee (CAD) representatives and Information Sub-committee
- Social Security Appeals Tribunal
List of ministers for social services[]
The following individuals have been appointed as Minister for Social Services, or any of its precedent titles:[2]
| Order | Minister | Party | Prime Minister | Title | Term start | Term end | Term in office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frederick Stewart | United Australia | Menzies | Minister for Social Services | 26 April 1939 | 29 August 1941 | 2 years, 164 days | |
| Fadden | 29 August 1941 | 7 October 1941 | ||||||
| 2 | Jack Holloway | Labor | Curtin | 7 October 1941 | 21 September 1943 | 1 year, 349 days | ||
| 3 | James Fraser | 21 September 1943 | 6 July 1945 | 2 years, 270 days | ||||
| Forde | 6 July 1934 | 13 July 1945 | ||||||
| Chifley | 13 July 1945 | 18 June 1946 | ||||||
| 4 | Nick McKenna | 18 June 1946 | 19 December 1949 | 3 years, 184 days | ||||
| 5 | Bill Spooner | Liberal | Menzies | 19 December 1949 | 11 May 1951 | 1 year, 143 days | ||
| 6 | Athol Townley | 11 May 1951 | 9 July 1954 | 3 years, 59 days | ||||
| 7 | William McMahon | 9 July 1954 | 28 February 1956 | 1 year, 234 days | ||||
| 8 | Hugh Roberton | Country | 28 February 1956 | 21 January 1965 | 8 years, 328 days | |||
| 9 | Reginald Swartz | Liberal | 21 January 1965 | 22 February 1965 | 32 days | |||
| 10 | Ian Sinclair | Country | 22 February 1965 | 26 January 1966 | 3 years, 6 days | |||
| Holt | 26 January 1966 | 19 December 1967 | ||||||
| McEwen | 19 December 1967 | 10 January 1968 | ||||||
| Gorton | 10 January 1968 | 28 February 1968 | ||||||
| 11 | Bill Wentworth | Liberal | 28 February 1968 | 10 March 1971 | 4 years, 281 days | |||
| McMahon | 10 March 1971 | 5 December 1972 | ||||||
| 12 | Lance Barnard | Labor | Whitlam | 5 December 1972 | 19 December 1972 | 14 days | ||
| 13 | Don Grimes | Labor | Hawke | Minister for Community Services | 13 December 1984 | 16 February 1987 | 2 years, 65 days | |
| 14 | Chris Hurford | 16 February 1987 | 24 July 1987 | 158 days | ||||
| 15 | Neal Blewett | Minister for Community Services and Health | 24 July 1987 | 4 April 1990 | 2 years, 254 days | |||
| 16 | Brian Howe | 4 April 1990 | 7 June 1991 | 3 years, 355 days | ||||
| Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services | 7 June 1991 | 20 December 1991 | ||||||
| Keating | 20 December 1991 | 24 March 1993 | ||||||
| Minister for Housing, Local Government and Community Services | 24 March 1993 | 23 December 1993 | ||||||
| Minister for Housing, Local Government and Human Services | 23 December 1993 | 25 March 1994 | ||||||
| 17 | Carmen Lawrence | Minister for Human Services and Health | 25 March 1994 | 11 March 1996 | 1 year, 352 days | |||
| 18 | Michael Wooldridge | Liberal | Howard | Minister for Health and Family Services | 11 March 1996 | 21 October 1998 | 2 years, 224 days | |
| 19 | Jocelyn Newman | Minister for Family and Community Services | 21 October 1998 | 30 January 2001 | 2 years, 101 days | |||
| 20 | Amanda Vanstone | 30 January 2001 | 7 October 2003 | 2 years, 250 days | ||||
| 21 | Kay Patterson | 7 October 2003 | 27 January 2006 | 2 years, 112 days | ||||
| 22 | Mal Brough | Minister for Families and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs | 27 January 2006 | 3 December 2007 | 1 year, 310 days | |||
| 23 | Jenny Macklin | Labor | Rudd | Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs | 3 December 2007 | 24 June 2010 | 5 years, 289 days | |
| Gillard | 24 June 2010 | 14 December 2011 | ||||||
| Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs | 14 December 2011 | 27 June 2013 | ||||||
| Rudd | 27 June 2013 | 18 September 2013 | ||||||
| 24 | Kevin Andrews | Liberal | Abbott | Minister for Social Services | 18 September 2013 | 23 December 2014 | 1 year, 96 days | |
| 25 | Scott Morrison | 23 December 2014 | 15 September 2015 | 272 days | ||||
| Turnbull | 15 September 2015 | 21 September 2015 | ||||||
| 26 | Christian Porter | 21 September 2015 | 20 December 2017 | 2 years, 90 days | ||||
| 27 | Dan Tehan | 20 December 2017 | 28 August 2018 | 251 days | ||||
| 28 | Paul Fletcher | Morrison | Minister for Families and Social Services | 28 August 2018 | 29 May 2019 | 274 days | ||
| 29 | Anne Ruston | 29 May 2019 | Incumbent | 2 years, 256 days | ||||
List of Ministers for the National Disability Insurance Scheme[]
The following individuals have been appointed as Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, or any of its precedent titles such as Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services:[2]
| Order | Minister | Party | Prime Minister | Title | Term start | Term end | Term in office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenny Macklin | Labor | Gillard | Minister for Disability Reform | 14 December 2011 | 27 June 2013 | 4 years, 101 days | |
| Rudd | 27 June 2013 | 18 September 2013 | ||||||
| 2 | Jane Prentice | Liberal | Turnbull | Assistant Minister for Disability Services | 18 February 2016 | 20 December 2017 | 5 years, 356 days | |
| Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services[3] | 20 December 2017 | 28 August 2018 | ||||||
| 3 | Sarah Henderson | Morrison | Assistant Minister for Social Services, Housing and Disability Services | 28 August 2018 | 18 May 2019 | 263 days | ||
| 4 | Stuart Robert | Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme | 29 May 2019 | 30 March 2021 | 1 year, 305 days | |||
| 5 | Linda Reynolds | 30 March 2021 | Incumbent | 316 days | ||||
List of housing ministers[]
The first Minister for Housing was Les Bury, appointed in 1963, although there were Ministers in charge of War Service Homes from 1932 to 1938 and 1941 to 1945. In 1945 Bert Lazzarini was appointed Minister for Works and Housing and this title continued until 1952, when Wilfrid Kent Hughes became Minister for Works. No minister included "works" or "construction" in his portfolio after Stewart West lost this title in 1987, partly reflecting the progressive outsourcing of the Commonwealth's construction activities and even ownership of assets. The John Howard government had no Minister of Housing, partly reflecting the decline of the significance of the commonwealth-state housing agreements as a means of providing new housing since the post-war years.
The following individuals have been appointed as Minister for Housing and Homelessness, or any precedent titles:[2]
| Order | Minister | Party | Title | Term start | Term end | Term in office | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bert Lazzarini | Labor | Minister for Works and Housing | 13 July 1945 | 1 November 1946 | 1 year, 111 days | ||
| 2 | Nelson Lemmon | 1 November 1946 | 19 December 1949 | 3 years, 48 days | ||||
| 3 | Richard Casey | Liberal | 19 December 1949 | 11 May 1951 | 1 year, 143 days | |||
| 4 | Wilfrid Kent Hughes | 11 May 1951 | 4 June 1952 | 1 year, 24 days | ||||
| 5 | Les Bury | Liberal | Minister for Housing | 18 December 1963 | 26 January 1966 | 2 years, 39 days | ||
| 6 | Annabelle Rankin | 26 January 1966 | 22 March 1971 | 5 years, 55 days | ||||
| 7 | Kevin Cairns | 22 March 1971 | 5 December 1972 | 1 year, 258 days | ||||
| 8 | Gough Whitlam1 | Labor | 5 December 1972 | 19 December 1972 | 14 days | |||
| 9 | Les Johnson | 19 December 1972 | 30 November 1973 | 2 years, 169 days | ||||
| Minister for Housing and Construction | 30 November 1973 | 6 June 1975 | ||||||
| 10 | Joe Riordan | 6 June 1975 | 11 November 1975 | 158 days | ||||
| 11 | John Carrick | Liberal | 11 November 1975 | 22 December 1975 | 41 days | |||
| 12 | Ivor Greenwood | Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development | 22 December 1975 | 8 July 1976 | 199 days | |||
| 13 | Kevin Newman | 8 July 1976 | 20 December 1977 | 1 year, 165 days | ||||
| 14 | Ray Groom | 20 December 1977 | 5 December 1978 | 2 years, 319 days | ||||
| Minister for Housing and Construction | 5 December 1978 | 3 November 1980 | ||||||
| 15 | Tom McVeigh | National Country | 3 November 1980 | 7 May 1982 | 1 year, 185 days | |||
| 16 | Chris Hurford | Labor | Minister for Housing and Construction | 11 March 1983 | 13 December 1984 | 1 year, 277 days | ||
| 17 | Stewart West | 13 December 1984 | 24 July 1987 | 2 years, 223 days | ||||
| 18 | Peter Morris | Labor | Minister for Housing and Aged Care | 19 January 1988 | 15 February 1988 | 27 days | ||
| 19 | Peter Staples | 15 February 1988 | 7 May 1990 | 2 years, 81 days | ||||
| 20 | Brian Howe | Minister for Community Services and Health | 7 May 1990 | 7 June 1991 | 5 years, 309 days | |||
| Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services | 7 June 1991 | 24 March 1993 | ||||||
| Minister for Housing, Local Government and Community Services | 24 March 1993 | 23 December 1993 | ||||||
| Minister for Housing, Local Government and Human Services | 23 December 1993 | 25 March 1994 | ||||||
| Minister for Housing and Regional Development | 25 March 1994 | 11 March 1996 | ||||||
| 21 | Tanya Plibersek | Labor | Minister for Housing | 3 December 2007 | 14 September 2010 | 2 years, 285 days | ||
| 22 | Mark Arbib | Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness | 14 September 2010 | 14 December 2011 | 1 year, 91 days | |||
| 23 | Robert McClelland | Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness | 14 December 2011 | 5 March 2012 | 82 days | |||
| 24 | Brendan O'Connor | 5 March 2012 | 25 March 2013 | 1 year, 20 days | ||||
| 25 | Mark Butler | Minister for Housing and Homelessness | 25 March 2013 | 1 July 2013 | 98 days | |||
| 26 | Julie Collins | 1 July 2013 | 18 September 2013 | 79 days | ||||
| 27 | Michael Sukkar | Liberal | Minister for Housing | 29 May 2019 | Incumbent | 2 years, 256 days | ||
Notes
- 1 Whitlam was one of a two-man ministry consisting of himself and Lance Barnard for two weeks until the full ministry was announced.
Assistant ministers[]
List of Assistant Ministers for Children and Families[]
The following individuals have been appointed as Assistant Minister for Children and Families, or any precedent titles:
| Order | Minister | Party | Prime Minister | Title | Term start | Term end | Term in office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Gillespie | The Nationals | Turnbull | Assistant Minister for Children and Families | 20 December 2017 | 28 August 2018 | 251 days | |
| 2 | Michelle Landry | Morrison | 28 August 2018 | Incumbent | 3 years, 165 days | |||
Former portfolio ministers[]
List of ministers for major projects[]
List of ministers for urban development[]
List of ministers for aged care[]
Ministers for aged care or ageing were appointed from 1988 to 1993 and again from 1998 to 2013. The portfolio gained a mental health component in 2010. The latter returned to the health portfolio in 2013, with ageing moving to social services. The following individuals have been appointed as Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, or any of its precedent titles:[2] The Turnbull Government transferred the aged care portfolio back to the Department of Health in October 2015.
| Order | Minister | Party | Title | Term start | Term end | Term in office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Morris | Labor | Minister for Housing and Aged Care | 19 January 1988 | 15 February 1988 | 27 days | |
| 2 | Peter Staples | 15 February 1988 | 7 May 1990 | 5 years, 64 days | |||
| Minister for Aged, Family and Health Services | 7 May 1990 | 24 March 1993 | |||||
| 3 | Bronwyn Bishop | Liberal | Minister for Aged Care | 21 October 1998 | 26 November 2001 | 3 years, 36 days | |
| 4 | Kevin Andrews | Minister for Ageing | 26 November 2001 | 7 October 2003 | 1 year, 315 days | ||
| 5 | Julie Bishop | 7 October 2003 | 27 January 2006 | 2 years, 112 days | |||
| 6 | Santo Santoro | 27 January 2006 | 21 March 2007 | 1 year, 53 days | |||
| 7 | Christopher Pyne | 21 March 2007 | 3 December 2007 | 257 days | |||
| 8 | Justine Elliot | Labor | 3 December 2007 | 28 June 2010 | 2 years, 207 days | ||
| 9 | Mark Butler | Minister for Mental Health and Ageing | 28 June 2010 | 1 July 2013 | 3 years, 3 days | ||
| 10 | Jacinta Collins | 1 July 2013 | 18 September 2013 | 79 days | |||
| For subsequent appointments, see the List of Australian ministers for aged care | |||||||
List of assistant ministers for social services and for multicultural affairs[]
The following individuals have been appointed as Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs, or any precedent titles:[2]
| Order | Minister | Party | Prime Minister | Title | Term start | Term end | Term in office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitch Fifield | Liberal | Abbott | Assistant Minister for Social Services | 18 September 2013 | 15 September 2015 | 2 years, 3 days | |
| Turnbull | 15 September 2015 | 21 September 2015 | ||||||
| 2 | Craig Laundy | Liberal | Turnbull | Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs | 18 February 2016 | 18 July 2016 | 151 days | |
| 3 | Zed Seselja | Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs | 18 July 2016 | 20 December 2017 | 1 year, 155 days | |||
| For subsequent appointments, see the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs | ||||||||
References[]
- ^ "Ministers". Department of Social Services. Government of Australia.
- ^ a b c d e "Ministries and Cabinets". 43rd Parliamentary Handbook: Historical information on the Australian Parliament. Parliament of Australia. 2010. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ^ Turnbull, Malcolm (20 December 2017). "Ministerial Arrangements" (Press release). Government of Australia. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
Dan Tehan will join Cabinet in the critical role of Minister for Social Services. He will work closely with the newly created role of Assistant Minister for Children and Families, which will be filled by David Gillespie, as well as with Jane Prentice, who has been doing an outstanding job as Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services.
External links[]
- Lists of government ministers of Australia
- Housing ministers