The Department of Community Services and Health was an

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

that existed between July 1987 and June 1991.

History

The Department of Community Services and Health was one of 16 'super-ministries' announced as part of a major restructuring of the administration and economy by Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

in July 1987. The department was an amalgamation of the

Department of Community Services The Department of Community Services was an Australian government department that existed between December 1984 and July 1987. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found i ...

and the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

Scope

Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the department's annual reports. At its creation, the department was responsible for: *Services for the aged, people with disabilities and families with children *Community support services *Housing assistance *Public health, research and preventive medicine *Community health projects *Health promotion *Pharmaceutical benefits *Health benefits schemes *Human quarantine *National drug abuse strategy

Structure

The department was an

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Community Services and Health, first Neal Blewett (until April 1990) and then Brian Howe. The Secretary of the department was initially

Tony Ayers Anthony Joseph "Tony" Ayers (16 September 193311 April 2016) was an Australian public servant. Life and career Ayers was born on 16 September 1933. His first job was teaching in a Victorian school. He later was an education officer in Pentrid ...

(until July 1988) and then Stuart Hamilton.

References

1987 establishments in Australia 1991 disestablishments in Australia Community Services and Health Ministries established in 1987 {{Australia-gov-stub