Sarah Jane "Jane" Halton (born 4 January 1960) is a former senior Australian public servant, current global health leader and former casino board member. She was the head of the Department of Health between January 2002 and June 2014, and the head of the Department of Finance from 2014 to 2016. She has held senior board roles with ANZ Bank, Clayton Utz, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Crown Casino. She was the Independent Chair of COTA Australia ( Council on the Ageing) beginning December 2017. In 2020, she was appointed to the Morrison government's National COVID Commission. Halton has held concurrent roles within the gambling and casino industry at the same time she has held senior roles within global health organizations - including the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). She held these conflicting roles despite IHME estimates that "''gambling-related burden of harm was 2.5 times more than diabetes and 3.0 times more than drug use disorder''". Jane has not explained the rational for holding these competing concurrent roles.

Background and early life

Halton was born on 4 January 1960 in

Wickwar Wickwar is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, located between Yate and Charfield. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,943. History Wickwar was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ...

, Gloucestershire, England. She and her family moved to Australia in 1973 when her father,

Charles Halton Charles Halton (March 16, 1876 – April 16, 1959) was an American character actor who appeared in over 180 films. Life and career Halton trained at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in 1901, after which he ...

, was recruited from Canada by the Whitlam Government to lead the Department of Transport. She has an Honours degree in psychology from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

Career

Halton first joined the

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 ...

in the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

. As a Deputy Secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Halton was convener of the People Smuggling Taskforce in the Children Overboard Affair. Prime Minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

appointed Halton as

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

of the new

Department of Health and Ageing The Australian Federal Department of Health and Ageing was an Australian government department that existed between November 2001 and September 2013. The department was created after the 2001 federal election from the Department of ...

in January 2002. The Department was reformed as 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 ...

in September 2013, when the Abbott Government was elected, and Halton remained at the head. During this time, she was responsible for providing advice to government on issues including the administration of Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and private health insurance, and for implementing a $60 billion budget. While she was Health Secretary, Halton led the development of the first Memorandum of Understanding between Medicines Australia and the Australian Government, in 2010. In June 2014, Halton was appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance. She identified strengthening the performance framework for measuring the impact of Australian Government programs and services as a priority in the role, with a focus on streamlining and providing a greater level of accountability. She also emphasized the scope of work harnessing technology to deliver public services more efficiently across government agencies into different platforms. Halton announced her resignation, set for 15 October 2016, on 16 September 2016. After stepping down as Secretary, she was appointed to the boards of Crown Casino, the

ANZ Bank ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

and Vault Systems. While serving on the board of Crown Casino, and for a period as acting chairman, Halton oversaw Crown Resorts’ response to the Finkelstein Royal Commission investigations around its suitability to hold a casino license - stemming from failures to mitigate money laundering, strong ties to organized criminal networks, and other serious problems with Crown's corporate governance. Halton held concurrent roles within the gambling and casino industry at the same time she held senior roles in global health organizations. She held these conflicting roles despite the IHME estimates that "''gambling-related burden of harm was 2.5 times more than diabetes and 3.0 times more than drug use disorder''". Halton is chair of the global

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging ...

and in March 2020 was appointed to the executive board of the Australian

National COVID-19 Coordination Commission The National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board (NCC) is the Australian Government strategic advisory board for the national economic recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally formed as the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission on 25 ...

Awards and honours

Halton was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2002 and the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

in 2003. In 2014, she was ranked number eight in ''

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by ...

'' Power List of Australia's 50 most powerful women. Halton was created an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2015. She was made an Honorary Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences is an academy to promote health and medical sciences in Australia. It was established in June 2014. It cites "The Academy will serve the three purposes identified as of high priority in the 20 ...

(FAHMS) in 2015.

Notes

References and further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halton, Jane 1960 births Living people Australian National University alumni People from Wickwar English emigrants to Australia Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal Recipients of the Public Service Medal (Australia) Secretaries of the Australian Government Health Department Secretaries of the Australian Department of Finance Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences