The Postal and Telecommunications Department 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, established in 1975 to take over the residual functions of the

Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...

after its postal and telecommunications functions were split into the

Australian Postal Commission Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a pos ...

(trading as

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

) and the

Australian Telecommunications Commission Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

(trading as Telecom, and which later became

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

) respectively. The Department was abolished in November 1980.

History

The Department was created in December 1975 by the Fraser Government, replacing the

which had been in operation since Australia's federation in 1901. The change was intended to take account of the increase in the functions of the department to include all electronic media matters which had previously been the responsibility of the

Department of the Media The Department of the Media was an Australian government department that existed between December 1972 and December 1975. History The Department was one of several new Departments established by the Whitlam Government, a wide restruc ...

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 postal, telegraphic, telephonic and other like services.

Structure

The Department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister of the day.

References

Ministries established in 1975 Defunct government departments of Australia {{Australia-gov-stub