The Department of Housing and Construction was an

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

department that existed between November 1973 and December 1975.

History

The department was established while the

Whitlam government The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 Australian federal elect ...

was in power. Shortly after the

Fraser government The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Init ...

took office in November 1975 as a result of the Australian constitutional crisis, the department was abolished.

Scope

Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the Department's annual reports. The functions of the Department at its creation were: *Housing *Provision of hostel accommodation in the Australian territories and for immigrants *Planning, execution and maintenance of Australian government works *Design, provision and maintenance of furniture, furnishings and fittings for the Australian government *Promotion of national standards in relation to building construction Among other activities, the Department prepared a feasibility study for the construction of

Black Mountain Tower Telstra Tower (also known as Black Mountain Tower and formerly Telecom Tower) is a telecommunications tower and lookout that is situated above the summit of Black Mountain in Australia's capital city of Canberra. It is named after Australia's ...

, a telecommunications tower in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. The Department also undertook planning for the tower's construction.

Structure

The Department was a

Commonwealth 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 Gov ...

department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Housing and Construction.

References

Housing and Construction Ministries established in 1973 Housing in Australia {{Australia-gov-stub