The Department of the Environment 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 April and December 1975.

History

The Department was introduced by 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 ...

in April 1975, to replace the Department of Environment and Conservation. At the time, Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

said that the reason for the re‑badging was that the name "Department of Environment and Conservation" suggested that conservation was a separate matter from the environment, whereas it was in fact a major component of the Government's total environment program. Environment Minister

Moss Cass Moses Henry Cass (18 February 1927 – 26 February 2022) was an Australian doctor and politician who held ministerial office in the Whitlam government. He served as Minister for Environment and Conservation (1972–1975), the Environment (1975 ...

made the request for the name change, stating that the previous title was too long and redundant.

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. At its creation, the Department's functions were: *Environment and conservation, including water and the protection and use of water resources *National parks *Wildlife conservation

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 the Environment.

References

Ministries established in 1975 Environment Defunct environmental agencies {{environmental-agency-stub