Department of Services and Property

Department of Services and Property
Department overview
Formed	19 December 1972[1]
Preceding Department	Department of the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts – for control of land and property outside Australia ; Department of Labour and National Service – for union ballots ; Department of the Interior (II) – for electoral and property and survey matters ; Department of Works (III) – for Commonwealth Fire Board;
Dissolved	7 October 1975[1]
Superseding agency	Department of Urban and Regional Development – for control, use and management of land and property, engineering and topographical surveys ; Department of Administrative Services (I) – for all other functions;
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Minister responsible	Fred Daly, Minister;
Department executives	George Warwick Smith, Acting Secretary (1972–1973); Maurice Timbs, Secretary (1973–1975);

The Department of Services and Property was an Australian government department that existed between December 1972 and October 1975.

History

The Department was established under the Whitlam government; at the time people commented with amazement that the first new department created by the Whitlam government in Australia was the Department of Property.[2]

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 was responsible for the following:[1]

Elections and referendums
Provision of accommodation, staff and other facilities for members of the Parliament other than in Parliament House
Acquisition and leasing of land and property in Australia of elsewhere for Commonwealth purposes management and disposal of property so acquired of leased
Land, engineering and topographical surveys for Commonwealth purposes

Structure

The Department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Services and Property, Fred Daly.[1]

References

CA 1488: Department of Services and Property, Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 11 December 2013
Whitlam, Gough (16 January 1973). Prime Minister's press conference (Speech). Parliament House, Canberra. Archived from the original on 26 March 2004.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[NAA_CA_1488-1] CA 1488: Department of Services and Property, Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 11 December 2013

[2] Whitlam, Gough (16 January 1973). Prime Minister's press conference (Speech). Parliament House, Canberra. Archived from the original on 26 March 2004.