Department of Tourism and Recreation

Department of Tourism and Recreation
Department overview
Formed 19 December 1972[1]
Preceding Department

Department of Health (I) - for national fitness councils

Department of Trade and Industry
Dissolved 22 December 1975[1]
Superseding agency

Department of Environment, Housing and Community Development - for recreation

Department of Industry and Commerce (I) - for tourism
Jurisdiction Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters Canberra
Ministers responsible Frank Stewart, Minister (1972‑75)
Reg Withers, Minister (1975)
Department executives Doug McKay, Acting Secretary (1972‑73)
Lloyd Bott, Secretary (1973‑75)

The Department of Tourism and Recreation 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 restructuring that revealed some of the new government's program.[2]

Up until the Department of Tourism and Recreation was established, the prevailing view was that the Commonwealth Government generally had no role to play in relation to sport and recreation, which were instead matters for state and local governments.[3]

Shortly after the Fraser Government took office in November 1975, following the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the Department was abolished,[4] with its functions taken up by other departments.

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 dealt with:[1][5]

Structure

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

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 CA 1491: Department of Tourism and Recreation, Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 27 December 2013
  2. National Archives of Australia, Gough Whitlam: In Office, National Archives of Australia, archived from the original on 19 April 2013
  3. Standing Committee on Recreation and Sport 1997, p. 1.
  4. Juddery, Bruce (19 December 1975). "Bureacratic Convulsion: Eight departments go". The Canberra Times. p. 1. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014.
  5. Administrative Arrangements Order of 19 December 1972 (PDF), National Archives of Australia, 19 December 1972, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2013

References