The Department of Transport and Communications 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 July 1987 and December 1993.

History

The Department of Transport and Communications was one of 16 "super-ministries" announced as part of a major restructuring of the administration and economy by Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

in July 1987. The Department oversaw the development of a third runway at

Kingsford Smith Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subur ...

, achieved new industry structures for aviation and reform of the shipping and waterfront sectors, progressed Australia towards a national railway system and uniform national road regulation, introduced new regulatory arrangements for telecommunications, broadcasting and radio communications and arranged for sale of communications licences for more than a billion dollars.

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. According to the Administrative Arrangements Order made on 24 July 1997, the Department dealt with: *Shipping and marine navigation *Land transport (including road safety) *Civil aviation and air navigation *Aviation security *Postal and telecommunications services *Management of the electromagnetic spectrum *Television and radio

Structure

The Department was an

Australian 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 G ...

department responsible to the Minister of the day. Department officials were headed by a Secretary, initially Peter Wilenski (until September 1988) and then G.C. Evans (from October 1988).

References

{{Authority control Ministries established in 1987 Transport and Communications Defunct transport organisations based in Australia 1987 establishments in Australia 1993 disestablishments in Australia