The Department of Urban and Regional Development 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 December 1972 and December 1975.

History

The Department was one of several new departments established 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 ...

, a wide restructuring that revealed some of the new government's program. When 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 following the

1975 Australian constitutional crisis The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...

, 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. At its creation, the Department's functions were described as "matters related to city and regional planning and development, including assistance to, and co-operation with, the States and local-governing bodies".

Structure

The Department was a Commonwealth Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Urban and Regional Development. Hugh Stretton, urban planning and economic author and academic, was employed in the Department and had significant influence on its policies.

References

Australia, Urban and Regional Development Urban and Regional Development Urban planning in Australia {{Australia-gov-stub