Treasury (Australia)

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The Treasury
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The Treasury Building, Langton Crescent, Parkes, Canberra
Department overview
FormedJanuary 1901; 125 years ago (January 1901)
JurisdictionAustralia
HeadquartersParkes, Canberra
Employees1,466 (2023)[1]
Annual budget$377 million (2022/23)
Ministers responsible
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Department executive
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Child department
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Websitetreasury.gov.au

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The Department of the Treasury, also known as the Treasury, is the national treasury and financial department of the federal government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The treasury is responsible for executing economic and fiscal policy, market regulation and the delivery of the federal budget with the department overseeing 16 agencies. The Treasury is one of only two departments that have existed continuously since Federation in 1901, the other being the Department of the Attorney-General.

The most senior public servant in the Treasury is the department secretary, currently Jenny Wilkinson who was appointed in June 2025.[2] Ministerial responsibility for the department lies with the Treasurer, currently Jim Chalmers who took office in the Albanese government in May 2022. Other ministers in the department are Clare O'Neil, who is the Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities; Anne Aly, who is the Minister for Small Business; and Daniel Mulino, the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.[3] There is one assistant minister, Andrew Leigh, who is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury.[4]

History

The Australian Treasury was established in Melbourne in January 1901, after the federation of the six Australian colonies.[5] In 1910, the federal government passed the Australian Notes Act 1910 which gave control over the issue of Australian bank notes to The Treasury and prohibited the circulation of state notes and withdrew their status as legal tender.[6][7] The Treasury issued notes until 1924, when the responsibility was transferred to the Commonwealth Bank and later to Note Printing Australia, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia.[8]

The department is focused on developing Australian taxation system, land and income tax and economic policies.[citation needed]

Operational activities

In an Administrative Arrangements Order made on 13 May 2025, the functions of the department were broadly classified into the following matters:[9]

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  • Economic, fiscal and monetary policy
  • Taxation
  • Borrowing money on the public credit of the Commonwealth
  • International finance
  • Foreign exchange
  • Financial sector policy
  • Currency and legal tender
  • Foreign investment in Australia
  • Superannuation and retirement savings policy
  • Business law and practice
  • Corporate, financial services and securities law
  • Corporate insolvency
  • Competition and consumer policy
  • Prices surveillance
  • Excise
  • Census and statistics
  • Valuation services
  • Commonwealth-State financial relations
  • Consumer credit
  • Housing, rental and homelessness policy
  • Building and construction industry, excluding workplace relations
  • Population policy
  • Infrastructure and project financing
  • Small business policy and programmes
  • National policy on cities
  • Land and planning policy
  • Bankruptcy
  • Personal property securities

Structure

The Treasury is divided into five groups: fiscal, macroeconomic, revenue, Corporate and Foreign investment and markets, with support coming from the Corporate Services Division. These groups were established to meet four policy outcomes.[citation needed]

  1. Effective government spending and taxation arrangements. The Treasury provides advice on budget policy issues, trends in Commonwealth revenue and major fiscal and financial aggregates, major expenditure programmes, taxation policy, retirement income, Commonwealth-State financial policy and actuarial services.
  2. Sound macroeconomic environment. The Treasury monitors and assesses economic conditions and prospects, both in Australia and overseas, and provides advice on the formulation and implementation of effective macroeconomic policy.
  3. Well functioning markets. The Treasury provides advice on policy processes and reforms that promote a secure financial system and sound corporate practices, remove impediments to competition in product and services markets and safeguard the public interest in matters such as consumer protection and foreign investment.
  4. Effective taxation and retirement income arrangements. The Treasury provides advice and assists in the formulation and implementation of government taxation and retirement income policies and legislation as well as providing information on material changes to taxation revenue forecasts and projections.

Agencies

As at October 2023, the Treasury oversaw 16 agencies.[10]

Financial regulation

The department works with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and the Reserve Bank of Australia via the Council of Financial Regulators Working Group to ensure that market operators have appropriate oversight and to facilitate crisis management if required.[11]

List of secretaries

The secretary to the Treasury is the public service head of the department. Below is the list of secretaries.

Order Name Term begin Term end Time in office
1 George Allen 1 January 1901 13 March 1916
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2 James Collins 14 March 1916 26 June 1926
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3 James Heathershaw 3 August 1926 28 April 1932
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4 Sir Harry Sheehan 29 April 1932 28 February 1938
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5 Stuart McFarlane 24 March 1938 29 January 1948
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6 George Watt 23 November 1948 31 March 1951
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7 Sir Roland Wilson 1 April 1951 27 October 1966
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8 Sir Richard Randall 28 October 1966 31 October 1971
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9 Sir Frederick Wheeler 1 November 1971 5 January 1979
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10 John Stone 8 January 1979 14 September 1984
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11 Bernie Fraser 19 September 1984 18 September 1989
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12 Chris Higgins 19 September 1989 6 December 1990 1 year, 78 days
13 Tony Cole 14 February 1991 23 March 1993
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14 Ted Evans 24 May 1993 26 April 2001
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15 Ken Henry 27 April 2001 4 March 2011
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16 Martin Parkinson 7 March 2011 12 December 2014
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17 John Fraser 15 January 2015 31 July 2018
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18 Philip Gaetjens 1 August 2018 2 September 2019
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19 Steven Kennedy 2 September 2019 16 June 2025
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20 Jenny Wilkinson 16 June 2025 Incumbent
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Treasury’s independence

In 2008, Treasurer Wayne Swan called Secretary to the Treasury Ken Henry an "independent economic regulator," similar to the Governor of the Reserve Bank.[12] When asked after the 2009 Budget about Treasury’s independence, Henry replied: Template:Quote

Forecasts

The department is legally required to provide a Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook containing updated reports on the economic and fiscal outlook shortly after the issuing of a writ for a general federal election.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Treasury Annual Report 2022/23 page 87
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dr Steven Kennedy". Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ministers". Treasury (Australia). Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ministry list as of 13 May 2025". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). 13 May 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  5. ^ Our Department Script error: No such module "webarchive".. The Treasury. Retrieved on 24 June 2012.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."THE AUSTRALIAN NOTE ISSUE". Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  7. ^ Reserve Bank of Australia, History of Banknotes
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Production". Reserve Bank of Australia Banknotes. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Administrative Arrangements Order - 13 May 2025" (PDF). Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). 13 May 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2025.File:Creative Commons by small.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  10. ^ Treasury Annual Report 2022/23 page 16
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Finance and Markets". The Treasury. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  12. ^ Jennifer Hewett (21 October 2008). RBA warns on bank guarantee as Reserve and Treasury at loggerheads. The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved on 24 June 2012.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook". Commonwealth of Australia. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.

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