Treasury (Australia) Explained

Agency Name:The Treasury
Type:department
Picture Caption:The Treasury Building, Langton Crescent,, Canberra
Formed:January 1901
Jurisdiction:Australia
Headquarters:, Canberra
Employees:1,466 (2023)[1]
Budget:$377 million (2022/23)
Minister1 Name:Jim Chalmers
Minister1 Pfo:Treasurer
Minister2 Name:Stephen Jones
Minister2 Pfo:Assistant Treasurer
Chief1 Name:Steven Kennedy
Chief1 Position:Secretary
Child1 Agency:See below

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 Steven Kennedy who was appointed in September 2019.[2] Ministerial responsibility for the department lies with the Treasurer, currently Jim Chalmers who took office in the Albanese government in May 2022.

History

The Australian Treasury was established in Melbourne in January 1901, after the federation of the six Australian colonies.[3] 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.[4] [5] 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.[6]

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

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.

  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 June 2023, the Treasury oversaw 16 agencies.[7]

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.[8]

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 1 January 1901 13 March 1916
2 14 March 1916 26 June 1926
3 3 August 1926 28 April 1932
4 29 April 1932 28 February 1938
5 24 March 1938 29 January 1948
6 23 November 1948 31 March 1951
7 1 April 1951 27 October 1966
8 28 October 1966 31 October 1971
9 1 November 1971 5 January 1979
10 8 January 1979 14 September 1984
11 19 September 1984 18 September 1989
12 19 September 1989 6 December 1990 1 year, 78 days
13 14 February 1991 23 March 1993
14 24 May 1993 26 April 2001
15 27 April 2001 4 March 2011
16 7 March 2011 12 December 2014
17 15 January 2015 31 July 2018 align=right
18 1 August 2018 2 September 2019 align=right
19 2 September 2019 align=center Incumbent

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.[9] When asked after the 2009 Budget about Treasury’s independence, Henry replied:

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.[10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-10/p2023-454036-tsy-ar-2022-23.pdf Treasury Annual Report 2022/23 page 87
  2. News: Dr Steven Kennedy. Department of the Treasury. 25 April 2020.
  3. http://www.treasury.gov.au/About-Treasury/OurDepartment Our Department
  4. Web site: THE AUSTRALIAN NOTE ISSUE. Commonwealth of Australia. 14 November 2014.
  5. Reserve Bank of Australia, History of Banknotes
  6. Web site: Production. 15 June 2020. Reserve Bank of Australia Banknotes.
  7. https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-10/p2023-454036-tsy-ar-2022-23.pdf Treasury Annual Report 2022/23 page 16
  8. Web site: Finance and Markets . The Treasury . 24 June 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120628223501/http://www.treasury.gov.au/Policy-Topics/FinanceAndMarkets . 28 June 2012 . dead .
  9. 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.
  10. Web site: Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook . 30 January 2013 . Commonwealth of Australia . 22 May 2013 .

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