Department of Health and Ageing

The Australian Federal Department of Health and Ageing was an Australian government department that existed between November 2001 and September 2013.

Department of Health and Ageing

Department overview
Formed	26 November 2001[1]
Preceding Department	Department of Health and Aged Care
Dissolved	18 September 2013
Superseding Department	Department of Health (II)
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters	Phillip, Australian Capital Territory
Employees	5,251 (at April 2013)[2]
Annual budget	Over $36 billion (in 2004–2005)[3]
Department executive	Jane Halton, Secretary (2002–2013)
Website	health.gov.au

The department was created after the 2001 federal election from the Department of Health and Aged Care.^[4]

Scope

Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements, in the department's annual reports and on the department's website.

According to the Administrative Arrangements Order made on 26 November 2001, the department dealt with:^[5]

• Services for the aged, including carers
• Public health and medical research
• Health promotion and disease prevention
• Primary health care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Pharmaceutical benefits
• Health benefits schemes
• Specific health services, including human quarantine
• National drug abuse strategy
• Regulation of quality of therapeutic goods
• Notification and assessment of industrial chemicals
• Gene technology regulation

Structure

The department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister and assisting parliamentary secretary.^[1]

The secretary of the department was Jane Halton, appointed in January 2002.^[1][4][6]