The Minister for Health and Ageing is a portfolio in the Government of Australia

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

 with the responsibility for national health policy. The current Minister for Health and Ageing is Nicola Roxon

Nicola Roxon

Nicola Louise Roxon is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.-Early and personal life:She...

. The ministry is administered through the Department of Health and Ageing

Department of Health and Ageing (Australia)

The Department of Health and Ageing is an Australian Government department. Its role is to oversee the running of Australia including supporting universal and affordable access to medical, pharmaceutical and hospital services, while helping people to stay healthy through health promotion and...

.

History

Under Secta
ion 51(ix) of the Australian Constitution, the Commonwealth Parliament

Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...

 had the power to "make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to Quarantine." This was the only area of public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

 in which the Commonwealth had authority at the time of Federation

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

. The federal parliament did not use this power until the proclamation of the Quarantine Act 1908. The control of the administration of quarantine was under the administration of the Minister for Trade and Customs

Minister for Trade (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...

 from 1908 until 1921. This Minister's responsibilities in health matters increased as the Australian Government took a greater role in the provision of public health services during the early 20th century, in particular after the First World War.

A separate Department of Health was established on 10 March 1921, and the position of Minister for Health was then formally created. The role of the Department of Health has continued to expand and further federal responsibility for health was authorised by the passage, at referendum, of a constitutional amendment in 1946.

Section 51 (xxiiiA) of the Constitution now states the Commonwealth (federal) Parliament has the power to

make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth [of Australia] with respect to the provision of maternity allowances, widows' pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorise any form of civil conscription), benefits to students and family allowances.

As a result of this amendment the federal government now has a key role in financing and providing medical services through entities such as Medicare

Medicare (Australia)

Medicare is Australia's publicly funded universal health care system, operated by the government authority Medicare Australia. Medicare is intended to provide affordable treatment by doctors and in public hospitals for all resident citizens and permanent residents except for those on Norfolk Island...

 and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or PBS is a program of the Australian Government that provides subsidised prescription drugs to residents of Australia. The PBS ensures that all Australians have affordable and reliable access to a wide range of necessary medicines.-History:The PBS was established...

.

From 1972-1975 under Doug Everingham

Doug Everingham

Douglas Nixon "Doug" Everingham is a former Australian politician and minister.Everingham graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Sydney in 1946 and worked in public and private hospitals and as a family doctor.Everingham was elected the Australian Labor Party...

, the Ministry was named the "Ministry of Health" in some contexts due to Everingham's support of Spelling Reform

SR1

Spelling Reform 1 or Spelling Reform step 1 is an English spelling reform proposal advocated by Harry Lindgren. It calls for the short sound to always be spelt with E. For example, friend would become frend and head would become hed...

.

List of Ministers for Health

Minister	Party affiliation	Period	Prime Minister	Ministerial Title
Robert Best Robert Best (Australian politician) Sir Robert Wallace Best KCMG was an Australian politician.Born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood to Irish immigrants, and raised in Kyneton, Best was educated at Templeton's School, Fitzroy. He left school at 13 and became a clerk in a printing office and then worked for a solicitor where...	Commonwealth Liberal Party Commonwealth Liberal Party The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation....	1908–1910	Deakin Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...	Minister for Trade and Customs
Frank Tudor Frank Tudor Francis Gwynne "Frank" Tudor was an Australian-born felt hatter and politician. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1916 till his death.-Early life:...	Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1910–1913	Fisher Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher was an Australian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister on three separate occasions. Fisher's 1910-13 Labor ministry completed a vast legislative programme which made him, along with Protectionist Alfred Deakin, the founder of the statutory structure of the new nation...
Littleton Groom Littleton Groom Sir Littleton Ernest Groom, KCMG was an Australian Commonwealth Minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Australia's 17th longest serving federal Parliamentarian . He was a member of every non-Australian Labor Party ministry from 1905 to 1926...	Commonwealth Liberal Party	1913–1914	Cook Joseph Cook Sir Joseph Cook, GCMG was an Australian politician and the sixth Prime Minister of Australia. Born as Joseph Cooke and working in the coal mines of Silverdale, Staffordshire during his early life, he emigrated to Lithgow, New South Wales during the late 1880s, and became General-Secretary of the...
Frank Tudor	Australian Labor Party	1914–1915	Fisher
		1915–1916	Hughes Billy Hughes William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
Billy Hughes Billy Hughes William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....		1916
William Archibald	National Labor Party National Labor Party The National Labor Party was the name used by the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes for himself and his followers after he was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in November 1916 over his pro-conscription stance in relation to World War I...	1916–1917
Jens Jensen Jens Jensen Jens August Jensen was an Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.Jensen was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Ballarat, leaving school at 11. He became a rabbit-hawker and miner at Beaconsfield, Tasmania. In July 1885 he married Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst; she died in 1894...	Nationalist Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...	1917–1918
William Watt William Watt William Alexander Watt PC was an Australian politician who was the 24th Premier of Victoria, and later a leading federal politician and Speaker of the House of Representatives....		1918–1919
Walter Massy-Greene		1919–1921
		1921–1923		Minister for Health
Austin Chapman Austin Chapman Sir Austin Chapman KCMG , Australian politician, was a member of several early federal ministries. He was born in Bong Bong near Bowral, New South Wales and educated at Marulan Public School and was apprenticed as a saddler at an early age...		1923–1924	Bruce Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
Littleton Groom		1924
Herbert Pratten Herbert Pratten Herbert Edward Pratten was an Australian politician.Pratten was born in Mangotsfield near Bristol, England, but made a fortune as a jam manufacturer in Western Sydney...		1924–1925
Sir Neville Howse Neville Howse Major General Sir Neville Reginald Howse VC, KCB, KCMG, KStJ was a British-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces...		1925–1927
Stanley Bruce Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...		1927–1928
Sir Neville Howse		1928–1929
Frank Anstey Frank Anstey Frank Anstey , Australian politician, served 38 years as a Labor member of the Victorian and Commonwealth parliaments....	Australian Labor Party	1929–1931	Scullin James Scullin James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...
John McNeill		1931–1932
Charles Marr	United Australia Party United Australia Party The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...	1932–1934	Lyons Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
Billy Hughes		1934–1935
Joseph Lyons Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...		1935–1936
Billy Hughes		1936–1937
(Sir) Earle Page Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament.-Early life:...	Country Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1937–1938
Harry Foll	United Australia Party	1938–1939
		1939	Page Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament.-Early life:...
Sir Frederick Stewart Frederick Stewart (Australian politician) Sir Frederick Harold Stewart was an Australian businessman, politician and government minister. His continuing political commitment was to the establishment of a national insurance scheme and the shortening of working hours to improve social conditions during the Great Depression, despite the...		1939–1940	Menzies Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
Harold Thorby Harold Thorby Harold Victor Campbell Thorby was an Australian politician and government minister.-Early life:Thorby was born in the Sydney suburb of Annandale and was educated at Geurie Public School and Sydney Grammar School and worked on his grandparents' farm at Geurie. He studied woolclassing, veterinary...	Country Party	1940
Sir Frederick Stewart	United Australia Party	1940–1941
		1941	Fadden Arthur Fadden Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG was an Australian politician and, briefly, the 13th Prime Minister of Australia.-Introduction:...
Jack Holloway	Australian Labor Party	1941–1943	Curtin John Curtin John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
James Fraser James Fraser (Western Australian politician) James McIntosh Fraser was an Australian trade unionist and politician.Fraser was born in Forres, Morayshire, Scotland and educated locally. He emigrated to Australia and married Ellen Simmons in April 1912 in Perth...		1943–1945
		1945	Forde Frank Forde Francis Michael Forde PC was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history, being in office for only eight days.-Early life:...
		1945–1946	Chifley Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
Nick McKenna		1946–1949
Sir Earle Page	Country Party	1949–1956	Menzies
Donald Cameron Donald Alastair Cameron Donald Alastair Cameron OBE was an Australian politician and Minister for Health.Cameron was born in Ipswich, Queensland, and was educated at Ipswich Grammar School and Sydney University, where he graduated in arts and medicine. From 1927 to 1933 he was a medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred...	Liberal Party Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1956–1961
Harrie Wade Harrie Wade Harrie Walter Wade OBE was an Australian federal politician and minister.Wade was born in Clear Lake, Victoria and educated at Horsham State School and Horsham High School. He worked as a schoolteacher and clerk and then as an accountant at Goroke...	Country Party	1961–1964
Reginald Swartz Reginald Swartz Sir Reginald William Colin Swartz KBE , best known as Reg Swartz, was a Minister during the governments of Sir Robert Menzies, Harold Holt and John Gorton in Australia...	Liberal Party	1964–1966
Jim Forbes Jim Forbes (Australian politician) Alexander James "Jim" Forbes CMG is a former Australian poilitician.Forbes was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1956 to 1975 for the Division of Barker, South Australia...		1966–1971	Holt Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
		1967–1968	McEwen John McEwen Sir John "Black Jack" McEwen, GCMG, CH , was an Australian politician and the 18th Prime Minister of Australia...
		1968–1971	Gorton John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...
		1971	McMahon William McMahon Sir William "Billy" McMahon, GCMG, CH , was an Australian Liberal politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Australia...
Ivor Greenwood Ivor Greenwood Ivor John Greenwood was an Australian politician and barrister.-Biography:Greenwood was born in North Melbourne and educated at Hartwell Central State School, Mont Albert Central State School, Scotch College and the University of Melbourne...		1971
Sir Ken Anderson		1971–1972
Lance Barnard Lance Barnard Lance Herbert Barnard AO , Australian politician, was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia for most of the Labor government of Gough Whitlam....	Australian Labor Party	1972	Whitlam Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
Doug Everingham Doug Everingham Douglas Nixon "Doug" Everingham is a former Australian politician and minister.Everingham graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Sydney in 1946 and worked in public and private hospitals and as a family doctor.Everingham was elected the Australian Labor Party...		1972–1975		Minister for Helth (or Health)Everingham was a supporter of Spelling Reform SR1 Spelling Reform 1 or Spelling Reform step 1 is an English spelling reform proposal advocated by Harry Lindgren. It calls for the short sound to always be spelt with E. For example, friend would become frend and head would become hed...  (see above).
Don Chipp Don Chipp Donald Leslie Chipp, AO was an Australian politician, and the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats.-Early life:...	Liberal Party	1975	Fraser Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...	Minister for Health
Ralph Hunt	National Country Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1975–1979
Michael MacKellar Michael MacKellar Michael John Randal MacKellar, AM is an Australian politician and was the Liberal Member for Warringah from 1969 until 1994. He is the current president of the National Ageing Research Institute , Melbourne, Australia....	Liberal Party	1979–1982
Peter Baume Peter Baume Peter Erne Baume, AC is a former Australian politician.Baume was born in Sydney, New South Wales and was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney Grammar School. He married Jennifer Tucson 1958 and they have one son and one daughter...		1982
Jim Carlton Jim Carlton James Joseph Carlton AO is a former Australian politician.Carlton was born in Sydney and earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney...		1982–1983
Neal Blewett Neal Blewett Neal Blewett, AC , Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Bonython, South Australia from 1977 to 1994.-Education and academic career:...	Australian Labor Party	1983–1987	Hawke Bob Hawke Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
		1987–1990		Minister for Community Services and Health
Brian Howe Brian Howe (politician) Brian Leslie Howe, AO , Australian politician, was Deputy Prime Minister in the Labor government of Paul Keating from 1991 to 1995....		1990–1991
		1991–1993	Keating Paul Keating Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...	Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services
Graham Richardson Graham Richardson Graham Frederick Richardson , a former Australian politician, was a Senator for New South Wales from 1983–94 for the Australian Labor Party, a senior minister in Hawke and Keating governments, and is now a political lobbyist, public speaker, and media commentator. During his time in politics,...		1993–1994		Minister for Health
Carmen Lawrence Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence is a retired Australian politician; a former Premier of Western Australia and the first woman to become Premier of a State of the Commonwealth of Australia....		1994–1996		Minister for Human Services and Health
Michael Wooldridge Michael Wooldridge Michael Richard Lewis Wooldridge is an Australian doctor, company director, and a former politician. He was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Liberal Party representing the Division of Chisholm, Victoria, between 1987 and 1996, and representing the Division of Casey,...	Liberal Party	1996–1998	Howard John Howard John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....	Minister for Health and Family Services
		1998–2001		Minister for Health and Aged Care
Kay Patterson Kay Patterson Kay Christine Lesley Patterson is a former Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1987 to 2008, representing the state of Victoria....		2001–2003		Minister for Health and Ageing
Tony Abbott Tony Abbott Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...		2003–2007
Nicola Roxon Nicola Roxon Nicola Louise Roxon is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.-Early and personal life:She...	Australian Labor Party	2007–2010	Rudd Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
		2010-	Gillard Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...

External links

• Minister's website