Treasury (Australia)


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. 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. There is one assistant minister, Andrew Leigh, who is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury.

History

The Australian Treasury was established in Melbourne in January 1901, after the federation of the six Australian colonies. 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. 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.
The department is focused on developing Australian taxation system, land and income tax and economic policies.

Operational activities

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

List of secretaries

The secretary to the Treasury is the public service head of the department. Below is the list of secretaries.
OrderNameTerm beginTerm endTime in office
1George Allen1 January 190113 March 1916
2James Collins14 March 191626 June 1926
3James Heathershaw3 August 192628 April 1932
4Sir Harry Sheehan29 April 193228 February 1938
5Stuart McFarlane24 March 193829 January 1948
6George Watt23 November 194831 March 1951
7Sir Roland Wilson1 April 195127 October 1966
8Sir Richard Randall28 October 196631 October 1971
9Sir Frederick Wheeler1 November 19715 January 1979
10John Stone8 January 197914 September 1984
11Bernie Fraser19 September 198418 September 1989
12Chris Higgins19 September 19896 December 19901 year, 78 days
13Tony Cole14 February 199123 March 1993
14Ted Evans24 May 199326 April 2001
15Ken Henry27 April 20014 March 2011
16Martin Parkinson7 March 201112 December 2014
17John Fraser15 January 201531 July 2018
18Philip Gaetjens1 August 20182 September 2019
19Steven Kennedy2 September 201916 June 2025
20Jenny Wilkinson16 June 2025Incumbent

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. 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.