Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories

The Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories was an Australian government department that existed between December 1991 and March 1993.

Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories

Department overview
Formed	27 December 1991
Preceding Department	Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories
Dissolved	24 March 1993
Superseding agency	Department of the Arts and Administrative Services – for the arts and information coordination services Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories – for environment, sport and territories functions
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters	Canberra
Minister responsible	Ros Kelly, Minister
Department executive	Tony Blunn, Secretary

History

The department was created on 27 December 1991, a departmental name change by the Keating government.

Scope

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

At its creation, the Department dealt with:

• Cultural affairs, including support for the arts
• National collections
• National heritage
• Sport and recreation
• Environment and conservation
• Meteorology
• Information co-ordination and services within Australia, including advertising
• Administration of the Australian Capital Territory
• Administration of the Jervis Bay Territory, the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Territory of Christmas Island, the Coral Sea Islands Territory, the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, and the Territory of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, and of Commonwealth responsibilities on Norfolk Island
• Constitutional development of the Northern Territory of Australia.

Structure

The Department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials responsible to the Minister for the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories, Ros Kelly.