Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has created a new super-department of climate change, energy, environment and water to help the Labor as it restructures the government to reflect its policy agenda. 

The Prime Minister announced last week that the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment will be merged to create the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. 

The merging of the two departments was done to advise the new Labor Government on implementing its suite of climate policy measures, such as the new 2030 emissions target and tweaks to the safeguard mechanism, and a reboot of the national environmental agenda. 

The Prime Minister said that the super-department would help “deliver the government’s job-creating climate change and energy agenda and give Australia’s environment the protection it deserves”. 

Once the changes come into effect, the new department is expected to have two separate ministers, with Chris Bowen working as Minister for Climate Change and Energy and Tanya Plibersek as Minister for the Environment and Water. 

Meanwhile, a Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has also been set up under the new Labor Government. This new department will take on the responsibilities currently held by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment to better implement workplace relations, jobs, skills and training agenda. 

As part of his bureaucratic changes, the Prime Minister has also renamed the Department of Health to the Department of Health and Aged Care to better reflect the policy priority around care for older people. 

He has also transferred the responsibility for the arts to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, renaming it to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. 

In other changes to areas of policy responsibility, the Department of Finance will take on the responsibility for data policy as well as the government’s Digital Transformation Agency.

Meanwhile, the Department of Home Affairs will have its responsibility for criminal law enforcement and policy, including the Australian Federal Police, transferred to the office of the attorney general. It will, however, retain its responsibility for natural disaster response and mitigation, including the National Recovery and Resilience Agency. 

Source: Global Government Forum. Content has been edited for style and clarity.

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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