Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service
CRS · CRS Australia
1948 – 2015
Government service providing vocational and medical rehabilitation to people with injury, illness or disability to help them into work, at first mainly for invalid pensioners and later also under workers' compensation and disability employment contracts.
How it came into existence
Took the name Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service in 1948 within the Department of Social Services, growing out of the Vocational Training Scheme for Invalid Pensioners that the Curtin government had started in 1941, with the rehabilitation provisions of the Social Services Consolidation Act 1947 as its legal basis.
- Rehabilitation and vocational training of invalid pensioners
Legislation: Social Services Consolidation Act 1947 (rehabilitation provisions); Disability Services Act 1986, Part III
Changes during its life
- 19 December 1972Became part of the new Department of Social Security.
- 13 December 1984Moved to the new Department of Community Services.
- 1986Its rehabilitation provisions were moved from social security law to Part III of the Disability Services Act 1986.
- 24 July 1987Became part of the Department of Community Services and Health and its successors in the health and community services portfolio.
- 1998Began trading as CRS Australia.
- 21 October 1998Moved to the new Department of Family and Community Services.
- 26 October 2004Moved to the new Department of Human Services as one of its service-delivery agencies.
How it ended
Ceased as a Commonwealth service in 2015, when the government sold the CRS Australia business to the private rehabilitation provider APM; disability employment and rehabilitation services thereafter came through contracted Disability Employment Services providers and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Main functions
- Vocational rehabilitation for people with disability
- Medical and allied health rehabilitation
- Rehabilitation centres and training
- Workplace injury rehabilitation for employers and insurers
- Disability employment services
Where it sits
Last in the portfolio of Department of Human Services.
Lineage
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Sources
Primary sources
- Australian Government Organisations Register (Department of Finance, data.gov.au) (listed from 11 December 2014 to 16 February 2015)
Other sources
Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.