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Social services & housingDepartment of State

Department of Social Security

DSS

19 December 1972 – 21 October 1998

Previously Department of Social Services (1939–1972).

Department of State responsible for Commonwealth income support: age, invalid and widows' pensions, unemployment, sickness and special benefits, family payments and sole parent payments, together with welfare services and, until 1984, rehabilitation and community services programs.

Names over time

  1. Department of Social Services1939–1972
  2. Department of Social Security1972–1998

How it came into existence

Created by the Administrative Arrangements Order of 19 December 1972, when the Whitlam government renamed the Department of Social Services, with Bill Hayden as Minister for Social Security. On 7 May 1982 it also took housing policy from the abolished Department of Housing and Construction, holding it until March 1983.

  • Renamed from Department of Social Services · 19 December 1972
    • Age and invalid pensions
    • Widows' pensions
    • Child endowment
    • Unemployment, sickness and special benefits
    • Rehabilitation services

Changes during its life

  1. 1 July 1991The Social Security Act 1991 commenced, replacing the 1947 Act (originally the Social Services Act 1947) as the legislation for the payments the department administered.
  2. 24 September 1997Centrelink (the Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency) began operating with the department's regional office network, leaving the department as a policy and purchasing department.
  • Part split off to form Social Security Appeals Tribunal · 1975
    • Review of social security decisions

    Created as a non-statutory review body attached to the department; before 1975 decisions were reviewed only within the department.

  • Part split off to form Department of Housing and Construction · 11 March 1983
    • Housing policy
    • Regional housing administration
    • Home savings grant and home deposit assistance schemes

    Housing passed to the Social Security portfolio when the earlier Department of Housing and Construction was abolished in May 1982; the exact units transferred in March 1983 are not confirmed against the Administrative Arrangements Order.

  • Part split off to form Department of Community Services · 13 December 1984
    • Office of Aged Care, Child Care and Disabled
    • Social Welfare Policy Secretariat
  • Part split off to form Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency · 1 July 1997
    • Area and regional office network
    • Delivery of pensions, benefits and allowances

How it ended

Abolished on 21 October 1998, when its policy functions were combined with family and community services programs from other departments in the new Department of Family and Community Services; its payment delivery network had already passed to Centrelink in 1997.

Main functions

  • Age, invalid and widows' pensions
  • Unemployment, sickness and special benefits
  • Family payments, from child endowment to family allowance and family payment
  • Supporting mother's and supporting parent's benefits, later sole parent pension
  • Welfare and community services, including the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (to 1984)
  • Housing policy and assistance (1982–1983)
  • Delivery of payments through a national network of regional offices (to 1997)

Bodies in this portfolio (1)

Lineage

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Sources