Social services & housingAgencyExists today
Services Australia
1 February 2020 – present
Executive agency that delivers Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support payments and services and runs myGov and other government service platforms.
How it came into existence
Established on 1 February 2020 as an executive agency under the Public Service Act 1999, replacing the Department of State of the same name (the Department of Human Services, renamed on 29 May 2019) and taking over its staff, functions and the statutory roles of the Chief Executive Centrelink and Chief Executive Medicare.
- Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support service delivery
- myGov
Legislation: Public Service Act 1999 (executive agency); Human Services (Centrelink) Act 1997; Human Services (Medicare) Act 1973
Changes during its life
- May 2025Moved from the Social Services portfolio to the Finance portfolio after the 2025 election.
Main functions
- Centrelink social security and family payments
- Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme payments
- Child Support assessment and collection
- myGov and digital service platforms
- Australian Immunisation Register and other health registers
- Disaster recovery payments
Where it sits
In the portfolio of Department of Finance.
- Type of body
- Non-corporate Commonwealth entity
- Portfolio
- Finance
- Accountable authority
- Chief Executive Officer – Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 schedule 1 item 22(c)
- ABN
- 90 794 605 008
Lineage
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Sources
Primary sources
- List of Commonwealth entities and companies under the PGPA Act, 1 July 2026 (Department of Finance)
- Australian Government Organisations Register (Department of Finance, data.gov.au) (listed from 31 March 2020 to the latest release (30 June 2026))