Minister for Building

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Minister for Building
Incumbent
Anoulack Chanthivong
since 5 April 2023 (2023-04-05)
Department of Transport
StyleThe Honourable
AppointerGovernor of New South Wales
Inaugural holderClaude Matthews (as the Minister for Building Materials)
Formation19 May 1947

The Minister for Building is a minister in the Government of New South Wales with responsibility for building across New South Wales, Australia.

History[edit]

Building Materials[edit]

Inaugural Building Materials minister, Claude Matthews

During World War II building controls had been exercised by the Commonwealth government. A secondary industries section had been established in the Premier's department in 1944 with responsibility for developing manufacturing industries and in 1945 transferred to the Department of Labour and Industry. The functions of the section were to keep the Department informed about development and decentralisation of secondary industries, to provide information, advice and assistance to those contemplating the establishment of new industries or the expansion and technical development existing industries in NSW. The Section was responsible for the development and progressive implementation of various plans for industrial development, contact with overseas industries, negotiation for the establishment of factories in Australia, and movement towards the more rational and economic grouping of inter-related industries. The Division worked co-operatively with Commonwealth and other NSW agencies concerned with the development and decentralisation of secondary industries, and maintained contact with manufacturers for the purposes of information exchange, fostering expansion and efficiency, and encouraging maximum employment.[1]

With post war reconstruction, control over building materials returned to the state governments. Controls continued to be necessary in the post-war environment to ensure that State planning priorities (including the demands of population growth) were achieved and scarce resources were allocated equitably. The controls introduced by the Building Operations and Building Materials Control Act 1946,[2] included requiring consent for building operations except those exempted under the Act; preventing architects, builders, contractors and engineers from commencing buildings which were unauthorised, and requiring them to conform to any conditions placed on the building authorisation. Local Government powers to approve building applications were subject to the Act. Consent was required to use bricks except for purposes defined by the Act. Restrictions were placed on the supply of a range of other building materials. Inspectors could visit building sites and places where building materials were manufactured, stored, sold or distributed and require the production of relevant records. This was initially administered by the Building Materials Branch of the Department of Labour and Industry and timber distribution staff of the Forestry Commission. In June 1947 these staff were transferred to the new department of building materials. A technical branch was established to stimulate and develop the various activities allied to the building industry, and to ensure the training of skilled tradesmen to enable the State’s housing program to be achieved. The branch also controlled all building materials such as bricks, cement products, and timber. The various branches which had combined to create the Department were operationally restricted to coastal districts while the new department's responsibilities covered the entire State.[3] Bricks for example were not permitted to be used for the construction of fences or garages.[4]

The principal responsibility of the Minister was the development, availability, production and standard of building materials particularly bricks, tiles and baths. It was established in the second McGirr ministry in May 1947, carved out of the responsibilities of the Minister for Labour and Industry. Additional responsibility for the encouragement and regulation of manufacturing, referred to as secondary industries, were added in November 1947 and the title of the portfolio was amended to reflect the additional responsibilities in March 1948.

On 4 November, 1947 the secondary industries division was transferred from the Premier's department to the Department of Building Materials in order to achieve co-ordination between industrial and housing development.[3] Despite the additional responsibilities, the portfolio remained named Building Materials until June 1950 when it was renamed Minister for Secondary Industries and Minister for Building Materials.[5]

On 15 August 1952 William Dickson resigned from the ministry and was elected President of the Legislative Council.[6] The portfolio was abolished, with responsibility for secondary industries returning to the Premier,[7] while building materials returned to the responsibility of the Minister for Labour and Industry.[5][8] Manufacturing was next represented at a portfolio level as Minister for Industrial Development and Decentralisation.[7]

Infrastructure[edit]

Infrastructure was first represented at a portfolio level in the fourth Carr ministry, combined with Planning. The minister, Craig Knowles, also held the portfolio of Natural Resources and was responsible for the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources. The government's stated purpose in establishing a combined department was:

  1. to form one department for the purpose of making integrated decisions about natural resource management and land use planning; that is to bring the social, economic and environmental agendas together to promote sustainability;
  2. improve service delivery and provide clear, concise and co-ordinated information to customers;
  3. to simplify policy and regulation to resolve confusion and duplication;
  4. to reduce costs and redirect savings back to the community;
  5. to link decisions about vital infrastructure with the broader plans for NSW; and
  6. to devolve decision making to the communities that those decisions affect.[9]

Infrastructure was established as a separate portfolio in the first Iemma ministry, however it was not responsible for a department nor legislation[10] The portfolio was combined with planning in the O'Farrell ministry before being split into separate portfolios in the first Baird ministry. The portfolio was then combined with Transport in the second Baird ministry, before being abolished in the second Berejiklian ministry, subsumed into Transport.


The portfolio was recreated in the second Perrottet ministry.[5] In that ministry from December 2021 to March 2023, the minister was responsible for Barangaroo and Infrastructure NSW.[11] It was one of the six ministries in the transport sector and the Minister (for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport) works with the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Metropolitan Roads and the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads.[12][5] Together they administered the portfolio through the Department of Transport (Transport for NSW) and a range of other government agencies that coordinate funding arrangements for transport operators, including hundreds of local and community transport operators.[11]

List of ministers[edit]

Ministerial title Minister [5] Party Ministry Term start Term end Time in office Notes
Minister for Public Works Arthur Griffith   Labor McGowen
Holman (1) 		21 October 1910 15 March 1915 4 years, 145 days
John Cann Holman (1) 15 March 1915 15 November 1916 1 year, 245 days
Minister for Building Materials Claude Matthews   Labor       McGirr (2) 19 May 1947 9 March 1948 295 days [13]
William Dickson 9 March 1948 30 June 1950 2 years, 113 days [6]
Minister for Secondary Industries
Minister for Building Materials 		McGirr (3)
Cahill (1) 		30 June 1950 15 August 1952 2 years, 46 days
Minister for Public Works Norm Ryan   Labor       Cahill (4)
Heffron (1) (2)
Renshaw 		1 April 1959 13 May 1965 6 years, 42 days
Davis Hughes   Country Askin (1) (2) (3) (4) 13 May 1965 17 January 1973 7 years, 249 days
Leon Punch Askin (5) (6)
Lewis (1) (2) 		17 January 1973 14 May 1976 3 years, 118 days
Jack Ferguson   Labor Wran (1) (2) (3) (4) 14 May 1976 10 February 1984 7 years, 272 days
Laurie Brereton Wran (5) (6) (7) 10 February 1984 6 February 1986 1 year, 361 days
Minister for Public Works and Ports Wran (8)
Unsworth 		6 February 1986 26 November 1987 1 year, 293 days
Minister for Public Works Peter Cox Unsworth 26 November 1987 21 March 1988 116 days
Wal Murray   National Greiner (1) (2)
Fahey (1) (2) 		21 March 1988 26 May 1993 5 years, 66 days
Ian Armstrong Fahey (3) 26 May 1993 4 April 1995 1 year, 313 days
Minister for Public Works and Services Michael Knight   Labor Carr (1) 4 April 1995 15 December 1995 255 days
Carl Scully 15 December 1995 1 December 1997 1 year, 351 days
Ron Dyer Carr (2) 1 December 1997 8 April 1999 1 year, 128 days
Morris Iemma Carr (3) 8 April 1999 2 April 2003 3 years, 359 days
Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Craig Knowles   Labor Carr (4) 2 April 2003 3 August 2005 2 years, 123 days
Minister for Infrastructure Michael Costa Iemma (1) 3 August 2005 5 September 2008 3 years, 33 days
Joe Tripodi Iemma (2) 8 September 2008 17 November 2009 1 year, 70 days
Kristina Keneally Rees 17 November 2009 4 December 2009 17 days
Tony Kelly Keneally 8 December 2009 28 March 2011 1 year, 110 days
Minister for Planning and Infrastructure
Minister Assisting the Premier on Infrastructure NSW 		Brad Hazzard   Liberal O'Farrell 3 April 2011 23 April 2014 3 years, 20 days
Minister for Infrastructure Mike Baird Baird (1) 23 April 2014 2 April 2015 344 days
Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance Baird (2)
Berejiklian (1) 		2 April 2015 2 April 2019 4 years, 0 days
Minister for Infrastructure Rob Stokes   Liberal Perrottet (2) 21 December 2021 28 March 2023 1 year, 97 days [12]
Minister for Buildling Anoulack Chanthivong   Labor Minns 5 April 2023 incumbent 1 year, 22 days

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "AGY-3031 Secondary Industries Section". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 7 December 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  2. ^ Building Operations and Building Materials Control Act No 12 of 1946 (NSW)
  3. ^ a b "AGY-3042 Department of Building Materials (1947-1950) / Department of Secondary Industries and Building Materials (1950-1952)". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 7 December 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  4. ^ "Control of bricks". The Australian Worker. 3 September 1947. p. 12. Retrieved 7 December 2021 – via Trove.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Mr William Edward Dickson (1893-1966)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  7. ^ a b "PFO-140 Secondary Industries". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 7 December 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  8. ^ "PFO-142 Building Materials". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 7 December 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  9. ^ "AGY-3813 Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 29 March 2022.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  10. ^ "PFO-296 Infrastructure [I]". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 29 March 2022.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  11. ^ a b "Administrative Arrangements (Second Perrottet Ministry—Allocation of Acts and Agencies) Order 2021". NSW Legislation. 21 December 2021. p. 27. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Parliament, Ministerial, Courts and Police (662)" (PDF). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 21 December 2021.
  13. ^ "The Hon. Claude Hilton Matthews (1899–1954)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 May 2019.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minister_for_Building&oldid=1189213150"