The current Australian Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts is Peter Garrett, who took over from Malcolm Turnbull (who was titled Minister for the Environment and Water Resources ) when the Rudd Labor Government came to power in December 2007. Water Resources and responsibility for addressing Climate Change were assigned to a new Ministry.

[edit] Portfolio responsibilities

The minister administers their portfolio through the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and its component bodies:

• Antarctic Animal Ethics Committee
• Antarctic Ethics Committee (Human Experimentation)
• Antarctic Research Assessment Committees (ARACs)
• Antarctic Science Advisory Committee
• Australia-Netherlands Committee on Old Dutch Shipwrecks
• Australian Antarctic Names and Medals Committee
• Australian Heritage Council
• Bureau of Meteorology
• Environment Protection and Heritage Council
• Great Barrier Reef Consultative Committee
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
• Great Barrier Reef Ministerial Council
• Great Barrier Reef Structural Adjustment Package Technical Advisory Committee
• Hazardous Waste Technical Group
• National Cultural Heritage Committee
• National Environment Protection Council
• National Environmental Education Council
• New South Wales World Heritage Properties Ministerial Council
• Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator
• Science Program Management Committee
• State of the Environment Committee 2006
• Stockholm Intergovernmental Forum
• Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
• Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Ministerial Council
• Threatened Species Scientific Committee
• Wet Tropics Ministerial Council

[edit] Australian environment ministers

Minister	Party affiliation	Period	Ministerial Title
Peter Howson	Liberal Party	1971–1972	Minister for the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts
Gough Whitlam	Australian Labor Party	1972
Moss Cass	Australian Labor Party	1972–1975	Minister for the Environment and Conservation
Moss Cass	Australian Labor Party	1975	Minister for the Environment
Jim Cairns	Australian Labor Party	1975
Gough Whitlam	Australian Labor Party	1975
Joe Berinson	Australian Labor Party	1975
Andrew Peacock	Liberal Party	1975
Ivor Greenwood	Liberal Party	1975–1976	Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development
Kevin Newman	Liberal Party	1976–1977
Ray Groom	Liberal Party	1977–1978
James Webster	Liberal Party	1978–1979	Minister for Science and the Environment
David Thomson	Liberal Party	1979–1980
Robert Ellicott	Liberal Party	1980–1981	Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment
Michael MacKellar	Liberal Party	1981
Ian Wilson	Liberal Party	1981–1982
Tom McVeigh	Liberal Party	1982–1983
Barry Cohen	Australian Labor Party	1983–1984
Barry Cohen	Australian Labor Party	1984–1987	Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Environment
John Brown	Australian Labor Party	1987–1988	Minister for Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories
Graham Richardson	Australian Labor Party	1988–1990
Ros Kelly	Australian Labor Party	1990–1991
Ros Kelly	Australian Labor Party	1991–1993	Minister for Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories
Ros Kelly	Australian Labor Party	1993–1994	Minister for the Environment, Sport and Territories
John Faulkner	Australian Labor Party	1994–1996
Robert Hill	Liberal Party	1996–1998	Minister for the Environment
Robert Hill	Liberal Party	1998–2001	Minister for the Environment and Heritage
David Kemp	Liberal Party	2001–2004
Ian Campbell	Liberal Party	2004–2007
Malcolm Turnbull	Liberal Party	2007	Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
Peter Garrett	Australian Labor Party	2007–	Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts

[edit] External links

• Ministers' website