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Minister for Communications (Australia)

Australian cabinet position

Field	Value
post	Minister for Communications
insignia	Coat_of_Arms_of_Australia.svg
insigniacaption	Commonwealth Coat of Arms
flag	Flag of Australia (converted).svg
flagcaption	Flag of Australia
flagborder	yes
incumbent	Anika Wells
image	Anika Wells 2023.jpg
incumbentsince
style	The Honourable
appointer	Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia
inaugural	John Forrest (as Postmaster-General)
formation
department	Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
website

The Minister for Communications is a member of the Cabinet of Australia with overall responsibility for broadcasting, the information and communications technology industry, the information economy, and national telecommunications. The portfolio has been held by Anika Wells under the second Albanese ministry since 13 May 2025, following the 2025 Australian federal election.

In the Government of Australia, the minister administers the communications portfolio through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.

Scope

Portfolio agencies and bodies include:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Communications and Media Authority
Australia Post
Australian Classification Board
National Library of Australia
NBN Co
Special Broadcasting Service

List of ministers

The minister responsible for telecommunications policy has had various titles. From 1901 until December 1975 it was the Postmaster-General, who administered the portfolio through the Postmaster-General's Department.

The following individuals have been appointed as Minister for Communications, or any of its precedent titles:

Order	Minister	Party	Prime Minister	Title	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1	John Forrest			Protectionist	Barton	Postmaster-General
2	James Drake
3	Philip Fysh					days
		Deakin
4	Hugh Mahon			Labor	Watson			days
5	Sydney Smith			Free Trade	George Reid			days
6	Austin Chapman			Protectionist	Deakin
7	Samuel Mauger
8	Josiah Thomas			Labor	Fisher			days
9	John Quick			Protectionist	Deakin			days
10	Josiah Thomas			Labor	Fisher
11	Charlie Frazer
12	Agar Wynne			Liberal	Cook
13	William Spence			Labor	Fisher
14	William Webster			Hughes
		National Labor
		Nationalist
15	George Wise
16	Alexander Poynton
17	William Gibson			Country	Bruce
18	Joseph Lyons			Labor	Scullin
19	Albert Green					days
20	James Fenton			United Australia	Lyons			days
21	Archdale Parkhill
22	Alexander McLachlan
23	Archie Cameron			Country			days
		Page
24	Eric Harrison			United Australia	Menzies			days
25	Harold Thorby			Country			days
26	George McLeay			United Australia			days
27	Thomas Collins			Country			days
		Fadden
28	Bill Ashley			Labor	Curtin
29	Don Cameron
		Forde
		Chifley
30	Larry Anthony			Country	Menzies
31	Charles Davidson
32	Alan Hulme			Liberal			****
		Holt
		McEwen
		Gorton
		McMahon
33	Lance Barnard			Labor	Whitlam			days
34	Lionel Bowen
35	Reg Bishop
36	Peter Nixon			National Country	Fraser			days
37	Victor Garland			Liberal	Minister for Post and Telecommunications			days
38	Eric Robinson
39	Tony Staley
40	Ian Sinclair			National Country	Minister for Communications
41	Neil Brown			Liberal			days
42	Michael Duffy			Labor	Hawke
43	Gareth Evans			Minister for Transport and Communications
44	Ralph Willis
45	Kim Beazley
46	John Kerin					days
		Keating
47	Graham Richardson					days
48	Bob Collins
49	Michael Lee			Minister for Communications
		Minister for Communications and the Arts
50	Richard Alston			Liberal	Howard
		Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts
		Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
51	Daryl Williams					days
52	Helen Coonan
53	Stephen Conroy			Labor	Rudd	Minister for Broadband, Communications
and the Digital Economy
		Gillard
54	Anthony Albanese			Rudd			days
55	Malcolm Turnbull	Liberal}}		Liberal	Abbott	Minister for Communications
Turnbull
56	Mitch Fifield
Morrison	Minister for Communications and the Arts
57	Paul Fletcher	Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts
58	Michelle Rowland	Labor}}		Labor	Albanese	Minister for Communications
59	Anika Wells		Incumbent

Notes : Barnard served as part of a two-man ministry together with Gough Whitlam for fourteen days, until the full ministry was commissioned. : On , the third Hawke ministry implemented a two-level ministerial structure, with distinctions drawn between senior and junior ministers. This arrangement has been continued by subsequent ministries. Junior ministers are shown in the table below.

Former ministerial portfolios

List of ministers for regional communications

The following individuals have been appointed as Minister for Regional Communications, or any of its precedent titles:

Order	Minister	Party affiliation	Ministerial title	Term start	Term end
1	Sharon Bird		Labor	Rudd	Minister for Regional Communications
2	Fiona Nash		National	Turnbull	Minister for Regional Communications	26 October 2017
3	Bridget McKenzie		National	Turnbull	Minister for Regional Communications
4	Mark Coulton		National	Morrison	Minister for Regional Services, Decentralisation and Local Government
		Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government
(3)	Bridget McKenzie		Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education

List of ministers for digital transformation

On , the third Hawke Ministry implemented a two-level ministerial structure, with distinctions drawn between senior and junior ministers. This arrangement has been continued by subsequent ministries; however, junior ministers have been appointed in the telecommunications portfolio on only five occasions. Senior ministers are shown in the table above.

The following individuals have been appointed as the Minister for Digital Transformation, or any of its precedent titles:

Order	Minister	Party affiliation	Prime Minister	Ministerial title	Term start	Term end
1	Gary Punch			Labor	Hawke	Minister for Telecommunications and Aviation Support
2	Ros Kelly					days
3	David Beddall			Labor	Keating	Minister for Communications
4	Michael Keenan			Liberal	Turnbull	Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation
		Morrison	Minister for Digital Transformation

Parliamentary Secretaries

The following individuals have been appointed as the Assistant Minister or Parliamentary Secretary for Communications, or any of its precedent titles:

Order	Secretary	Ministerial title	Term start	Term end
1	Ed Husic	Labor	Rudd	Parliamentary Secretary for Broadband
2	Paul Fletcher	Liberal	Abbott	Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications
3	Angus Taylor	Liberal	Turnbull	Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation

References

Truu, Maani. (12 May 2025). "Anthony Albanese unveils new-look frontbench after historic victory".
(2010). "Ministries and Cabinets". [[Parliament of Australia]].
Karp, Paul. (27 October 2017). "High court citizenship case: Barnaby Joyce and four others ruled ineligible". The Guardian.
(3 July 2013). "Second Rudd Ministry". [[Commonwealth of Australia]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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