Minister for Veterans' Affairs (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widowers and dependants.

The current Minister is Warren Snowdon

Warren Snowdon

Warren Edward Snowdon is an Australian politician. He is an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives. He represented the Division of Northern Territory from July 1987 to March 1996, and from October 1998 to November 2001.Since November 2001 he has represented the...

, who was appointed on 14 September 2010, following the Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

's win at the 2010 election. He is responsible for the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio, including:

• Department of Veterans' Affairs
• Repatriation Commission
• Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission
• Office of Australian War Graves
  Office of Australian War Graves
  The Office of Australian War Graves is a branch within the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs and was formed on January 1, 1975. The OAWG acts as Australian agent for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission ....
  
  
• Australian War Memorial
  Australian War Memorial
  The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
  
  
• Veterans' Review Board
• Repatriation Medical Authority
• Specialist Medical Review Council

Australian Ministers for Veterans' Affairs

The portfolio was created by Billy Hughes

Billy Hughes

William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....

. It was called Minister for Repatriation from the appointment of the first Minister, Edward Millen

Edward Millen

Edward Davis Millen was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation....

 on 28 September 1917 to deal with ex-soldiers returning from World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Stanley Bruce

Stanley Bruce

Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...

 chose not to include a Minister for Repatriation in his ministry (1923–29), but his successor James Scullin

James Scullin

James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...

 restored it, and it has continued ever since, under different names. Gough Whitlam

Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...

 changed the portfolio title to Minister for Repatriation and Compensation in 1974; Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser

John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...

 restored it to its original title in 1975, and then changed it to Minister for Veterans' Affairs on 5 October 1976, Peter Durack

Peter Durack

Peter Drew Durack, QC was an Australian politician, representing the Liberal Party. He rose to become Attorney-General of Australia....

 being the last minister under the old title and the first under the new.

Between 1932 and 1938 there were also a Minister in charge of War Service Homes. This position was revived with Herbert Collett

Herbert Collett

Herbert Brayley Collett CMG DSO was an Australian politician, librarian and soldier.Collett was born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey and arrived with his family in Western Australia in October 1884. He was educated at Perth Grammar School and became a librarian at the Victoria Public Library in 1891...

's appointment as Minister without portfolio

Minister without Portfolio

A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...

 administering War Service Homes in 1939, but was subsumed by Hubert Lazzarini

Hubert Lazzarini

Hubert Peter Lazzarini was an Australian politician, holding the division of Werriwa as the Australian Labor Party member for most years from 1919 until his death....

's appointment as Minister for Works and Housing

Minister for Housing (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness is Mark Arbib, who was appointed on 14 September 2010, following the Labor Party's win at the 2010 election...

 in 1945.

Minister	Party affiliation	Period	Prime Minister	Ministerial Title
Edward Millen Edward Millen Edward Davis Millen was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation....	Nationalist Party Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...	1917–1923	Hughes Billy Hughes William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....	Minister for Repatriation
Frank Anstey Frank Anstey Frank Anstey , Australian politician, served 38 years as a Labor member of the Victorian and Commonwealth parliaments....	Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1929–1931	Scullin James Scullin James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...
John McNeill		1931–1932
Charles Hawker Charles Hawker Charles Allan Seymour Hawker was an Australian politician.Hawker was born near Clare, South Australia and educated at Geelong Grammar School, Hawker and Trinity College, Cambridge, earning Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in 1919 and 1922 respectively. While at Cambridge he enlisted in the...	United Australia Party United Australia Party The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...	1932	Lyons Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
Charles Marr		1932–1934
Billy Hughes Billy Hughes William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....		1934–1935
Joseph Lyons Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...		1935–1936
Billy Hughes		1936–1937
Harry Foll		1937–1939
		1939	Page Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament.-Early life:...
Eric Harrison Eric Harrison Sir Eric John Harrison KCMG KCVO was an Australian politician who became the first Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia....		1939–1940	Menzies Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
Geoffrey Street Geoffrey Street Geoffrey Austin Street MC was an Australian Cabinet Minister and member of the House of Representatives, representing the Division of Corangamite from 1934 until his death in 1940....		1940
Philip McBride Philip McBride Sir Philip Albert Martin McBride KCMG was an Australian politician.McBride was born into a well-known pastoral family and educated at Burra Public School and Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. In 1931, he was elected as the member for Grey in the Australian House of Representatives, representing...		1940
George McLeay George McLeay George McLeay was an Australian politician and senior minister in the Menzies Liberal government.McLeay was born in Port Clinton, South Australia and educated at Port Clinton Public School until 1906 when he was sent to Adelaide where he continued his education at Unley Public School...		1940–1941
Herbert Collett Herbert Collett Herbert Brayley Collett CMG DSO was an Australian politician, librarian and soldier.Collett was born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey and arrived with his family in Western Australia in October 1884. He was educated at Perth Grammar School and became a librarian at the Victoria Public Library in 1891...		1941
		1941	Fadden Arthur Fadden Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG was an Australian politician and, briefly, the 13th Prime Minister of Australia.-Introduction:...
Charles Frost Charles Frost Charles William Frost was an Australian politician.Frost was born in Hobart, Tasmania and educated at Koonya and Margate state schools, but left school at 13. He later worked at the Iron Blow mine near Queenstown...	Australian Labor Party	1941–1945	Curtin John Curtin John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
		1945	Forde Frank Forde Francis Michael Forde PC was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history, being in office for only eight days.-Early life:...
		1945–1946	Chifley Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
Claude Barnard Claude Barnard Herbert Claude Barnard was an Australian politician and government minister.Barnard was born at Mole Creek, Tasmania and was educated at Invermay State School, but left school at 14. In 1909 he began working for Tasmanian Government Railways, first as an engine cleaner and eventually as a driver...		1946–1949
Walter Cooper	Country Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1949–1960	Menzies Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
Frederick Osborne Frederick Osborne Frederick Meares Osborne CMG DSC and Bar VRD was an Australian politician and government minister.Osborne was born in Orange, New South Wales, and educated at North Sydney High School and Sydney Church of England Grammar School. He graduated with a degree in law from the University of Sydney...	Liberal Party Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1960–1961
Reginald Swartz Reginald Swartz Sir Reginald William Colin Swartz KBE , best known as Reg Swartz, was a Minister during the governments of Sir Robert Menzies, Harold Holt and John Gorton in Australia...		1961–1964
Colin McKellar		1964–1966
		1966–1967	Holt Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
		1967–1968	McEwen John McEwen Sir John "Black Jack" McEwen, GCMG, CH , was an Australian politician and the 18th Prime Minister of Australia...
		1968–1969	Gorton John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...
Mac Holten Mac Holten Rendle McNeilage "Mac" Holten CMG was a leading Australian rules footballer, Australian politician and government minister.Holten was born in Melbourne and educated at Scotch College, Melbourne...		1969–1971
		1971–1972	McMahon William McMahon Sir William "Billy" McMahon, GCMG, CH , was an Australian Liberal politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Australia...
Lance Barnard Lance Barnard Lance Herbert Barnard AO , Australian politician, was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia for most of the Labor government of Gough Whitlam....	Australian Labor Party	1972	Whitlam Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
Reg Bishop Reg Bishop Reginald Bishop AO was an Australian politician. He was born in Adelaide and left school at fifteen and became a clerk in the South Australian Railways at the Islington Railway Workshops. He was an official of the Australian Railways Union from 1937 until 1956 and Secretary of the South...		1972–1974
John Wheeldon John Wheeldon John Murray Wheeldon was an Australian federal politician and briefly a minister. He is mainly notable for his views on Australian foreign policy....		1974–1975		Minister for Repatriation and Compensation
Don Chipp Don Chipp Donald Leslie Chipp, AO was an Australian politician, and the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats.-Early life:...	Liberal Party	1975	Fraser Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
Kevin Newman Kevin Newman (Australian politician) Kevin Eugene Newman AO was an Australian soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army, serving in Malaysia and the Vietnam War....		1975–1976		Minister for Repatriation
Peter Durack Peter Durack Peter Drew Durack, QC was an Australian politician, representing the Liberal Party. He rose to become Attorney-General of Australia....		1976
		1976–1977		Minister for Veterans' Affairs
Victor Garland Victor Garland Sir Victor Garland KBE , usually known as Vic Garland, is an Australian former politician, Australian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom and director of many UK and US public companies. A Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, he represented the Division of Curtin in...		1977–1978
Evan Adermann Evan Adermann Evan Adermann AO was an Australian politician.Adermann was born in Kingaroy, Queensland, son of Charles Adermann, and was educated at Brisbane Boys' College. He did not complete a medical degree at the University of Queensland and instead became a dairy farmer in Kingaroy...	National Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1978–1980
Tony Messner Tony Messner Anthony John Messner AO is a former Australian politician and minister.Messner was born in Melbourne and educated at a state primary school in Queensland, Pulteney Grammar School, Adelaide and the South Australian Institute of Technology.Messner was elected as a Senator for South Australia at the...	Liberal Party	1980–1983
Arthur Gietzelt Arthur Gietzelt Arthur Thomas Gietzelt, AO is a former Australian politician and minister.Gietzelt was educated at Hurstville High School. He served in the armed forces in New Guinea during World War II from 1941 to 1945....	Australian Labor Party	1983–1987	Hawke Bob Hawke Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
Ben Humphreys Ben Humphreys Benjamin Charles Humphreys AM , Australian politician, is a former Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Griffith, Queensland from 1977 to 1996....		1987–1991
		1991–1993	Keating Paul Keating Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
John Faulkner John Faulkner John Philip Faulkner is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor member of the Australian Senate since 1989, representing the state of New South Wales. Following a period serving on various Senate Committees and as Deputy Whip, he was a Minister in the Keating Labor government 1993-96...		1993–1994
Con Sciacca Con Sciacca Concetto Antonio "Con" Sciacca AO , Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from July 1987 to March 1996 and again from October 1998 to October 2004, representing the Division of Bowman, Queensland...		1994–1996
Bruce Scott Bruce Scott Bruce Craig Scott , Australian politician, has been a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing the Division of Maranoa, Queensland. He was born in Roma, Queensland, and was a wool and grain grower before entering politics...	National Party	1996–2001	Howard John Howard John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
Danna Vale Danna Vale Danna Sue Vale , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to July 2010, representing the Division of Hughes, New South Wales. She did not re-contest her seat at the 2010 federal election.From 1984 until 1988, Vale was a full-time wife,...	Liberal Party	2001–2004
De-Anne Kelly De-Anne Kelly De-Anne Margaret Kelly , was an Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Dawson, Queensland. She was also the first female member of the National Party to win a seat in the...	National Party	2004–2006
Bruce Billson Bruce Billson Bruce Frederick Billson MP is an Australian politician and Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1996. He represents the Division of Dunkley, Victoria....	Liberal Party	2006–2007
Alan Griffin Alan Griffin Alan Peter Griffin , an Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1993, representing the Division of Corinella, Victoria 1993–96 and the Division of Bruce, Victoria, since March 1996. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria,...	Australian Labor Party	2007–2010	Rudd Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
		2010	Gillard Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
Warren Snowdon Warren Snowdon Warren Edward Snowdon is an Australian politician. He is an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives. He represented the Division of Northern Territory from July 1987 to March 1996, and from October 1998 to November 2001.Since November 2001 he has represented the...		2010–

Ministers in charge of War Service Homes

Minister	Party affiliation	Period	Prime Minister	Ministerial Title
Josiah Francis Josiah Francis Sir Josiah Francis was an Australian politician and Minister for the Army.Francis was born in Ipswich, Queensland and educated at Christian Brothers' College, Ipswich and was appointed as a clerk in the Queensland Department of Justice in 1908...	United Australia Party United Australia Party The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...	1932–1934	Lyons Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...	Minister in charge of War Service Homes
Harold Thorby Harold Thorby Harold Victor Campbell Thorby was an Australian politician and government minister.-Early life:Thorby was born in the Sydney suburb of Annandale and was educated at Geurie Public School and Sydney Grammar School and worked on his grandparents' farm at Geurie. He studied woolclassing, veterinary...	Country Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1934–1936		Minister without portfolio in charge of War Service Homes
James Hunter James Hunter (Australian politician) James Aitchison Johnston Hunter was an Australian politician.Hunter was born at Springburn, near Glasgow, Scotland and migrated with his family to Brisbane in 1884 educated there. He joined the state public service and became an accountant in the Queensland Railways...	Country Party	1936–1937
Harry Foll	United Australia Party	1937–1938		Minister in charge of War Service Homes
Herbert Collett Herbert Collett Herbert Brayley Collett CMG DSO was an Australian politician, librarian and soldier.Collett was born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey and arrived with his family in Western Australia in October 1884. He was educated at Perth Grammar School and became a librarian at the Victoria Public Library in 1891...	United Australia Party	1939–1940	Menzies Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....	Minister without portfolio administering War Service Homes
		1940–1940		Minister without portfolio in charge of War Service Homes
		1940–1940		Minister in charge of War Service Homes
		1940–1941		Minister without portfolio administering War Service Homes
Charles Frost Charles Frost Charles William Frost was an Australian politician.Frost was born in Hobart, Tasmania and educated at Koonya and Margate state schools, but left school at 13. He later worked at the Iron Blow mine near Queenstown...	Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1941–1945	Curtin John Curtin John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...	Minister in charge of War Service Homes
		1941–1945	Forde Frank Forde Francis Michael Forde PC was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history, being in office for only eight days.-Early life:...