Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs

The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs is a ministerial post of the Australian Government and is held by Alex Hawke MP.

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs
Incumbent Alex Hawke since 22 December 2020
Department of Home Affairs
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia
Inaugural holder	Arthur Calwell
Formation	13 July 1945

The post was created in 1945 and its inaugural officeholder was Arthur Calwell as the Minister for Immigration. On 20 December 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced a new major portfolio responsible for national security: Home Affairs.[1] The Hon Peter Dutton MP retained the duties of Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, with additional responsibilities awarded as the Minister for Home Affairs.[2] Following the appointment of Prime Minister Scott Morrison in August 2018, Morrison re-appointed Peter Dutton to the Home Affairs Ministry, previously introduced to the 'super-Ministry' under the Turnbull Government in December 2017, and appointed David Coleman as Immigration Minister.

Scope

The portfolio and department were created in July 1945, during the last months of World War II. Previously, immigration affairs were handled by the Minister for Home Affairs (1901–1932) and the Minister for the Interior (1932–1945), except that between January 1925 and January 1928 Victor Wilson and Thomas Paterson were Ministers for Markets and Migration.[3]

The Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship was usually one of the senior members of Cabinet, although between the Tenth Menzies Ministry and the Third Fraser Ministry, the post was downgraded to that of a junior minister. The minister and department have on several occasions been responsible for another portfolio in addition to immigration, such as ethnic/multicultural affairs, local government[4] or border protection.

List of ministers for immigration

The following individuals have held responsibility for immigration:[5]

Order	Minister	Party		Prime Minister	Title	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1	Arthur Calwell		Labor	Chifley	Minister for Immigration	13 July 1945	19 December 1949	4 years, 159 days
2	Harold Holt		Liberal	Menzies		19 December 1949	24 October 1956	6 years, 310 days
3	Athol Townley					24 October 1956	19 March 1958	1 year, 146 days
4	Alick Downer					19 March 1958	18 December 1963	5 years, 274 days
5	Hubert Opperman					18 December 1963	26 January 1966	2 years, 361 days
				Holt		26 January 1966	14 December 1966
6	Billy Snedden					14 December 1966	19 December 1967	2 years, 333 days
				McEwen		19 December 1967	10 January 1968
				Gorton		10 January 1968	12 November 1969
7	Phillip Lynch			McMahon		12 November 1969	22 March 1971	1 year, 130 days
8	Jim Forbes					22 March 1971	5 December 1972	1 year, 258 days
9	Lance Barnard^1		Labor	Whitlam		5 December 1972	19 December 1972	14 days
10	Al Grassby					19 December 1972	12 June 1974	1 year, 175 days
11	Clyde Cameron				Minister for Labour and Immigration	12 June 1974	6 June 1975	359 days
12	Jim McClelland					6 June 1975	11 November 1975	158 days
13	Tony Street		Liberal	Fraser		12 November 1975	22 December 1975	40 days
14	Michael MacKellar				Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs	22 December 1975	8 December 1979	3 years, 351 days
15	Ian Macphee					8 December 1979	7 May 1982	2 years, 150 days
16	John Hodges					7 May 1982	11 March 1983	308 days
17	Stewart West		Labor	Hawke		11 March 1983	13 December 1984	1 year, 277 days
18	Chris Hurford					13 December 1984	16 February 1987	2 years, 65 days
19	Mick Young				Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs	16 February 1987	12 February 1988	361 days
20	Clyde Holding					12 February 1988	2 September 1988	203 days
21	Robert Ray					2 September 1988	4 April 1990	1 year, 214 days
22	Gerry Hand					4 April 1990	20 December 1991	2 years, 354 days
				Keating		20 December 1991	24 March 1993
23	Nick Bolkus				Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs	24 March 1993	11 March 1996	2 years, 353 days
24	Philip Ruddock		Liberal	Howard	Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs	11 March 1996	26 November 2001	7 years, 210 days
					Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs	26 November 2001	7 October 2003
25	Amanda Vanstone					7 October 2003	27 January 2006	3 years, 115 days
					Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs	27 January 2006	30 January 2007
26	Kevin Andrews				Minister for Immigration and Citizenship	30 January 2007	3 December 2007	307 days
27	Chris Evans		Labor	Rudd		3 December 2007	24 June 2010	2 years, 285 days
				Gillard		24 June 2010	14 September 2010
28	Chris Bowen					14 September 2010	4 February 2013	2 years, 143 days
29	Brendan O'Connor					4 February 2013	1 July 2013	147 days
30	Tony Burke			Rudd	Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship	1 July 2013	18 September 2013	79 days
31	Scott Morrison		Liberal	Abbott	Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	18 September 2013	23 December 2014	1 year, 96 days
32	Peter Dutton					23 December 2014	15 September 2015	3 years, 241 days
				Turnbull		15 September 2015	21 August 2018
33	David Coleman			Morrison	Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs	28 August 2018	29 May 2019	1 year, 107 days
					Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs	29 May 2019	13 December 2019
(acting)	Alan Tudge					13 December 2019	22 December 2020	1 year, 9 days
34	Alex Hawke					22 December 2020	Incumbent	42 days

Notes

¹ Barnard was one of a two-man ministry consisting of himself and Gough Whitlam for two weeks until the full ministry was announced.

List of ministers for customs

From 1901 to 1956 Customs was handled by the Minister for Trade and Customs. In 1956 Frederick Osborne was appointed Minister for Customs and Excise. Kep Enderby was appointed Minister for Police and Customs in 1975. In 1975 responsibility for customs was absorbed into the portfolio of the Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, John Howard. In May 1982, the portfolio of the Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs was abolished and customs functions were transferred to the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Phillip Lynch. In January 1988, Barry Jones became responsible for customs as Minister for Science, Customs and Small Business within John Button's portfolio of Industry and Commerce and there were subsequently junior ministers responsible for customs within the industry portfolio until March 1993 and from March 1994 until December 2007, when customs became part of the responsibility of the Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus. Between September 2013 and December 2017, it was the responsibility of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

The following individuals have held responsibility for customs:[5]

Order	Minister	Party		Prime Minister	Title	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1	Charles Kingston		Protectionist	Barton	Minister for Trade and Customs	1 January 1901	24 July 1903	2 years, 204 days
2	William Lyne					11 August 1903	24 September 1903	260 days
				Deakin		24 September 1903	27 April 1904
3	Andrew Fisher		Labor	Watson		27 April 1904	17 August 1904	112 days
4	Allan McLean		Protectionist	Reid		17 August 1904	5 July 1905	322 days
5	William Lyne			Deakin		5 July 1905	30 July 1907	2 years, 25 days
6	Austin Chapman					30 July 1907	13 November 1908	1 year, 106 days
7	Frank Tudor		Labor	Fisher		13 November 1908	2 June 1909	201 days
8	Robert Best		Protectionist	Deakin		2 June 1909	29 April 1910	331 days
n/a	Frank Tudor		Labor	Fisher		29 April 1910	24 June 1913	3 years, 56 days
9	Littleton Groom		Commonwealth Liberal	Cook		24 June 1913	17 September 1914	1 year, 85 days
n/a	Frank Tudor		Labor	Fisher		17 September 1914	27 October 1915	1 year, 363 days
				Hughes		27 October 1915	14 September 1916
10	Billy Hughes					29 September 1916	14 November 1916	61 days
11	William Archibald		National Labor			14 November 1916	17 February 1917	95 days
12	Jens Jensen		Nationalist			17 February 1917	13 December 1918	1 year, 299 days
13	William Watt					13 December 1918	17 January 1919	35 days
14	Walter Massy-Greene					17 January 1919	21 December 1921	2 years, 338 days
15	Arthur Rodgers					21 December 1921	5 February 1923	1 year, 46 days
n/a	Austin Chapman			Bruce		9 February 1923	26 May 1924	1 year, 107 days
n/a	Littleton Groom					29 May 1924	13 June 1924	15 days
16	Herbert Pratten					13 June 1924	7 May 1928	3 years, 329 days
17	Stanley Bruce					8 May 1928	24 November 1928	200 days
18	Henry Gullett					24 November 1928	22 October 1929	332 days
19	James Fenton		Labor	Scullin		22 October 1929	4 February 1931	1 year, 105 days
20	Frank Forde					4 February 1931	6 January 1932	336 days
n/a	Henry Gullett		United Australia	Lyons		6 January 1932	14 January 1933	1 year, 8 days
21	Thomas White					14 January 1933	8 November 1938	5 years, 298 days
22	John Perkins					8 November 1938	7 April 1939	169 days
				Page		7 April 1939	26 April 1939
23	John Lawson			Menzies		26 April 1939	23 February 1940	303 days
24	Robert Menzies					23 February 1940	14 March 1940	20 days
25	George McLeay					14 March 1940	28 October 1940	228 days
26	Eric Harrison					28 October 1940	29 August 1941	344 days
				Fadden		29 August 1941	7 October 1941
27	Richard Keane		Labor	Curtin		7 October 1941	6 July 1945	4 years, 201 days
				Forde		6 July 1945	13 July 1945
				Chifley		13 July 1945	26 April 1946
28	John Dedman					26 April 1946	18 June 1946	53 days
29	James Fraser					18 June 1946	1 November 1946	136 days
30	Ben Courtice					1 November 1946	19 December 1949	3 years, 184 days
31	Neil O'Sullivan		Liberal	Menzies		19 December 1949	11 January 1956	6 years, 23 days
32	Frederick Osborne				Minister for Customs and Excise	11 January 1956	24 October 1956	287 days
33	Denham Henty					24 October 1956	10 June 1964	7 years, 230 days
34	Ken Anderson					10 June 1964	26 January 1966	3 years, 263 days
				Holt		26 January 1966	19 December 1967
				McEwen		19 December 1967	10 January 1968
				Gorton		10 January 1968	28 February 1968
35	Malcolm Scott					28 February 1968	12 November 1969	1 year, 257 days
36	Don Chipp					12 November 1969	10 March 1971	3 years, 23 days
				McMahon		10 March 1971	5 December 1972
37	Gough Whitlam^1		Labor	Whitlam		5 December 1972	19 December 1972	14 days
38	Lionel Murphy					19 December 1972	10 February 1975	2 years, 53 days
39	Kep Enderby					10 February 1975	27 March 1975	116 days
					Minister for Police and Customs	27 March 1975	6 June 1975
40	Jim Cavanagh					6 June 1975	11 November 1975	158 days
41	Ivor Greenwood		Liberal	Fraser		11 November 1975	22 December 1975	41 days
42	John Howard				Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs	22 December 1975	17 July 1977	1 year, 207 days
43	Wal Fife					17 July 1977	8 December 1979	2 years, 144 days
44	Victor Garland					8 December 1979	3 November 1980	331 days
45	John Moore					3 November 1980	20 April 1982	1 year, 168 days
46	Neil Brown					20 April 1982	7 May 1982	17 days
47	Phillip Lynch				Minister for Industry and Commerce	7 May 1982	11 October 1982	157 days
48	Andrew Peacock					11 October 1982	11 March 1983	151 days
49	John Button		Labor	Hawke		11 March 1983	13 December 1984	4 years, 314 days
					Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce	13 December 1984	19 January 1988
50	Barry Jones				Minister for Science, Customs and Small Business	19 January 1988	4 April 1990	7 years, 24 days
51	David Beddall				Minister for Small Business and Customs	4 April 1990	20 December 1991	2 years, 354 days
				Keating		20 December 1991	27 December 1991
					Minister for Small Business, Construction and Customs	27 December 1991	24 March 1993
52	Alan Griffiths				Minister for Industry, Technology and Regional Development	24 March 1993	23 January 1994	305 days
53	Peter Cook					30 January 1994	25 March 1994	61 days
54	Chris Schacht				Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction	25 March 1994	11 March 1996	1 year, 352 days
55	Geoff Prosser		Liberal	Howard	Minister for Small Business and Consumer Affairs	11 March 1996	18 July 1997	1 year, 129 days
56	Chris Ellison				Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs	18 July 1997	9 October 1997	83 days
57	Warren Truss		Nationals			9 October 1997	21 October 1998	1 year, 12 days
58	Amanda Vanstone		Liberal		Minister for Justice and Customs	21 October 1998	30 January 2001	2 years, 101 days
59	Chris Ellison					30 January 2001	9 March 2007	6 years, 38 days
60	David Johnston					9 March 2007	3 December 2007	269 days
61	Bob Debus		Labor	Rudd	Minister for Home Affairs	3 December 2007	9 June 2009	1 year, 188 days
62	Brendan O'Connor					9 June 2009	24 June 2010	2 years, 188 days
				Gillard		24 June 2010	14 December 2011
63	Jason Clare					14 December 2011	27 June 2013	1 year, 278 days
				Rudd		27 June 2013	18 September 2013
64	Scott Morrison		Liberal	Abbott	Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	18 September 2013	23 December 2014	1 year, 96 days
65	Peter Dutton					23 December 2014	15 September 2015	3 years, 241 days
				Turnbull		15 September 2015	21 August 2018
For subsequent appointments, see the Minister for Home Affairs

Notes

¹ Whitlam was one of a two-man ministry consisting of himself and Lance Barnard for two weeks until the full ministry was announced.

List of assistant ministers

On 24 July 1987 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 governments; although there has not always been a junior minister in the immigration portfolio. Senior ministers are shown above. Junior ministers are shown below. The following individuals served as the Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, or any precedent titles:[5]

Order	Minister	Party affiliation		Prime Minister	Ministerial title	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1	Clyde Holding		Labor	Hawke	Minister Assisting the Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs	2 September 1988	4 April 1990	1 year, 214 days
2	Gary Hardgrave		Liberal	Howard	Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs	26 November 2001	26 October 2004	2 years, 335 days
3	Peter McGauran		National			26 October 2004	6 July 2005	253 days
4	John Cobb					6 July 2005	27 January 2006	205 days
5	Kate Lundy		Labor	Gillard	Minister for Multicultural Affairs	5 March 2012	27 June 2013	1 year, 197 days
				Rudd		27 June 2013	18 September 2013
6	Michaelia Cash		Liberal	Abbott	Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	18 September 2013	15 September 2015	2 years, 3 days
				Turnbull		15 September 2015	21 September 2015
7	James McGrath		Liberal	Turnbull	Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	18 February 2016	18 July 2016	1811 days
9	Alex Hawke					19 July 2016	20 December 2017	1 year, 154 days
For subsequent appointments, see the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs

See also

• Department of Immigration and Border Protection

References

1. Turnbull, Malcolm (20 December 2017). "Ministerial Arrangements" (Press release). Government of Australia. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018. Peter Dutton will become Minister for Home Affairs, for the first time bringing together the nation’s security, border and intelligence agencies under one department. As Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton will be supported by two Ministers: Angus Taylor as Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity and Alan Tudge as Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. He will also continue to have the assistance of Alex Hawke as Assistant Minister for Home Affairs. The Department of Home Affairs will keep Australians safer by ensuring full coordination between ASIO, the AFP, Australian Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC. It will also contribute enormously to nation building through its focus on our immigration program.
2. "Australian Government Ministry List as at 20 December 2017" (PDF). Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia. 20 December 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
3. "From Calwell Onward: Immigration Ministers in the Library's Oral History Collection". National Library of Australia. June 2005.
4. "Immigration Ministers in Manuscripts". National Library of Australia. August 2005.
5. "Ministries and Cabinets". 43rd Parliamentary Handbook: Historical information on the Australian Parliament. Parliament of Australia. 2010. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2013.

External links

• Ministerial website
• Department website