The minister for cities is an Australian Government cabinet position which is currently held by Clare O'Neil following her swearing-in on 13 May 2025 as a result of Anthony Albanese's Labor government being re-elected at the 2025 Australian federal election.
Background The minister for sustainable population, a precedent title for the minister for cities, was a ministerial portfolio administered through the Department of the Treasury responsible for "planning properly for the infrastructure needs, for the housing needs, for the transport needs, for the regional needs" of the Australian population of the future. Originally entitled the Minister for Population by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, his successor, Julia Gillard, renamed the portfolio to the Minister for Sustainable Population to reflect her policy changes on the matter of population growth and the need for a sustainable future for Australia, saying the change sends a clear message about the new direction the Government is taking. After the 2010 federal election, the portfolio was subsumed by the Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities portfolio.
List of ministers for cities The following individuals have served as the minister for cities, or any other precedent titles: Order Minister Party Prime Minister Title Term start Term end Term in office 1 Tom Uren Labor Whitlam Minister for Urban and Regional Development 2 John Carrick Liberal Fraser days 3 Ivor Greenwood Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development days 4 Kevin Newman 5 Ray Groom days 6 Tony Burke Labor Rudd Minister for Population Gillard Minister for Sustainable Population Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities 7 Jamie Briggs Liberal Abbott Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development 15 September 2015 Turnbull 21 September 2015 Minister for Cities and the Built Environment 29 December 2015 8 Paul Fletcher Liberal Turnbull Minister for Urban Infrastructure Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities 9 Alan Tudge Morrison Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure (8) Paul Fletcher Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts 10 Jenny McAllister Labor Albanese Minister for Cities 11 Clare O'Neil Incumbent
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