The Department of the Treasury (the Treasury) serves the Australian people by assisting the Australian Government's Treasury Ministers (Ministers) to discharge their responsibilities.
The Treasury provides advice to Ministers, as well as to others in government. We do this both in response to requests from Ministers and proactively. The Treasury administers a number of government programs that it is uniquely equipped to do. In addition, the Treasury performs a range of administrative and support tasks that arise as a result of Ministers discharging their responsibilities.
The Treasury seeks to perform its tasks to the best of its institutional ability, within the resources it has available. We do this by directly employing, or having timely access to, the best possible people to undertake its tasks. We equip our people and collect and maintain critically-important and timely information, including through engagement with private sector, non-government organisations, academia and other policy-focussed institutions. We engage people with specialist skills and continually deploy our resources to the Treasury's highest priority tasks at any point in time.
The specific matters that the Treasury works on are ever-changing. They are informed by our current operating environment and by having an eye to the future. We must and will pay close attention to developments in the Australian and international economies over the period of the plan. As a high-level guide to those things the Treasury regards as its priority tasks in the foreseeable future, three current priorities have been identified:
- Promoting fiscal sustainability
- Increasing productivity and workforce participation
- Securing the benefits of global economic integration
Delivering on these priorities will require a high-performing and flexible organisation.