Department of Trade (1956–1963)

The Department of Trade was an Australian government department that existed between January 1956 and December 1963.

Department of Trade

Department overview
Formed	11 January 1956
Preceding Department	Department of National Development (I) – for industrial development Department of Commerce and Agriculture – for trade promotion, policy treaties, investigations Department of Trade and Customs – for tariff policy, trade agreements, import licensing policy
Dissolved	17 December 1963
Superseding agency	Department of Trade and Industry
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters	Barton, Canberra
Minister responsible	John McEwen, Minister
Department executives	John Crawford, Secretary (1956–1960) Alan Westerman, Secretary (1960–1963)

Scope

Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the department's annual reports.

At the department's creation it was responsible for:

• trade promotion and trade policy, including the Trade Commissioner Service, the trade publicity branch and published Overseas Trading
• trade treaties and arrangements
• trade investigations
• tariff policy
• Tariff Board
• trade agreements
• import licensing policy
• industrial development

Structure

The department was a Commonwealth Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Trade, John McEwen.