Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
Australian government department, 2020-2022

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (DITRDCSA) is a department of the Australian Government responsible for providing advice on, and delivering policies and programs for, infrastructure, transport, regional development, communications, cultural affairs, sports, and the arts.
History
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) was formed from the former Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. It was established and named under an Administrative Arrangements Order made on 1 July 2022, after the 2022 Australian election, under the new Albanese government.
It was renamed to Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (DITRDCSA) on 13 May 2025, gaining the sport and recreation policy and functions from the Department of Health and Aged Care. However, land and planning policy and cities and urban policy were transferred to the Treasury.
Description
The department is responsible for delivering Australian Government policy and programs for infrastructure, transport, regional development, communications, cultural affairs, and the arts.
Ministers
As of May 2025 the Ministers of State for the Department are:
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government: Catherine King
Minister for Northern Australia: Madeleine King
Minister for Communications: Anika Wells
Minister for Sport: Anika Wells
Minister for the Arts: Tony Burke
Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories: Kristy McBain
Assistant Minister for Regional Development: Anthony Chisholm
Assistant Minister for Northern Australia: Nita Green
Other staff
As of July 2025 Jim Betts is Secretary of the department.
Operational activities
In an Administrative Arrangements Order made on 13 May 2025, the functions of the department were broadly classified into the following matters:
Infrastructure planning and co-ordination
Transport safety, including investigations
Land transport
Civil aviation and airports
Maritime transport including shipping
Major projects, including implementation of all non-Defence development projects
Administration of the Jervis Bay Territory, the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Territory of Christmas Island, the Coral Sea Islands Territory, the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and Norfolk Island
Constitutional development of the Northern Territory
Constitutional development of the Australian Capital Territory
Delivery of regional and territory specific services and programmes
Planning and land management in the Australian Capital Territory
Regional development
Matters relating to local government
Regional policy and co-ordination
Northern Australia policy and coordination
Broadband policy and programmes
Postal and telecommunications policies and programmes
Spectrum policy management
Broadcasting policy
Content policy relating to the information economy
Cultural affairs, including movable cultural heritage and support for the arts
Classification
Management of government records
Old Parliament House
Sport and recreation
Significant policies
Cultural policy
The Office for the Arts issued the national cultural policy, called "Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place", in January 2023. Under the policy, which is set to run for five years, the Creative Futures Fund was set up under the auspices of Creative Australia in July 2025 to fund ambitious cross-sector projects across the nation. A quota was introduced in November 2025, by Minister for the Arts Tony Burke, requiring global streaming media companies with over a million Australian subscribers to spend either 7.5% of revenues, or 10% of Australian expenditures on local original content.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts” as australian government department, 2020-2022. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as australian government department, 2020-2022. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q96418307. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022, 2025 and 2023.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.