Treasurer of New South Wales

The Treasurer of New South Wales, known from 1856 to 1959 as the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales, is the minister in the Government of New South Wales responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising and is the head of the New South Wales Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government.

Treasurer of New South Wales
Incumbent Dominic Perrottet since 30 January 2017
New South Wales Treasury
Style	The Honourable
Nominator	Premier of New South Wales
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales
Term length	At the Governor's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Thomas Holt (as Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales)
Formation	6 June 1856

The old Treasury Building, designed by Mortimer Lewis (1849). The Treasury building was completed by Edmund Blacket and opened on the 17 October 1851. The Treasury moved to the State Office Block in 1967. In 1995 the Treasury moved to Governor Macquarie Tower in Farrer Place.

The current Treasurer, since 30 January 2017, is The Honourable Dominic Perrottet MP. The Treasurer is assisted in his portfolio by the Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade, currently The Hon. John Barilaro MP; the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, currently The Hon. Stuart Ayres MP; and the Minister for Finance and Small Business, currently The Hon. Damien Tudehope MLC, all appointed with effect from 2 April 2019.[1]

Each year, the Treasurer presents the NSW Budget to the Parliament. In some other countries the equivalent role is the Minister for Finance, although NSW has had a separate office of that name responsible for regulating government spending. For 103 years the Treasurer was originally known as the 'Colonial Treasurer', however the 'Colonial' word was removed with the passing of the Ministers of the Crown Act 1959 (NSW) from 1 April 1959.[2]

Treasurers Forster, Stuart, Dibbs, Jennings, Reid, Lyne, Waddell, Carruthers, McGowen, Holman, Fuller, Lang, Bavin, Stevens, Mair, McKell, McGirr, Cahill, Heffron, Renshaw, Askin, Lewis, Willis, Wran, Greiner, Fahey and Iemma were also Premier during some or all of their period as Treasurer. By convention, the Treasurer is usually a member of the New South Wales Parliament with a seat in the Legislative Assembly. The exception to this were Treasurers Egan, Costa and Roozendaal, who were members of the Legislative Council during their tenure as Treasurer.

The Treasurer administers his portfolio responsibilities through The Treasury cluster, and in particular The Treasury and a range of other government agencies.[3]

List of Treasurers

Ordinal	Name	Party affiliation	Ministerial title	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
1.	Thomas Holt	No party	Colonial Treasurer	6 June 1856	25 August 1856
2.	Robert Campbell			26 August 1856	2 October 1856
3.	Stuart Donaldson			3 October 1856	7 September 1857
4.	Richard Jones			7 September 1857	3 January 1858
–	Robert Campbell			4 January 1858	30 March 1859
5.	Elias Weekes			18 April 1859	26 October 1859
6.	Saul Samuel			27 October 1859	8 March 1860
–	Elias Weekes			9 March 1860	20 March 1863
7.	Thomas Smart			21 March 1863	15 October 1863
8.	Geoffrey Eagar			16 October 1863	2 February 1865
–	Thomas Smart			3 February 1865	19 October 1865
–	Saul Samuel			20 October 1865	3 January 1866
9.	Marshall Burdekin			4 January 1866	21 January 1866
–	Geoffrey Eagar			22 January 1866	26 October 1868
–	Saul Samuel			27 October 1868	15 December 1870
10.	George Lord			16 December 1870	13 May 1872
11.	William Piddington			14 May 1872	4 December 1872
12.	George Lloyd			5 December 1872	8 February 1875
13.	William Forster			9 February 1875	7 February 1876
14.	Alexander Stuart			8 February 1876	21 March 1877
–	William Piddington			22 March 1877	16 August 1877
15.	William Long			17 August 1877	17 December 1877
16.	Henry Cohen			18 December 1877	20 December 1878
17.	James Watson			21 December 1878	4 January 1883
18.	George Dibbs			5 January 1883	21 December 1885
19.	John Burns			22 December 1885	25 February 1886
20.	Sir Patrick Jennings			26 February 1886	19 January 1887
–	John Burns	Protectionist		20 January 1887	16 January 1889
21.	James Garvan	Free Trade		17 January 1889	7 March 1889
22.	William McMillan			8 March 1889	27 July 1891
23.	Bruce Smith			14 August 1891	22 October 1891
24.	John See	Protectionist		23 October 1891	2 August 1894
25.	Sir George Reid	Free Trade		3 August 1894	3 July 1899
26.	Joseph Carruthers			3 July 1899	13 September 1899
27.	Sir William Lyne	Protectionist		15 September 1899	20 March 1901
28.	Thomas Waddell			10 April 1901	29 August 1904
–	Sir Joseph Carruthers	Liberal Reform		29 August 1904	1 October 1907
–	Thomas Waddell			2 October 1907	20 October 1910
29.	James McGowen	Labor		21 October 1910	26 November 1911
30.	John Dacey			27 November 1911	11 April 1912
31.	Ambrose Carmichael			17 April 1912	5 May 1912
32.	John Cann			6 May 1912	29 January 1914
33.	William Holman			29 January 1914	15 November 1916	4 years, 274 days
		Nationalist		15 November 1916	30 October 1918
34.	John Fitzpatrick			30 October 1918	12 April 1920
35.	Jack Lang	Labor		12 April 1920	20 December 1921
36.	Sir Arthur Cocks	Nationalist		20 December 1921	20 December 1921	0 days
–	Jack Lang	Labor		20 December 1921	13 April 1922
–	Sir Arthur Cocks	Nationalist		13 April 1922	14 February 1925
37.	Sir George Fuller			14 February 1925	17 June 1925
–	Jack Lang	Labor		17 June 1925	18 October 1927
38.	Thomas Bavin	Nationalist		18 October 1927	15 April 1929
39.	Bertram Stevens			16 April 1929	3 November 1930
–	Jack Lang	Labor		4 November 1930	15 October 1931	1 year, 191 days
		Labor (NSW)		15 October 1931	13 May 1932
–	Bertram Stevens	United Australia		16 May 1932	13 October 1938
40.	Alexander Mair			13 October 1938	16 August 1939
41.	Athol Richardson			16 August 1939	16 May 1941
42.	William McKell	Labor		16 May 1941	6 February 1947
43.	James McGirr			6 February 1947	3 April 1952
44.	Joseph Cahill			3 April 1952	1 April 1959	7 years, 203 days
			Treasurer	1 April 1959	22 October 1959
45.	Bob Heffron			23 October 1959	28 October 1959	5 days
46.	Jack Renshaw			28 October 1959	13 May 1965	5 years, 197 days
47.	Sir Robert Askin	Liberal		13 May 1965	17 December 1975	10 years, 218 days
48.	Tom Lewis			17 December 1975	23 January 1976	37 days
49.	Sir Eric Willis			23 January 1976	14 May 1976	112 days
–	Jack Renshaw	Labor		14 May 1976	29 February 1980	3 years, 291 days
50.	Neville Wran			29 February 1980	2 October 1981	1 year, 216 days
51.	Ken Booth			2 October 1981	21 March 1988	6 years, 175 days
52.	Nick Greiner	Liberal		25 March 1988	24 June 1992	4 years, 91 days
53.	John Fahey			24 June 1992	26 May 1993	336 days
54.	Peter Collins			26 May 1993	4 April 1995	1 year, 313 days
55.	Michael Egan	Labor		4 April 1995	21 January 2005	9 years, 292 days
56.	Andrew Refshauge			21 January 2005	3 August 2005	194 days
57.	Morris Iemma			3 August 2005	17 February 2006	198 days
58.	Michael Costa			17 February 2006	5 September 2008	2 years, 204 days
59.	Eric Roozendaal			8 September 2008	28 March 2011	2 years, 208 days
60.	Mike Baird	Liberal		4 April 2011	23 April 2014	3 years, 19 days
61.	Andrew Constance			23 April 2014	2 April 2015	344 days
62.	Gladys Berejiklian			2 April 2015	30 January 2017	1 year, 303 days
63.	Dominic Perrottet			30 January 2017	incumbent	3 years, 189 days	[4]

Former ministerial titles

Assistant Treasurers

The Assistant Treasurer, when in use and along with the Minister for Finance, effectively acted as Deputy to the Treasurer. In January 1914, Henry Hoyle was appointed as an Honorary Minister in Holman ministry, charged with the duties of Colonial Treasurer, which was held by Premier Holman, but Hoyle was often referred to as the "Assistant Treasurer".[5][6][7]

From 1925–1929 there existed the office of "Assistant Colonial Treasurer". However this office was abolished and when it returned in 1933, it was titled as "Assistant Treasurer". The Assistant Treasurer is not an essential cabinet post, often being appointed on an on-off basis, and there is no Assistant Treasurer at the present. Significantly, the role exists only when in use; there can be a lengthy period between successive holders of the title. The last Assistant Treasurer was John Della Bosca from 1999 to 2006. The title Minister for Finance is also used within New South Wales governments but that role is primarily made responsible for the Revenue collection and administration side of Governance.

Assistant Treasurer	Party affiliation	Period	Ministerial title
Henry Hoyle	Labor	29 January 1914 – 31 October 1916	Honorary Minister (charged with the duties of Colonial Treasurer)
William McKell	Labor	17 June 1925 – 7 June 1927	Assistant Colonial Treasurer
Robert Cruickshank		19 September 1927 – 18 October 1927
Bertram Stevens	Nationalist	18 October 1927 – 15 April 1929
Eric Spooner	United Australia	15 February 1933 – 21 August 1935	Assistant Treasurer
Clive Evatt	Labor	19 May 1947 – 23 February 1953	Assistant Treasurer
George Freudenstein	Country	11 March 1971 – 19 June 1972	Assistant Treasurer
Wallace Fife	Liberal	19 June 1972 – 3 January 1975
Max Ruddock		3 January 1975 – 10 October 1975
Peter Coleman		10 October 1975 – 23 January 1976
Max Ruddock		23 January 1976 – 14 May 1976
Ken Booth	Labor	29 February 1980 – 2 October 1981	Assistant Treasurer
Phillip Smiles	Liberal	1 February 1991 – 1 February 1992	Assistant Treasurer
George Souris	National	3 July 1992 – 26 May 1993
John Della Bosca	Labor	8 April 1999 – 17 February 2006	Assistant Treasurer

References

1. "Government Notices (30)" (PDF). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 2 April 2019. p. 1088-1090. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
2. "State Records Archives Investigator - Treasurer". NSW Government State Records. Government of New South Wales. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
3. "Administrative Arrangements (Administrative Changes—Public Service Agencies) Order 2019 [NSW] (159)" (PDF). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 2 April 2019. p. 7-8. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
4. Vukovic, Dom; Gerathy, Sarah; McDonald, Philippa (29 January 2017). "NSW Cabinet reshuffle: Premier Gladys Berejiklian announces big changes to front bench". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
5. "MR. HOYLE STANDS FIRM". The Sydney Morning Herald (24, 558). New South Wales, Australia. 21 September 1916. p. 10. Retrieved 21 August 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "MR. HOYLE AT NEWCASTLE". The Daily Telegraph (10893). New South Wales, Australia. 22 April 1914. p. 13. Retrieved 21 August 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
7. "Assistant Treasurer's Tour". The Port Macquarie News And Hastings River Advocate. New South Wales, Australia. 19 September 1914. p. 7. Retrieved 21 August 2018 – via National Library of Australia.