Sarah Jane "Jane" HaltonAOPSM (born 4 January 1960) is a former senior Australian public servant,current global health leader and former casino board member. She was the head of the Department of Health between January 2002 and June 2014,and the head of the Department of Finance from 2014 to 2016. She has held senior board roles with ANZ Bank,Clayton Utz,the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation,the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Crown Casino. She was the Independent Chair of COTA Australia (Council on the Ageing) beginning December 2017. In 2020,she was appointed to the Morrison government's National COVID Commission.[2]
Halton has held concurrent roles within the gambling and casino industry at the same time she has held senior roles within global health organizations - including the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).[3] She held these conflicting roles despite IHME estimates that "gambling-related burden of harm was 2.5 times more than diabetes and 3.0 times more than drug use disorder".[4] Halton has not explained the rationale for holding these competing concurrent roles despite the remuneration from Crown averaging just under AUD 300,000 per year.[5]
Background and early life
Halton was born on 4 January 1960 in Wickwar,Gloucestershire,England.[6] She and her family moved to Australia in 1973 when her father,Charles Halton,was recruited from Canada by the Whitlam government to lead the Department of Transport.[6] She has an Honours degree in psychology from the Australian National University.[7]
Prime Minister John Howard appointed Halton as Secretary of the new Department of Health and Ageing in January 2002.[11][12] The Department was reformed as the Department of Health in September 2013,when the Abbott government was elected,and Halton remained at the head. During this time,she was responsible for providing advice to government on issues including the administration of Medicare,the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and private health insurance,and for implementing a $60 billion budget.[1] While she was Health Secretary,Halton led the development of the first Memorandum of Understanding between Medicines Australia and the Australian Government,in 2010.[13][14]
In June 2014,Halton was appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance.[15] She identified strengthening the performance framework for measuring the impact of Australian Government programs and services as a priority in the role,with a focus on streamlining and providing a greater level of accountability.[16] She also emphasized the scope of work harnessing technology to deliver public services more efficiently across government agencies into different platforms.[16] Halton announced her resignation,effective 15 October 2016,on 16 September 2016.[17][18][19]
After stepping down as Secretary,she was appointed to the boards of Crown Casino,[20] the ANZ Bank[21] and Vault Systems.[22] While serving on the board of Crown Casino,and for a period as acting chairman,Halton oversaw Crown Resorts’response to the Finkelstein Royal Commission investigations around its suitability to hold a casino license[23] - stemming from failures to mitigate money laundering,strong ties to organized criminal networks,and other serious problems with Crown's corporate governance. Halton held concurrent roles within the gambling and casino industry at the same time she held senior roles in global health organizations.[3] She held these conflicting roles despite the IHME estimates that "gambling-related burden of harm was 2.5 times more than diabetes and 3.0 times more than drug use disorder".[4]
Services Australia, formerly the Department of Human Services and before that the Department of Social Security, is an executive agency of the Australian Government, responsible for delivering a range of welfare payments, health insurance payments, child support payments and other support services to eligible Australian citizens and permanent residents. Services Australia delivers social services through the government programs Centrelink, Medicare, the PBS and the Child Support Agency. Eligible Australian citizens and permanent residents can access many of these services through a myGov account.
The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the Government of Australia. The Australian Public Service was established at the Federation of Australia in 1901 as the Commonwealth Public Service and modelled on the Westminster system and United Kingdom's Civil Service. The establishment and operation of the Australian Public Service is governed by the Public Service Act 1999 of the Parliament of Australia as an "apolitical public service that is efficient and effective in serving the Government, the Parliament and the Australian public". The conduct of Australian public servants is also governed by a Code of Conduct and guided by the APS Values set by the Australian Public Service Commission.
Crown Resorts Limited is Australia's largest gaming and entertainment group that owns and operates three of Australia's leading gambling and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne, Crown Perth and Crown Sydney. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange until purchased by Blackstone in June 2022.
Martin Lee Parkinson is a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of the Treasury between March 2011 and December 2014. On 3 December 2015 it was announced that he would return to the public service as Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He retired from the position on 30 August 2019 and was replaced by Phil Gaetjens, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Parkinson has served as the Chancellor of Macquarie University since 2019.
Ian James Watt is a retired Australian public servant, best known for his time as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from September 2011 to November 2014.
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Charles Christopher Halton was a senior Australian public servant.
Robyn Kruk is an Australian retired senior public servant and policymaker.
Lisa Marian Paul is the seventh chancellor of the University of Canberra and a former senior Australian public servant and policymaker. She was the Secretary of the Department of Education and Training until February 2016.
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Anthony Joseph "Tony" Ayers was an Australian public servant.
Michael Joseph Thawley, is a former senior Australian public servant. From December 2014 to January 2016 he was Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Blair Robert Comley is an economist. He is a former Secretary of the New South Wales Government Department of Premier and Cabinet, replaced by a new Secretary upon the election of the then Premier of NSW, The Hon Gladys Berejiklian.
Godwin Grech is a former Australian Treasury official, best known for his role in the centre of the Utegate scandal in 2009.
Paul Francis Grimes is a senior Australian public servant. Between September 2013 and March 2015, he was Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture.
Christos "Chris" Moraitis, is a senior Australian public servant, serving as Director-General of the Office of the Special Investigator.
Daryl Paul Quinlivan is a senior Australian public servant. He is the current Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, having been appointed in June 2015 to the previous Department of Agriculture which was known as the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources between 2015 and 2019. He had a varied career across the Australian Public Service before his appointment.
Heather Joy Smith is an Australian public servant. She took up the position of Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Communications and the Arts in January 2016 and later headed the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.
Rosemary Therese Huxtable is a retired senior Australian public servant. She was the Secretary of the Department of Finance from December 2016 to August 2022.
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