Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy

Communities, Housing and Digital Economy

Department overview
Jurisdiction	Queensland Government
Headquarters	1 William Street, Brisbane[1]
Employees	5,436 (2019)[2]
Annual budget	A$1.365 billion (2019–20)[3][4]
Ministers responsible	Meaghan Scanlon, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning and Minister for Public Works Leeanne Enoch, Minister for Digital Economy Minister for the Arts
Department executive	Clare O'Connor, Director-General
Child agencies	Smart Service Queensland Queensland Shared Services QFleet
Website	chde.qld.gov.au

The Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy (CHDE), formerly Housing and Public Works, is a ministerial department within the Queensland Government, tasked with providing housing, sport, digital technology, and urban design and architecture services^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Both Smart Service Queensland (SSQ) and Queensland Shared Services (QSS) sit within CHDE, providing whole-of-government services including HR, payroll, procurement, infrastructure, and state-wide contact centre solutions.^{[10][11][12][13]}

The various streams within the department are responsible to the Queensland Parliament through the minister for communities and housing, the minister for arts, and the minister for digital economy. Since 12 November 2020, Leeanne Enoch is the minister for all three portfolios. Day-to-day operations are led by the department director-general, currently Clare O'Connor, who reports to the ministers.

Each division within the department has a senior responsible officer for that stream, normally a deputy director-general. The Customer and Digital Group's senior responsible officer is the Queensland Government's Chief Customer and Digital Officer. The Office of the Director-General is managed operationally by an executive director, but is led by the director-general.

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The department, through the Customer and Digital Group, also provides some services to other state government departments, some local governments, and some state-owned corporations or authorities.

Queensland Shared Services (QSS) provides internal support and services for most Queensland Government departments and agencies. QSS supports departments by operating public and internally facing services such as government human resources, payroll, finance, procurement, telecommunications, accommodation, and mail services.^[13] Education Queensland does not use QSS in any capacity, whilst some Hospital and Health Services within Queensland Health only use QSS for some limited HR processes such as job evaluations.^[12]

Smart Service Queensland (SSQ) provides contact centre services to the public, meaning people can access state government services through one contact rather than dealing with agencies individually. SSQ delivers the 13 QGOV call centre and the Queensland Government master website (qld.gov.au). They also manage the Queensland Government Service Centres in Brisbane, Maroochydore and Cairns, and the Queensland Government Agent Program which allow people in regional and rural areas to access services from existing businesses in the area such as newsagents or post offices.

QFleet is the whole-of-government fleet management service, provides vehicle procurement, sales, leasing, maintenance, safety, and policy services to Queensland Government departments and limited other entities.^[14] Several other agencies hold their own fleet management services, particularly those with large fleets, such as the Queensland Ambulance Service, Fire and Emergency Service, Police, and some larger Hospital and Health Services. Fleet vehicles can be identified by their number plate; all QFleet registration numbers start with "QG" for Queensland Government.

CHDE is the administering department for several Queensland statutes. These include the:

• Housing Act 2003^[15]
  • Housing Regulations 2015
• Major Sport Facilities Act 2001^[15]
  • Major Sports Facilities Regulation 2014
• Mt. Gravatt Showgrounds Act 1988^[15]
• Sports Anti-Doping Act 2003^[15]
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018^[16]
  • Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019
• Housing Legislation (Building Better Futures) Amendment Act 2017^[17]
  • Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003^[17]
  • Residential Services (Accreditation) Act 2002^[18]
    • Residential Services (Accreditation) Regulation 2018
  • Retirement Villages Act 1999^[19]
  • Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008^[20]

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• 1862: The Lands and Works Department was created in 1862.^[21]
• 1866: The Lands and Works Department was divided into the Lands Department and the Public Works Department.^[21]
• 1887: The Public Works and Mines Departments merge.^[21]
• 1890: The Public Works Department was established from the former Mines and Works Department.^[21]

• 1909: The early 20th century marks the Queensland Government's first involvement in housing when it introduces The Workers' Dwellings Act 1909 to provide subsidised housing for workers. The Workers' Dwelling Branch is established shortly after and is responsible for lending money and providing house construction expertise to Queenslanders.^[21]
• 1920: The Workers' Dwellings Branch was transferred to the State Advances Corporation.^[21]
• 1939: Staff from the Public Works Department are deployed to Townsville to assist with defence projects during World War II. As a result, the department becomes heavily involved in defence projects including the construction of the Garbutt Air Base, large warehouses at depots at Macrossan and Breddan, and a military hospital at Blackwater.^[21] The department was also involved in procuring and sending food supplies.^[22] The Department of Public Works' Townsville office becomes the epicentre for the department's work during World War II.
• 1945: The Queensland Housing Commission was established following federal and state investment in post-war reconstruction.^[23]
• 1947: To meet the demand for housing, the Queensland Housing Commission started building the State's first rental homes.^[24]
• 1970: Due to changes to the Family Law Act, including the addition of no-fault divorce, and the subsequence rise of smaller households, the commission began developing unit blocks and attached houses rather than standalone large estate developments.^[21]
• 1975: The Public Works Department begins designing and developing the Queensland Cultural Centre^[21]
• 1989: The Administrative Services Department is formed, encompassing the former Public Works Department.^[21]
• 1992: The Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning is formed. Responsibility for the Aboriginal Rental Housing program transfers to the Queensland Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning.^[21]
• 1996: The Department of Public Works and Housing is formed.^[21]
• 1998: The Public Works and Housing Department separates into two portfolios, with Housing becoming its own department to streamline state housing efforts. The Smart Housing initiative and Community Renewal program.^[21]

• 2001: The department wins the Royal Australian Institute of Architects' Harry Marks Sustainable Architectural Award for the design of Redcliffe City Council library and gallery.^[21]
• 2002: QFleet won the Australasian Fleet Managers Association (AFMA) 2002 Fleet Environment Award for its ongoing corporate fleet environment practices. QFleet also became the first organisation to receive all three of AFMA's major industry awards, also winning the Fleet Safety Award and later the Fleet Manager of the Year award. In the same year, the Department of Public Works was recognised for its heritage conservation efforts with a gold award, the John Herbert Heritage Award from the National Trust of Queensland for the restoration of the 173-year-old convict-built Commissariat Store in William Street, Brisbane.^[21]
• 2005: The department assumes a leadership role for the Queensland Government's four-year Responding to Homelessness initiative after earlier leading work aimed at improving cross-agency responses to homelessness.^[21]
• 2008: The department commences RentConnect, and becomes the Queensland conduit for the National Rental Affordability Scheme, a federal and state government initiative to stimulate the supply of 50,000 new affordable rental dwellings across Australia.^[21]
• 2012: The Department of Housing and Public Works is formed from the previous departments of Housing and Public Works.^[21]

• Official website
• Queensland Government website