This list of Australian Government entities includes ministerial departments, principal entities, secondary entities, and other entities, which are grouped into a number of areas of portfolio responsibility. Each portfolio is led by one or more government ministers who are members of the federal parliament, appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister. As of December 2023, there are 1,334 government entities reportable to the Australian Government Organisations Register. This includes:

Principal entities

Principal entities are Australian Government entities that are defined in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2011 as either a:

Cabinet departments

The Australian Government comprises 20 portfolio departments, each representing a seat in the federal cabinet and leading its respective portfolio area:

Other principal entities

There are 171 principal entities other than the cabinet departments. These government agencies are classified by the Australian Government Organisations Register as either a non-corporate Commonwealth entity, a corporate Commonwealth entity, or a Commonwealth company.

Secondary entities

Other entities

History of government departments

September 2013

On 18 September 2013 an Administrative Arrangements Order was issued by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister Tony Abbott which replaced the previous Order of 14 September 2010 issued by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Gillard government. The Order formed or re-confirmed government departments, as follows:

September 2015

Following the appointment of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, three departments were renamed, with effect from 21 September 2015:

July 2016

Following the election of the Turnbull government, the Department of the Environment was renamed, with effect from 19 July 2016:

December 2017

Some departments were renamed, with effect from 20 December 2017:

May 2019

Following the election of the Morrison government, five departments were renamed, with effect from 29 May 2019:

February 2020

The number of departments were cut from 18 to 14, with effect from 1 February 2020:

July 2022

The new Albanese Government made the following modifications and increased the number of departments to 16, with effect from 1 July 2022: