PRESS STATEMENT 499
21 April, 1975
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT
The Prime Minister has announced that the Governor-General today approved the change of the name of the Department of the Environment and Conservation to the Department of Environment. The Governor-General subsequently swore the Honourable Moss Cass, M. P. as Minister of State for Environment.
The Prime Minister said that the former name suggested that conservation was a separate matter from the environment whereas it was in fact a major component of the Government's total environmental program. To refer to it as a separate area of concern was misleading.
The Prime Minister noted also that “environment” is the term used by all relevant United Nations agencies and the O. E. C. D. and includes all conservation programs of those bodies.
CANBERRA, A. C. T.