Jane Halton

Background and early life Halton was born on 4 January 1960 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, England. 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.

Career Halton first joined the Australian Public Service in the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

As a Deputy Secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Halton was convener of the People Smuggling Taskforce in the Children Overboard Affair.

Prime Minister John Howard appointed Halton as Secretary of the new Department of Health and Ageing in January 2002. 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. While she was Health Secretary, Halton led the development of the first Memorandum of Understanding between Medicines Australia and the Australian Government, in 2010.

In June 2014, Halton was appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance. 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. She also emphasized the scope of work harnessing technology to deliver public services more efficiently across government agencies into different platforms.

After stepping down as Secretary, she was appointed to the boards of Crown Casino, the ANZ Bank and Vault Systems. 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 - 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. and in March 2020 was appointed to the executive board of the Australian National COVID-19 Coordination Commission.

Awards and honours Halton was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2002 and the Centenary Medal in 2003.

In 2014, she was ranked number eight in The Australian Women's Weekly Power List of Australia's 50 most powerful women.

Halton was created an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2015. She was made an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS) in 2015.