Jane 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.
Australian National University.
She previously served as the head of the Department of Health between January 2002 and June 2014. Jane Halton has an Honours degree in psychology from the Australian National University. 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 Jane 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, Halton was responsible for providing advice to government on issues including the administration of Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, aged care and private health insurance, and for implementing a $60 billion budget.
In June 2014, Halton was appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance. Halton 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, boosting transparency and providing a greater level of accountability.
She also emphasised the scope of work harnessing technology to deliver public services more efficiently across government agencies into different platforms.
