On 14 July 1943 the Prime Minister announced that a conference of Commonwealth and State Ministers had decided to establish a National Works Council, its members being the Prime Minister as Chairman, the Premier of each State and the Minister for Post-War Reconstruction. The Co-ordinator-General of Works (Sir Harry Brown) who was appointed by the Loan Council became the Co-ordinator-General for the National Works Council. His responsibility was to report to the National Works Council.

The first meeting of the Council was held on 26 January 1944, after two preliminary meetings of the co-ordinating authorities of the Commonwealth and States had been held to discuss initial plans. The Council was to decide all significant works priorities, Commonwealth and State, with the aims of planning and shaping national development and of having "shelves" of works, partly planned, which could be brought forward and commenced as required. Once the States had vetted their own lists, they were to be sent to the Prime Minister who would then send them to Sir Harry Brown as Coordinator-General. Sir Harry would consult with the six State Co-ordinators to prepare a consolidated list for the National Works Council. The Department of Post-War Reconstruction undertook the responsibility of providing secretarial facilities for the Council and was closely associated with its activities especially in regard to regional planning aspects.

The idea of a National Works Council had originated with the Reconstruction Division of the Department of Labour and National Service as early as 1941. At the first meeting of the Development Co-ordinating Committee on 20 November of that year, a special sub-committee representative of those Commonwealth Departments concerned with works was instructed to prepare a schedule of projects which could be initiated after the war to cushion the impact of demobilisation. The subject was revived in mid 1942 and again at a Ministerial level within Post-War Reconstruction in March - April 1943. Commonwealth authority over national works was sought in the August 1944 referendum which failed.

In 1946 the Committee of Review - Civil Staffing of Wartime Activities recommended that provision should be made for the establishment on a permanent basis of a staff to carry out the functions performed by the Regional Planning Division of the Department of Post-War Reconstruction and the National Works Council Secretariat and that the National Works Council Secretariat should be attached to the Policy and Research Division of the Department of Post-War Reconstruction. The Works Secretariat was originally under Dr Crawford together with the Rural Division and the Division of Regional Planning but it later became a separate Division under Mr Dorrian. It is not clear what occurred as a result of the Committee of Review's recommendations.

On 3 December 1946, the Co-ordinator-General of Works (Mr C.A. Hoy) notified the Director-General of Post-War Reconstruction that the records of the National Works Council and the Loan Council which had been held in his office in Sydney were being transferred to the Defence Division of the Treasury, Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, and that all future correspondence to Hoy should be forwarded care of the Department of Works and Housing, 271 Collins Street, Melbourne. Further research is required to determine whether this represents a transfer of the secretariat functions from the Department of Post-War Reconstruction to the Defence Division of Treasury.

The National Works Council was allowed to fade away by 1955.

References:
Reconstruction, National Works - Discussions with States, Council formed in Commonwealth Government Digest of Decisions and
Announcements, No.61, 30 June to 25 July, 1943, p.22.
L.F. Crisp, Australian National Government, Longman Green and Co. Ltd., Croydon, Victoria, 1962, pp.93,97.
Reconstruction, National Works Council - First Meeting in Commonwealth Government Digest and Decisions and Announcements, No. 73, 11-27 January 1944, p.24.
Committee of Review - Civil Staffing of Wartime Activities. Report on the Department of Post-War Reconstruction, 9 January, 1946, pp. 4,14, 15.
S.J. Butlin and C.B. Schedvin, War Economy, 1942-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1977, pp. 707-709.
E. Ronald Walker, The Australian Economy in War and Reconstruction, Oxford University Press, New York, 1947, p.78.
Treasury, Social Services Branch, Office of the Co-ordinator-General of Works. Australian Archives: Accession CP630/1, item W44/117.

Victoria Barracks, 256-310 St Kilda Road, Melbourne