Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2016
The present Astronomy Advisory Committee (AAC) was set up by the then Minister for Science and the Environment, Senator J. J. Webster, in July 1979 following a Government review of astronomical facilities carried out by an interdepartmental committee (IDC) in 1978-1979. The IDC was assisted by an expert sub-committee, whose report Review of Observatories (1978) has since been published. The AAC consists of a chairman and ten members drawn from the astronomical community in Australia. It is serviced by the Department of Science and the Environment.