Summary heading

  Descriptive Note   

Function and purpose

This series consists of registered Papers which were considered at meetings of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee (of Cabinet) between February and December 1976, and in relation to which a Cabinet Decision was made in the Committee.

Almost all of the papers in this series were originally registered as Submissions to Cabinet  (in series A12909) and were subsequently re-registered in this series when they were refereed to the Committee for consideration.   The register for the FAD Papers is one of the registers in the Volume controlled as CRS A12940.  The entry in the register shows the relevant Decision Number for each FAD Paper and also the relevant Subject file in series A10756.

A Copy of each Paper was accumulated in a sequence of folders.  There were three folders when the series was completed.

There are only 28 Papers in this sequence – a 29^th Paper was registered on 28 February 1977 but this was subsequently cancelled and the Paper was re-registered as Submission No 1070.

Note that when the records were transferred to the custody of the National Archives two papers were missing from the sequence in the folders.  These are:

• FAD6 – relating to modernisation of Williamstown Dockyard.  The entry in the FAD Paper Register quotes Decisions numbers 345(FAD) and 399(FAD) as the relevant Decisions.    Decision No 345 called for a paper from Defence ‘setting out Defence requirements in respect of ship building and ship repair facilities’.  The title of Submission no 201 coincides precisely with this wording – it seems most likely therefore that Submission no 201 was re-registered as FAD6 but a copy was not placed in this series.  Note however that the title of the FAD6 paper as shown in the Register is the same as the title of Submission no 129.   Decision No 399 refers to both these Submissions.  The relevant file is LC257 Part 1.  Copies of both submissions are present on that file.
• FAD26 – relating to insurgency in the Philippines.  The relevant file is LC1073.  A note on this file, dated 7 December 1977, states ‘Copies of FAD Paper No 26 and its associated Cabinet Note are held separately in the Cabinet Office’.  It is apparent that the Paper was controlled as a Limited Access document.  This Paper has now been located, re-filed on item LC1931 of series A10756.  The Paper will remain in this context.

 In most instances a copy of the Decision is present with the paper in this series. All the Decision Numbers have a FAD suffix.   All but the last two are shown as Decisions Without Submission – the latest showing a reference to the FAD Paper Number in lieu of a Submission Number.

As most of the FAD Papers were constructed as Submissions they have the form of a Submission – that is, they have a (Submission) Cover Sheet, they are endorsed by a  Minister and have some recommendation - but in many cases the Minister has merely added a cover note to the substance of the paper which is a report prepared by a departmental unit (for Example, the National Intelligence Committee in Department of Defence) and the recommendation is not more than a statement that the report is submitted for information.

The subject matter of the papers relates to External Affairs and Defence matters and is often of high sensitivity.

It is not apparent why the practice of registering  FAD papers as a discrete sequence in this series was discontinued at end of 1976/beginning of 1977.  The FAD Committee continued in existence till the end of the Fraser government in 1983 and between 1977 and 1983 papers that led to a FAD Decision are registered as Cabinet Papers (A12933) or, after February 1979, Cabinet Memoranda (series A12930)

Related legislation

Using the series

As all the FAD Papers have been individually entered in RecordSearch database, a Paper relating to any particular subject can be retrieved by keyword search in RecordSearch (limiting search by Series No 12934.)   An alternative is to peruse the Register of FAD Papers (in the volume controlled as CRS A12940)   More background material may be found on the relevant file in the Cabinet Office’s LC series (CRS A10756)  The department headed by the ‘Responsible Minister’ may  also have files on the subject in its general correspondence files series. 

Language of material

Physical characteristics

  The practice of the Cabinet Office is that copies of all Cabinet Papers are accumulated in a sequence of visidex folders arranged by the registered Paper number.  There was  a total of 3 folders when the series was completed.

Since transfer to the custody of the National Archives, for preservation reasons and to improve accessibility, the Papers have been removed from these folders and individually repackaged and are now controlled and described in the RecordSearch database as discrete record items. 

The Papers have the same format as submissions and each has a Cover sheet showing number, title and minister responsible

The Decisions are created in Cabinet Office in a standardised format, normally consisting of one sheet only. 

System of arrangement and control

  The items of this series are controlled by a sequential number (with ‘FAD’ prefix) allocated from the Register of FAD Papers, which is one section of a volume containing various registers (CRS A12940)   The range of numbers is FAD1 to FAD28 

Relationships with other records

  The Paper numbers are allocated from the Register of FAD Papers (in CRS A12940).  This process was replaced in 1977 by Cabinet Papers (CRS A12933)  and from February 1979 by Cabinet Memoranda (CRS A12930.)  The relevant file in the LC series (CRS A10756) contains background information on the matter.  The Decision register (CRS A12911)  controls the allocation of Decision numbers to register all Decisions made in the Fraser ministries, including Decisions without Submissions, whether made by Cabinet or by a Cabinet Committee.  The Decisions themselves (normally one page for each Decision) are accumulated in series A13050).  The Attendance Sheets (CRS A12575) record which ministers were present  at each meeting (as well as the type of meeting – whether cabinet or a committee – and also who the Notetakers were at each meeting.)  (The Decision Register CRS A12911 also has handwritten annotations against each entry showing the names of the Notetakers.)

Finding aids

  This series and related series of the Fraser Ministries are described in RecordSearch database both at Series level and item level.  For general information regarding the Cabinet office refer to registration for agency CA 1472 in RecordSearch.  The Cabinet Office procedures are described in detail in the Cabinet Handbook which as re-printed during the term of the second Fraser Ministry (February in 1976.)  The Handbook also outlines the operation of the Cabinet system in broad terms.  The present edition (the fifth) can be seen at   www.pmc.gov.au/guidelines/index.cfm

Note that Cabinet Decisions are referred to in the Handbook, and in some other contexts, as Cabinet Minutes.  Matters that are raised in the Cabinet meeting for which no submission has been made (leading to a Decision without Submission) are referred to as ‘under–the-line’ matters.

Access conditions

Series history

Provenance

  The records that constitute this series were recorded in the Cabinet Office (CA1472) between February and December 1976

Immediate source of acquisition

Custodial history

  The records that constitute this series were transferred from the Cabinet Office to the custody of the National Archives in May 2004

Quantity in agency custody

Disposal history

Publication note

Additional information

End notes

Sources