Summary heading

A13977 series descriptive note

Function and purpose

This series consists of Cabinet Submissions received in Cabinet Office during the term of the First Hawke Ministry, from 11 March 1983 to 13 December 1984.  The Australian Labour Party (ALP), led by Robert (Bob) Hawke, won the double dissolution election of 5 March 1983 with a substantial majority (with 75 members elected to the House of Representatives ), forming a caretaker government from 5 March 1983 until the First Ministry, Australia’s fifty-fifth, was sworn in on 11 March 1983 .  Hawke led the ALP to three further election wins, on 1 December 1984, on 11 July 1987 (double dissolution) and on 24 March 1990 before Paul Keating replaced Hawke as ALP leader and became Prime Minister in December 1991.

First Ministry - 11/3/1983 - 13/12/1984 – Submissions 1-1080

Second Ministry - 13/12/1984 - 24/7/1987 – Submissions 1962 to 4953

Third Ministry - 24/7/1987 - 4/4/1990 - Submissions 4956 to 6982

Fourth Ministry - 4/4/1990 - 20/12/1991 – Submissions 7000 to 8525

Submissions were one of the main forms of Cabinet business; others include Memoranda, Committee Decisions for endorsement by Cabinet, appointments proposed by Ministers and matters without Submission.  During the Hawke administration, as was the case in prior administrations, the various instructions relating to the preparation, control and management of submissions were codified and published in the Cabinet Handbook.  The Handbook was first published in February 1976 and further updates were published in 1983, 1988 and 1991.  The Cabinet Handbook provides guidance on what matters that should be submitted to Cabinet and on the drafting and form of the Submission.  Changes to the format and presentation, timing and arrangements for approval of submissions, especially following major administrative change, can be found in CRS A1209, item 1988/2704 or in the Cabinet Handbook itself.  Some CA files (CRS A11116) outline the format and presentation requirements of Submissions (Memoranda and Minutes) such as CA61 PART 2.  The range of matters which might be submitted included:

·      Major policy issues

·      Proposals involving large expenditure

·      Proposals requiring new legislation or amendment of existing legislation

·      Proposals with significant effects on employment in the private and the public sectors

·      Proposals likely to have impact upon Commonwealth and foreign, State of local government relations

·      Senior appointments (see ‘Federal Council Handbook’ for special types of documents relating to statutory appointments, resignations and terminations from statutory offices)

Note that a number of other publications are used by Cabinet officials and senior ministers to assist determining correct Cabinet guidelines.  These include the Legislation Handbook, a guide for departmental officers preparing policy submissions, first published in 1980, updated in 1983 and 1988; the Federal Executive Council Handbook, especially useful in outlining meetings and requirements for Executive Council minutes, first published in 1983 and, more recently, A Guide on Key Elements of Ministerial Responsibility, written by John Howard, centred around the themes of accountability and conduct, published in 1998.

The Submissions in this series document the major decisions made by the administration of the day and the information, opinion and advice on which the government based decisions.  The development of policy and procedures regarding Submissions is documented in CRS A11116, item CA61 Part 2 and in CRS A1209, item 1988/2704 Parts 2 to 6.

The practice of forecasting Submissions established in prior administrations was continued as this assisted the programing and co-ordination of Cabinet business.  This was achieved by ministers supplying quarterly forecasts of all Submissions they intended to lodge for consideration by Cabinet during the next six months.  Ministers were provided with copies of forecast Cabinet business during the first week of March, June, September and December, where confirmation or provision of additional details of all Submissions was required.  Submissions were rarely received in Cabinet Office unheralded, especially given the difficulty in programming Cabinet meetings to ensure the attendance of ministers.  The file in the CA series CRS 11116 that corresponded to the Submission was created when the matter appeared in the forecasts so the actual receipt and circulation of the Submission might be closer to the end point than the starting point of the activities documented on the file.

In the Cabinet Office, the first Submission received on the day the new ministry was formed was registered as Submission No 1.  This new sequence of control numbers for Submissions was continued throughout the term of all the succeeding Hawke ministries ending when Keating successfully challenged Hawke for the Prime Ministership on the second attempt on 20 December 1991.

The last Submission received in Cabinet Office in this time (ie by the end of the First Ministry) was no 1080, received and registered on 8 October 1984.  See CRS A14039 for details pertaining to later Ministries.

One copy of each Submission received throughout these years was filed in a sequence of folders, which constitute this series.  The department was required to provide 70 copies of each Submission for reference purposes and 75 copies where new policy proposals were made.  The series ultimately consisted of 60 folders, constituting a moderate to large accumulation.  Submissions continued to be accumulated by the Cabinet Office in the Second to Fourth Ministries, forming part of CRS A14039 (Memoranda formed the remaining portion of the series, although, from 1985, most Memoranda were not retained in CRS A14039 - see System of arrangement and control).

The Handbook states that the Submission must be received in the Cabinet Office not later than 10 days ahead of the scheduled meeting at which it was to be considered, otherwise it would not be considered by a functional committee.  The 10 day rule was changed from 10 working days to 10 calendar days during the Second Ministry.  An exception to this rule was for Legislation Committee proposals where a minimum of 3 working days was required.  There was much pressure for the Submissions to be submitted in sufficient time to allow circulation to all Ministers so that the issue could be satisfactorily debated, if necessary, and to obtain input from their department, if required.  Submissions were not circulated within Departments; it was at the discretion of the Minister to acquaint his departmental head of the matter if he/she chose.  The Cabinet Office, however, circulated copies to all ministers.  The Handbook required that at least 2 days be allowed for ministers to comments on the final draft of a Submission.

When the Submission was received in the Cabinet Office, it was checked for compliance with the Handbook.  Checklists documenting this process are on file CA 982 Part 1 in CRS A11116.   A serial number was allocated by the Minister’s department, which remained with the Submission until it was lodged.  Where a Submission involved the interests of more than one department, the appropriate consultation must have taken place during the formulation of the Submission and the Submission must not contain any disputation of fact.  The Minister’s signature on the Submission was held to be a certification that the required consultation had occurred and that the Minister had endorsed the substance of the Submission, the view being that a Submission may reflect Departmental opinion rather than the personal opinion of the Minister - ‘consultation is an integral part of the development of a policy proposal, from the outset of that development through to clearance of a final draft’.  The outcome of the consultation was expressed in the recommendation which should be couched in terms that anticipated the wording of the Decision.  Were a Submission considered by the Cabinet Office to be open to interpretation of differences of opinion, it would be returned.  The Prime Minister instructed the Cabinet Office to return a Submission lodged ‘before adequate time has been allowed for receipt of consultation comments so that the Submission may be amended to take account of them’.

Memoranda are papers that were submitted for consideration at Cabinet or Cabinet Committee Meetings that were normally supplementary to an earlier Submission and often in response to a specific request contained in a Cabinet Decision. Memoranda were intended to further elaborate and support a proposal or matter under discussion and may complement an earlier Submission or may be a paper supporting a matter introduced to a meeting where no formal submission had been made.

The Memoranda are varied in format and content but are normally a substantial report prepared by departmental officers, or a working party, as required.  Addenda were added to Memoranda (and to Submissions) when Cabinet or a Cabinet committee called for more information (they were not to be used for adding significantly to the text or for making new recommendations) and corrigenda, for correcting errors and omissions from Memoranda (or from submissions) already circulated to Ministers.  Cabinet Memoranda also include Forward Estimates papers.

The format of Cabinet Memoranda was intentionally similar to Submissions, the conceptual difference being that Memoranda should be supplementary papers hopefully limited to those specifically requested by Cabinet in a Decision.  When Memoranda were first introduced, they were not subject to the same requirements that applied to Submissions, namely, the structure of the Memorandum, the ‘ten day rule’, the full process of consultation with other interested departments and the prior circulation to Ministers.  Throughout the Hawke administration, however, Memoranda were required to conform to all applicable guidelines for the preparation of Cabinet Submissions.

During the early stages of the Third Hawke Ministry, three policy development committees were created: Public Service Reform Committee, Structural Adjustment Committee and the Social and Family Policy Committee.  These committees were established to address the particularly difficult issues of public service reform, structural adjustment and social and family policy.  Working papers prepared for these committees were lodged with the Cabinet Office as Memoranda.  Such Memoranda were invariably entitled ‘Discussion Paper[s]:  ‘ but were not subject to the same detailed requirements for presentation as were other memoranda (and submissions).  Memoranda for the policy development committees were referred to either ‘blue’ minutes (decisions), for endorsement by Cabinet, or ‘white’ minutes, where further information or a formal memorandum (or submission) was sought.

Ministers frequently introduced matters at Cabinet meetings, with the prior consent of the Prime Minister, for which no formal Submission had been made.  These were termed ‘under the line’ matters and resulted in a Decision Without Submission.  Such proposals were identified as ‘Cabinet Papers’ in the early days of the Fraser regime but were replaced by Cabinet Memoranda from February 1979.  Because Memoranda could be anticipated, like Submissions, the same requirements that applied to Submissions were gradually applied to Memoranda so that in time the distinction between an initial Submission and subsequent supporting Memoranda became less apparent. 

With the advent of the ‘mega-departments’ in 1987, Cabinet agenda contained only up to ten items and senior ministers were able to concentrate their focus on political matters of the highest importance.  Changes to the way in which ‘under-the-line’ Submissions were dealt with meant that ministers knew which items were being brought to Cabinet.  By 1988, the Cabinet Office had developed the practice of circulating in advance a list of items that were to be discussed ‘under-the-line’.  It came to pass that ‘under-the-line’ matters were dealt with following formal business, ensuring that formal Submissions were discussed first.  The consent of the Prime Minister had been required during the Fraser administration to introduce meetings to discuss ‘under-the-line’ Submissions.

For information on the development and use by the Cabinet Office of Memoranda (Cabinet Papers), see CRS A13978 series descriptive note. 

The Hawke Government, until early 1985, continued the Fraser Government’s revived practice of holding Ministerial meetings where Decisions made were registered and controlled in the sequence of Cabinet Decision (or ‘Minutes’, as they were referred to), and were distinguished by addition of an ‘M’ suffix (sometimes shown in the Decision register as ‘MIN’).  The first Decisions of the First Hawke Ministry were Ministerial Decisions (made at a meeting of the full ministry in March 1983).  Ministries were normally inaugurated with a ministerial meeting of this kind and a short sequence of ministerial Decisions – hardly more than a re-iteration of the previous set of Ministerial Decisions.  These were all confined to housekeeping and procedural matters, mostly concerning specifically the operation of the Cabinet system, and procedures of the Cabinet office (control and circulation of submissions etc).

It was normal procedure at Cabinet meetings for a senior officer of the Cabinet Office to take notes of the discussion and the Decisions made.  Immediately after the conclusion of the meeting, the formal Decisions were written up from these notes, typed and registered in the Cabinet Office and distributed to Ministers and departments for action, as required.  The notebooks created by the notetakersare described in RecordSearch in CRS A11099.  In the Fraser Government, an additional facilitative record was introduced from 1976 called ’Debrief sheets’ – see CRS A12937.  These debriefs for the Hawke administration can be found in CRS A14045 (early debriefs) and CRS A14046.

A major change introduced by the Labour government was to create an inner Cabinet as ‘a division of ministers was (..) essential for effective decision-making’  . Cabinet was felt to be unwieldy so an inner Cabinet was endorsed at the first meeting of Caucus.  The separation of the Cabinet and the Ministry in 1983 left some ministers feeling omitted from the formal decision-making process as there was no need to co-opt ministers involved in the formulation of the original recommendation to Cabinet where items were reconsidered by Cabinet.  Only seven full meetings of the full ministry were held between July 1983 and June 1984.  The Whitlam Government had adopted the practice of including the entire ministry in the Cabinet and this practice was effectively continued in the caretaker Fraser Government, and in the early days of the Hawke administration that followed – the Hawke Government released a policy paper entitled Reforming the Australian Public Service in which it was declared that an annual ministerial meeting would be held in order to ‘review national prospects and government operations and priorities’.  Only two of these meetings appear to have been held, however: the first was in February 1984 and the second was in 1985.  The Record of Attendance (A14049) shows which ministers attended each meeting, including co-opted ministers.  A minister who was not a Cabinet member might be co-opted to a meeting if the subject matter impacted significantly on his portfolio.  That is, he/she was advised by Cabinet Office of the Submission and the forthcoming meeting and was required to attend.  If the matter was Without Submission the minister could attend if he/she chose.  As there was no set order in which matters listed were dealt with, a co-opted minister normally attended the whole meeting and might be invited to comment on other matters apart from the one in relation to which he/she had been co-opted.  The same arrangements applied to Cabinet Committee meetings.

One of the themes running through the Cabinet Office’s correspondence during the Hawke administration is the general decline in number of Cabinet and Committee meetings, and the decrease in the number and frequency of Decisions and Minutes, especially from about 1986-1987 onwards.  One of the reasons for the decline in the number and frequency of Cabinet meetings was the change in the structure of the Cabinet in July 1987, resulting in the reduction in the number of departments, allowing for ‘mega-departments’ to emerge.  This is in sharp contrast to the great increase in the volume of Cabinet business that occurred in the early years of the Fraser Government; by 1979, for instance, it was assessed as a three-fold expansion on the business of the previous Coalition government (see series descriptive note for CRS A10756).

The proliferation of 257 Committee meetings noted during 1983-1984 was largely the result of the nature of the government of the day in which each Minister was allocated a department, creating many divergent opinions.  The unwieldy nature of the administration meant that many matters were brought to Cabinet or decided at committee meetings where divisions of opinion could not otherwise be resolved.  Once the government was reduced to 16 departments in 1987, the process of Cabinet committees was streamlined and far fewer Submissions were brought to Cabinet, reducing agenda sizes considerably, and a reduction in the number of committee meetings and Cabinet Decisions was observed.  Cabinet then came to include representation by a minister from each portfolio.  For tables of incidence of committee meetings by series, year, name and frequency, see end note in the series description for CRS A13978.

Standing committees, sub-committees and task forces

A Submission to Cabinet may be referred, at the discretion of the Prime Minister, to a Cabinet Committee for consideration rather than to the Cabinet itself.  In some cases, the Committee having discussed the matter may then refer a recommendation to a meeting of Cabinet for a Decision.  In other cases, the Committee itself made the Decision.  The Decision number in respect of any Submission indicates where the Decision was made.  A Decision made by Cabinet has no alpha suffix to the Decision number.  A Decision made in a Cabinet Committee has an alpha suffix which indicates which committee presided.  Generally, Decisions made in any Ad Hoc committee all have the same suffix (Ad Hoc) except for Decisions of the Budget Committee which was, in effect, a recurring Ad Hoc committee – its Decisions have a ‘B’ suffix:

Co-ordinating committees:

Given an inner Cabinet was created, no priorities and planning committee was required, leaving three co-ordinating committees whose discussions ranged across all government activities:

·         Parliamentary Business Committee

·         Expenditure Review Committee

·         Legislation Committee

Functional committees

The industry and infrastructure committee was split into two, leaving six functional committees:

·         Economic Policy

·         Industry

·         Infrastructure

·         Social Policy

·         Legal and Administrative

·         Defence and External Relations

The Infrastructure Committee was abolished after the 1984 election and the National and International Security and National Crimes Authority Committees were established.  In addition, a host of sub-committees were created during the Hawke regime, including, during the First Ministry, the Sub-Committee of Legal and Administrative Committee, Sub-Committee on Industry Restructuring; and in the Second Ministry, the Taxation Sub-Committee, Sub-Committee on ACT Self-Government, Sub-Committee on Commonwealth Statutory Authorities and Government Enterprises, Sub-Committee on Industrial Relations Aspects of Australia’s Export Industries, Sub-Committee on Maintenance, Sub-Committee on Longer Term Economic Growth, Sub-Committee on Trade Competitiveness, Sub-Committee on Family Assistance and the Sub-Committee on Economic Adjustment.

Related legislation

Using the series

As all Submissions have been entered in RecordSearch database, a Submission relating to any particular subject can be retrieved by keyword search in RecordSearch (limiting search by Series A13977.)  This series contains Submissions relating to the First Hawke Ministry only; all other Submissions can be found in CRS A14039, Second through to the Fourth Hawke Ministries - Submissions and Memoranda.  An alternative is to peruse the Register of Submissions (CRS A13982).  A submission was normally, by direction of the Cabinet Office, a fairly brief document (the stated maximum being 7 pages in the First Ministry; this maximum was reduced to 6 pages by the time the 1988 Cabinet Handbook was released).  More background material may be found on the relevant file in the CA files in CRS A11116 - see CA61 PART 2, for instance; each CA file entry shows the relevant Submission number in the title field.  The department which prepared the Submission will also have files on the subject, including the drafting of the Submission, in its general correspondence files series.  The cover sheet on top of each Submission indicates which Minister, and hence which department, is making the Submission.

Note that there is no correlation between a Submission number and the Decision number for that Submission.  The sequence of Submission numbers reflects the chronology of the Submissions being received in Cabinet Office.  The sequence of Decision numbers reflects the chronology of the Submissions being presented to a Cabinet meeting for consideration, and there are many variable factors that intervene to affect the latter.  In addition, the sequence of Decision numbers includes Decisions on matters for which no Submission was made (known as ‘Decisions without Submissions’).  The Decision number is therefore normally well in advance (in numerical terms) of the Submission number.  In the course of the First to the Fourth Hawke Ministries, there were up to 16,171 Minutes, and 8,525 Submissions and Memoranda generated by the administration.

There are no registers for Decisions or Submissions/Memoranda in the custody of the Archives for the Second to Fourth Hawke Ministries.  Registers generally explain why a number is missing in each case.

See 'System of arrangement and control' in the series descriptive note for CRS A14039 for information regarding RecordSearch entries in this series with titles commencing 'Reference copy of'.

Language of material

Physical characteristics

The practice of the Cabinet Office is that a copy of each finalised Submission received, together with a copy of the relevant subsequent Decision in each case, is filed in a sequence of folders arranged by the Submission number.  When this series ended, it consisted of 60 folders (a further 244 folders were transferred into Archives' custody for CRS A14039, the series that combined Submissions and Memoranda from the Second to the Fourth Ministry).  The range of Submissions in each folder appears on a blue label on the spine of the folder.

Since transfer to the custody of the National Archives, both for preservation reasons and to improve accessibility, the Submissions have been removed from the folders and individually re-packaged in acid free folders and then placed in acid-free containers.  The Submissions are controlled and described at this level in the RecordSearch database.

The Submissions are created by various Departments but to a standardised format as specified in the Cabinet Handbook.  Each Submission comprises three main sections: a cover page, the body of the Submission and attachments.  The maximum is 7 pages (and later, 6 pages) and the top-most page is a Cover Sheet which shows the Submission Number and Copy Number, the title of the Submission, the Minster, or Ministers, if it is a joint Submission, the purpose/issues or intent of the Submission, whether the Submission relates to existing policy, is sensitive, involves legislation, is urgent, requires consultation, outlines the timing and costs likely to be involved.

The main body of the Submission, to be from 2 to 6 pages, includes a concise presentation of the issues to be examined, and include options, consideration of the issues, financial and employment considerations, state and local government relations, public information considerations, consultation, legislation and recommendations.  Later Cabinet Handbooks simplify the contents of the main body of the Submission into options, financial considerations and recommendations (1988) and options, evaluation strategy, financial considerations and recommendations (1991).

The Submission concludes with a Recommendation and is signed and dated by the responsible minister or ministers.

There may be attachments to the Submission, such as reports, which can be quite large (though the Handbook required they should be limited in size). 

System of arrangement and control

The items of this series (ie First Hawke Ministry) are controlled by the Submission Number allocated from the Submission Register (CRS A13982) and therefore reflect the chronology of the Submissions being received in the Cabinet Office.  The Submission number sequence is a simple number sequence ranging from 1 to 1080 (and 1 to 8525 for the entire Hawke administration).

Note that this series includes some gaps in the Submission numbers.  This is the result of Submissions either having been withdrawn, not circulated, replaced by other later Submissions or can be found on the relevant CA file.  A very large gap exists between the final Submission number of the First Ministry and the first Submission number of the Second Ministry (1080 to 1962).  During 1988 (Third Ministry), several gaps have been observed where records do not appear in series A14039.  In the First Ministry, 77 numbers were missing from A13977, leaving 1005 numbers represented by physical records, ending with number 1976.  Further gaps are evident in the subsequent series CRS A14039.

For items that were missing from the folders in this series upon transfer to the Archives, all copy items that were created from copies found by Archives' staff in CA files (A11116), item titles on RecordSearch commence with 'Reference copy of'.  For more detailed information, please see series descriptive note, under 'System of arrangement and control', for CRS A14039.

Relationships with other records

The Submission numbers are allocated from the Submission register (CRS A13982) which documents the receipt in Cabinet Office of all Submissions made during the First Hawke Ministry.  A copy of the relevant Decision or Decisions is filed with each Submission.  The relevant file in the CA series (CRS A11116) documents the process of preparation of the Submission for presentation to the Cabinet - item CA61 PART 2, for instance.  The Decisions register, not in the custody of the Archives, controls the allocation of Decision numbers to register all Decisions made in that ministry, including Decisions Without Submissions.  The Decisions themselves (normally one page for each Decision) are accumulated in A13979.  The Attendance Sheets (CRS A14049) 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.

Finding aids

This series and related series of the First (Second, Third and Fourth) Hawke Ministry are described in the RecordSearch database both at series and item level.  For general information regarding the Cabinet Office, refer to the registration for agency CA 1472 in RecordSearch.  The Cabinet Office procedures regarding preparation of Submissions are described in detail in the Cabinet Handbook which was first printed during the term of the Second Fraser Ministry (February in 1976) with updates published in 1983, 1998 and 1991.  The Handbook also outlines the operation of the Cabinet system in broad terms.  The present edition (the seventh) can be seen at http:/www.dpmc.gov.au.

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 created in the various government departments and registered as record items of this series in the Cabinet Office (CA1472) between March 1983 and December 1984.

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 and July 2011.

Quantity in agency custody

Disposal history

Cabinet records fall into one of the pre-2000 disposal classes that, under Archives' transfer policy, may be transferred into Archives' custody.  The class that the records in this series were transferred into Archives' custody is RDA class 492/1.1.

Publication note

Additional information

End notes

Sources

1. Weller, Patrick, Cabinet Government in Australia, 1901-2006, University of NSW, 2007.

2. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet website, http:/www.dpmc.gov.au, accessed 20 December 2012.

3. Parliament of Australia website, http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs, accessed 8 Nov 2011.

4. Cabinet Office, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Cabinet Handbook, Canberra, 1983, 1988 and 1991.

5. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Legislation Handbook, Canberra, 1983 and 1988.

6. Federal Executive Council Secretariat, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Federal Executive Council Handbook, Canberra, 1983.

7. National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch series CRS A12909 descriptive note.

8. National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch series CRS A11116, item CA61 Parts 2, 3 and 4.

9. National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch series CRS A1209, item 1988/2704 Parts 2 to 6.

10. John Howard, A Guide on Key Elements of Ministerial Responsibility, Canberra, 1998.