Summary heading

Series descriptive note

Function and purpose

This series consists of Cabinet Submissions and Memoranda received in the Cabinet Office during the terms of the Second, Third and Fourth Hawke Ministries, from 13 December 1984 to 20 December 1991.  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 became Prime Minister in 1991.

Ministries: First Hawke Ministry, from 11/3/1983 to 13/12/1984, following Federal election, control symbol range 1 to 1080 (in CRS A13977 and CRS A13978).  Second Ministry, from 13/12/1984 to 24/7/1987, following Federal election (double-dissolution), range from 1962 to 4955.  Third Ministry, from 24/7/1987 to 4/4/1990, following Federal election, range from 4956 to 6982 (in CRS A14039).  Fourth Ministry from 4/4/1990 to 20/12/1991, when Keating replaced Hawke as Labor Party leader and became PM, range 7000 to 8525.

Submissions: 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, published in 1983.  The Handbook was first published in February 1976 and further updates were published in 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 (and Memoranda and Minutes) - see 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 Executive 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 of 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 the Cabinet Handbook, 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 1966.  It appears to represent a continuation of the sequence used in the First Hawke Ministry but with a large gap.  This 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 the Cabinet Office in this time (ie by the end of the Fourth Ministry) was no 8525, registered on 13 December 1991.

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 244 folders, constituting a moderate to large accumulation.  A further 60 folders of Submissions was accumulated by the Cabinet Office in the First Hawke Ministry in series CRS A13977.  Memoranda form the remaining portion of the series, although, from 1985, most Memoranda were not retained in CRS A14039; copies of most of the missing Memoranda were made by Archives' staff and placed with the single sheet provided by the Cabinet Office identifying the relevant CA files in the main series ie CRS A14039.

The 1983 Cabinet 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 Cabinet Office, it was checked for compliance with the Handbook.  Checklists documenting this process are on file CA982 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; 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: These records consist of accumulated master copies of Cabinet Memoranda; 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 first Memorandum received and registered by the Cabinet Office in the Second Ministry was 1962, received on 6 December 1984, and the last, 8524, was registered on 13 December 1991.

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, including any relating to consultation, structure, length and the 'ten-day rule'.  Legislation Committee Memoranda were created by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, guidance for the creation of which were contained in the Legislation Handbook.  See CRS A13978 series descriptive note for more on the origins of Cabinet Memoranda.

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.

Decisions: 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 (Minutes) 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 notetakers are 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.

For information on the the development and use by the Cabinet Office of Minutes, see CRS A13979 series descriptive note.

The inner Cabinet and the emergence of mega-departments

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 series 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 (Minute) number in respect of any submission indicates where the Decision was made.  A Decision made by Cabinet has no alpha suffix to the minute 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.

Ad hoc committees had been created in the Fraser administration to bypass standing committees.  This was not the case in the Hawke administration, with the Ad Hoc Committee on Tax being a notable exception.  Other examples include, in the First Ministry, the Ad-Hoc Committee on RCSIA (Royal Commission on Australia’s Security and Intelligence Agencies) and the Ad-Hoc Committee on Nurse Education.

The following committees and sub-committees were active in the Hawke administration.  Dates of Submissions recorded in this series when the Committees were assembled for the first time in the Hawke years are included, in approximate chronological order.  Note the alpha suffix used to represent which committee presided has been included:

First Ministry

Ministry Committee, March 1983 (M)

Economic Policy Committee, March 1983 (EC)

Legal and Administrative Committee, March 1983 (LA)

Defence and External Relations Committee, March 1983 (DER)

Social Policy Committee, March 1983 (SP)

Infrastructure Committee, March 1983 (INF)

Industry Committee, March 1983 (IND)

Parliamentary Business Committee, March 1983 (PB)

Committee on Tax Avoidance Issues, April 1983 (TAX)

Expenditure Review Committee, April 1983 (ER)

Legislation Committee, April 1983 (LEG)

National and International Security Committee, April 1983 (NIS)

Committee on Social Security Computer, May 1983 (SSC)

Committee on Pecuniary Interests, March 1983 (Ad Hoc)

Economic Policy/Industry Committee, May 1983 (EP)

Committee on South-West Tasmania, May 1983 (Ad Hoc)

Revenue Committee, July 1983 (R)

Committee on Government Purchasing, August 1983 (Ad Hoc)

Committee on Fuel Excise, August 1983 (Ad Hoc)

Sub-Committee of Legal and Administrative Committee, November 1983 (LA)

Sub-Committee on Industry Restructuring, May 1984 (IR)

Ad-Hoc Committee on RCSIA (Royal Commission on Australia’s Security and Intelligence Agencies), June 1984 (Ad Hoc)

Ad-Hoc Committee on Nurse Education, August 1984 (Ad Hoc)

National Crime Authority Sub-Committee, December 1984 (NCA)

International and Defence Committee, December 1984 (ID)

Second Ministry

Security Committee, January 1985 (SEC)

Taxation Sub-Committee, July 1985 (TSC)

Budget Committee, August 1985 (B)

Augmented Expenditure Review Committee, October 1985 (AER)

Sub-Committee on ACT Self-Government, November 1985 (ACT)

Sub-Committee on Commonwealth Statutory Authorities and Government Enterprises, November 1985 (SA)

Sub-Committee on Industrial Relations Aspects of Australia’s Export Industries, February 1986 (IRX)

National Crime Authority Committee, March 1986 (NCA)

Sub-Committee on Maintenance, March 1986 (SCM)

Sub-Committee on Longer Term Economic Growth, April 1986 (LTG)

Ministerial Task Force on Youth Allowances Revenue Committee, July 1986 (TYA)

Sub-Committee on Trade Competitiveness, October 1986 (TC)

Sub-Committee on Family Assistance, April 1987 (Ad Hoc)

Sub-Committee on Economic Adjustment, May 1986 (Ad Hoc)

Secretaries Committee on Security and Intelligence (SCIS)

Third Ministry

Public Service Reform Commission, August 1987 (PSR)

Structural Adjustment Committee, August 1987 (SA)

General Administrative Committee, August 1987 (GA)

Social and Family Policy Committee, November 1987 (SFP)

Ad Hoc Committee, July 1989 (AH)

Fourth Ministry

Sub-Committee on Sustainable Development, July 1990 (SD)

Social Justice Committee, August 1990 (SJ) 

Related legislation

Using the series

As all Submissions and Memoranda have been entered in the RecordSearch database, either item relating to any particular subject can be retrieved by keyword search (limiting search by series CRS A14039).  This series contains Submissions and Memoranda relating to the Second to Fourth Hawke Ministries only; Submissions and Memoranda from the First Hawke Ministry can be found in CRS A13977 and in CRS A13978, respectively.  An alternative is to peruse the registers of Submissions and Memoranda, CRS A13981 and CRS A13982.  A Submission was normally, by direction of the Cabinet Office, a fairly brief document (the state maximum being 7 pages in the First Ministry; this maximum was reduced to 6 pages by the time the 1988 Cabinet Handbook was released).  Memoranda were to conform to all applicable guidelines for the preparation of Submissions.  Background material may be found on the relevant file in the Cabinet Office’s CA series (CRS A11116) - see CA61 Part 2, for instance.  The cover sheet on top of each Submission indicates which Minister, and hence which department, is making the Submission.  The entry for the CA file in RecordSearch shows the relevant Submission number in the Title field. The department which prepared the Submission or Memorandum will also have files on the subject, including the drafting of the Submission or Memorandum, in its general correspondence files series.

Note that there is no correlation between a Submission or Memorandum number and the Decision number for that Submission or Memorandum.  The sequence of Submission and Memorandum numbers reflects the chronology of these records being received in the 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 or Memorandum number.  In the course of the First to the Fourth Hawke Ministries, there were up to 16171 Minutes (Decisions) and up to 8525 Submissions and Memoranda generated by the Hawke administration.

There is currently neither a Register of Decisions nor a register of 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' for an explanation of RecordSearch entries in this series whose titles are prefaced by '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 244 folders (a further 60 folders were transferred into the custody of the Archives in CRS A13977 (Submissions) and 17 in CRS A13978 (Memoranda).  The range of Submissions and Memoranda 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) and the top-most page is a Cover Sheet which shows the Submission number and copy number, the title of the Submission, the Minister, 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 Memoranda were filed by the Cabinet Office in a similar manner and have been preserved in the same fashion by the Archives.

Following specifications outlined in the Cabinet Handbook, Memoranda followed a standardised format, similar to that for Submissions.  That is to say, Memoranda number, copy number, title of the Memorandum, date and originating department (Minister, or Ministers', name to be inserted in a particular place in the pro forma), the purpose of the Memorandum, legislation involved, departments that were consulted and cost were to be included on the cover page. Memoranda were to conform to all applicable guidelines for the preparation of Cabinet Submissions. 

System of arrangement and control

The items of this series are controlled by the Submission or Memorandum number allocated from the Submission/Memoranda register and therefore reflecting the chronology of the Submissions or Memoranda being received in the Cabinet Office.  The Submission or Memorandum number sequence is a simple number sequence ranging from 1962 to 8525 from the Second to the end of the Fourth Ministry.  This has resulted in a combined series in which a single number sequence, with gaps, has been used to incorporate both Submissions and Memoranda.

Note that this series includes some gaps in the Submission and Memoranda numbers.  This is caused by Submissions or Memoranda either having been withdrawn, not circulated, replaced by other later Submissions or Memoranda 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).  In the First Ministry, 77 numbers were missing from CRS A13977, leaving 1005 numbers represented by physical records.  Further gaps are evident in this series; in 1988 (Third Ministry), for example, several gaps have been observed where records with certain numbers are not represented.

As indicated in 'Function and Purpose' above, increasing numbers of Memoranda, from about 1985 onwards, were not present in the main series ie CRS A14039.  As is customary as part of Cabinet Office procedure, a single sheet of paper is placed in the position in a folder from which a Memorandum has been removed.  In earlier years, including during the Fraser administration, the same procedure was adopted for identifying both Submissions and Memoranda that had been removed or were replaced, withdrawn or retained on the relevant correspondence file (in CRS A11116 for the Hawke Cabinet records).  On the sheet of paper, especially in the Hawke years, was a simple reference to the Memorandum or Submission number and to the CA file in which a copy of the item may be found.  Archives' staff have located, where possible, copies of the missing items and have created copies of the material for inclusion in the main series, for accessibility reasons.  Where this has occurred, a copy item RecordSearch entry has been created from a sub-item entry that was created to link the copied material that forms the missing item to the relevant CA file.  In these cases, alternative control symbols that include reference to the CA file can be found on all copy items.  Item titles commence with 'Reference copy of'. 

Relationships with other records

The Submission and Memoranda numbers are allocated from the relevant register which documents the receipt in Cabinet Office of all Submissions and Memoranda made during the Second to Fourth Hawke Ministries (not in the custody of the Archives).  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 - see CA61 Part 2, for instance.  The Decisions register, not currently in the custody of the Archives, would control the allocation of Decision number to register all Decisions made in that ministry, including Decisions Without Submission.  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 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 level and item level.  For general information regarding the Cabinet Office, refer to registration for agency CA 1472 in RecordSearch.  The Cabinet Office procedures regarding preparation of Submissions and Memoranda 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.

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 Cabinet Office (CA1472) between December 1984 and December 1991.

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.  In this case, the disposal class was 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 A12930 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.