Summary heading

  Descriptive Note   

Function and purpose

This series consists of registered Papers which were introduced at meetings of Cabinet or Cabinet Committees by a Minister to support a proposal or matter under discussion where no formal submission had been made

The Cabinet Handbook provided that a Minister may, by prior agreement with the Prime Minister, introduce a matter for discussion at a Cabinet – or a Committee meeting -  meeting for which no formal submission had been made.  Decisions made in these cases are termed Decisions without Submissions,  However, it was often the case that a paper was produced to give background or to substantiate an argument.  Because of their importance in influencing the outcome of the discussion, it was felt that such papers should be identified and controlled.  Accordingly, from September 1976 the practice was introduced of registering and identifying such papers.

A copy of any such paper was retained by Cabinet Office after the meeting and controlled by entry in a register and the paper was then filed in an accumulation of folders, arranged by this registration number (a simple number sequence.)  The Cabinet Papers Register is one of several registers contained in one volume now controlled as CRS A12940.   Paper number 1 was registered on 23 September 1976.

The papers are varied in format and content – a Paper might be a  copy of a letter, or an internal departmental report, a proposed bill, a Minister’s briefing note, or any other type of document.  Initially there was no attempt to standardise the appearance of these Papers – after registration the top-most folio was simply stamped in red Ink ‘Paper Number …’ and the registered number handwritten in. It is often difficult to tell from the paper itself what it refers to or what at what meeting it was introduced and by what Minister.  This information can be obtained only by reference to the Register.    (The Register also identifies the relevant file in A10756)  However later papers in this collection have a more standardised cover page – usually a blank sheet (that is, not pre-printed) on which is typed the Paper Number and Copy Number , then the Meeting at which the paper was tendered and the subject of the paper, and at the bottom of the page, the name of the responsible Minister.

In many cases (but not all) a copy of the relevant Decision is also filed with the Paper in this series

Generally the papers were not written for presentation to Cabinet – and usually they did not contain a recommendation so that it was more difficult for the Cabinet office staff to frame a Decision in such cases.  The Review of Cabinet Arrangements undertaken in Cabinet office in later 1978 addressed this issue and one of the recommendations in the report (presented to Prime Minister Fraser by departmental Secretary G.J.Yeend on 17 November 1978) was that:

‘Submissions authorised by Ministers and containing recommendations should remain the major vehicle for consideration of issues.  A tighter control should therefore be exercised over papers other than Submissions coming to Cabinet/Committees.  In the main these should be limited to papers called for by Cabinet providing supplementary or other factual information, or developing options within guidelines defined by Cabinet.  They should be prepared in identifiable format, numbered and registered, and be known in future as ‘Cabinet Memoranda’ rather than ‘Papers’ – the Cabinet Office to include suitable guidelines in the Cabinet Handbook para 8.4

[Recommendation 11.21 – see  A10756 item LC 2198 Part 2 (folio 213)]

These recommendations were implemented in February 1979.  Accordingly the registration of Papers in this series was discontinued, the last entry being No 846 which was registered on 23 January 1979    A new series of Cabinet Memoranda (CRS A12930) was begun from 5 February 1979.

Related legislation

Using the series

As all Papers have been entered in RecordSearch database, a Paper relating to any particular subject can be retrieved by keyword search in RecordSearch (limiting search by Series No 12933.)   An alternative is to peruse the Register of Papers (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 registered  Cabinet Papers are accumulated in a sequence of visidex folders arranged by the registered Paper number.  There was  a total of 21 folders when this series was transferred to the custody of the National Archives. However, for preservation reasons , and to improve accessibility to individual documents, the papers have been removed from these folders by NAA, individually re-packaged in acid-free folders and each controlled in the RecordSearch database as a discrete record item.

The papers are varied in format and content – a Paper might be a  copy of a letter, or an internal departmental report, a proposed bill, a Minister’s briefing note, or any other type of document.  Initially there was no attempt to standardise the appearance of these Papers – after registration the top-most folio was simply stamped in red Ink ‘Paper Number …’ and the registered number handwritten in.  However later papers in this collection have a more standardised cover page – usually a blank sheet (that is, not pre-printed) on which is typed the Paper Number and Copy Number , then the Meeting at which the paper was tendered and the subject of the paper, and at the bottom of the page, the name of the responsible Minister.

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 allocated from the Cabinet Paper  Register, which is one section of a volume containing various registers (CRS A12940)   The range of numbers is 1 to 846 

Relationships with other records

  The Paper numbers are allocated from the Cabinet Papers Register (in CRS A12940)  which documents the receipt in Cabinet Office of all unscheduled  Papers tendered by Ministers in support of matters raised for discussion for which no formal Submission had been made, at meetings of Cabinet or Cabinet Committees between September 1976 and January 1979.  This process was replaced by Cabinet Memoranda (CRS A12930) which are slightly different in that Memoranda should be prepared expressly for presentation to Cabinet.  The relevant file in the LC series (CRS A10756) contains background information on the matter.  The Decision register (CRS A 12940  item 5)  controls the allocation of Decision number to register all Decisions made in that ministry, including Decisions without Submissions.  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.)

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 September 1976 and February 1979

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