Summary heading
Function and purpose
This series consists of copies of Submissions and Memoranda created in the Cabinet Office during the term of the First and Second Keating Ministries. This series is one of two main series of Keating Cabinet records transferred to the National Archives. The other series is the Cabinet Minutes, a single number series, CRS A14218.
A Cabinet Submission is a briefing paper prepared specifically for Cabinet and sponsored by the Cabinet minister with portfolio responsibility. The purpose of the submission is to canvass the key issues for consideration by the members of Cabinet prior to a meeting.
Cabinet Memoranda are papers which are submitted by departments rather than ministers. Memoranda ask the Cabinet to consider possible approaches, rather than recommendations seeking Cabinet agreement. They must contain the same information as submissions and they require the same authority, circulation and consultation.
Paul John Keating entered Parliament in 1969, aged 25, when he won the seat of Blaxland for the Australian Labor Party. Keating was appointed Treasurer of Australia by newly elected Prime Minister Robert Hawke in 1983. In 1990, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and made Deputy Prime Minister. Keating challenged Bob Hawke for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party in June 1991 and resigned from the ministry following defeat. He challenged Hawke again six months later and this time was successful, subsequently becoming Prime Minister.
Ministries
The First Keating Ministry lasted from 20 December 1991 to 24 March 1993. The First Keating Ministry (Labor) was the 59th Ministry of the Government of Australia. Paul Keating was sworn in as the 24th Prime Minister of Australia. He then led the Australian Labor Party to victory at the federal election on 24 March 1993.
The Second Keating Ministry lasted from 24 March 1993 to 11 March 1996. Following the defeat of his government, Keating relinquished the ALP leadership and resigned from Parliament in April 1996.
As Prime Minister, Keating continued his progressive economic reform program, including deregulation of the financial sector, begun when he was Treasurer. This included establishment of a National Training Authority, a national superannuation scheme to redress low national savings as well as labour market and other training reforms associated with long-term unemployment problems.
The following committees were active in the Keating ministries:
Ad Hoc (December Statement) Committee
Expenditure Review Committee
General Policy Committee
Native Title Committee
Parliamentary Business Committee
Republic Committee
Revenue Committee
Structural Adjustment and Trade Committee
Social Policy Committee
White Paper Ad Hoc Committee
Related legislation
Using the series
Each Submission and Memorandum in this series has been described at item level in the National Archives database RecordSearch. This enables a key word search on a particular subject.
A typical record item (which contains a Submission and not a Memorandum) in this series will have the following general format in the Item Title field:
Cabinet Submission (submission number) - (subject of the Submission) – Decision (Decision number)
A change in Cabinet Office management procedures, introduced with the swearing in of the Second Hawke Ministry in December 1984, saw Submissions and Memoranda combined into a single series. While still being identified as a ‘submission’ or a ‘memorandum’, papers were controlled within a single, sequential numbering system.
Note that there is no correlation between a Submission or Memorandum number and the Cabinet Minute number for that Submission or Memorandum. The sequence of Submission or Memoranda numbers reflects the chronology of the Submission or Memoranda as they are received into the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet office will register them and allocate each a unique number. The first Submission received by the Cabinet Office during the term of a particular Ministry is registered as number 1, with subsequent Submissions and Memoranda being allocated consecutive running numbers. Each Submission and Memorandum is filed with its corresponding Decision. In contrast, the sequence of the Minute numbers includes Decisions on matters for which no Submission is made (Decisions without Submissions). The Minute number is therefore normally well in advance (in numerical terms) of the Submission number.
There are no control records such as registers for either the Minutes (Decisions) or Submissions/Memoranda in the custody of the National Archives for the First and Second Keating Ministries.
Language of material
Physical characteristics
System of arrangement and control
The Cabinet Submissions and Memoranda are housed in white, acid-free folders. A typical folder consists of a copy of a Submission (or alternatively, a copy of a Memorandum) and a copy of the relevant Cabinet Minute (Decision). The items in this series are controlled by the unique number allocated to individual Submissions and individual Memoranda.
Relationships with other records
Related series include:
A14218 Keating Ministries, Cabinet Minutes, single number series
A11117 Keating Ministries - Cabinet files, single number series with ‘KCA’ prefix
Finding aids
This series and related series of the First and Second Keating Ministries 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. Also refer to the National Archives of Australia website for an information paper titled ‘Introduction to the Cabinet’ and its records (see http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/cabinet/records/index.aspx)
Access conditions
Series history
Provenance
The records that constitute this series were created in the Cabinet Office, CA 1472 between December 1991 and March 1996. They were transferred to the National Archives in 2013 along with the Cabinet Minutes for the First and Second Keating Ministries.
Immediate source of acquisition
Custodial history
Quantity in agency custody
Disposal history
Publication note
Additional information
End notes
Sources
National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch person registration CRS CP 665 person note.
National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch series registration CRS A13979 series descriptive note.
National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch series registration CRS A13977 series descriptive note.
National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch series registration CRS A14039 series descriptive note.
National Archives of Australia website, Introduction to the Cabinet and Its Records, http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/cabinet/records/index.aspx, accessed 17 November 2016
The Honourable Paul Keating website, http://www.keating.org.au/page/biography.html, accessed 21 November 2016.
Australian Government Cabinet Handbook website, https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Cabinet_Handbook_9th_edition.pdf, accessed 22 November 2016
Wikipedia entry, First Keating Ministry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Keating_Ministry, accessed 9 November 2016.