VPRS 11953 Cabinet Handbook

In April 1982 the Labor Government led by John Cain was elected. The new government established the process for the creation and distribution of Cabinet records. A Cabinet Office within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet was also created to operate as a secretariat. The Cabinet Handbook was issued by the Cabinet Office to all Government Departments and other agencies for the information of officers who were involved in handling Cabinet matters. The first edition is thought to have been issued in 1982. The Handbooks: -- outlined the process by which matters were brought to Cabinet and various protocols and conventions which governed the process -- detailed the documentation requirements for preparing submissions to Cabinet, procedures for maintaining Cabinet confidentiality and the sequence of events for bringing matters onto the Cabinet agenda -- outlined processes for the development of legislation and its consideration by Cabinet and Parliament -- explained the roles of Cabinet, the Cabinet Office and Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel's Office, the political party in power and the Parliament in the legislative process and provided definitions of terminology relating to Parliament and the passage of legislation through it.