Output 4.1—Cabinet Secretariat

Page Index

• Qualitative assessment
• Quantative assessment
• Key results

Qualitative assessment

Methodology

The quality of the Cabinet Secretariat’s performance is assessed through formal and informal feedback provided by ministers, the Secretary to Cabinet, the Official Secretary to the Governor‑General, the Prime Minister’s Office and the departmental Executive. Key performance considerations include:

• the timeliness and quality of Cabinet and Executive Council documentation
• the responsiveness of support services
• the effectiveness of linkages between the Cabinet Secretariat and the Secretary to Cabinet, the Cabinet Policy Unit and Government House.

Feedback

The Secretary to Cabinet and the Official Secretary to the Governor‑General each expressed satisfaction with the support services provided, and with the professionalism and responsiveness of the Cabinet Secretariat in servicing the Cabinet and the Executive Council during 2003–04. Informal feedback from other stakeholders was also favourable.

Quantitative assessment

Key results

During 2003–04 the Cabinet Secretariat continued to provide high‑quality and timely support services to the Cabinet and Cabinet committees, including the National Security Committee of Cabinet (NSC), the Secretaries’ Committee on National Security (SCNS) and the Executive Council; and to oversee the public release of historical Cabinet records. The transfer of responsibility for servicing meetings of the NSC and SCNS from the International Division to the Cabinet Secretariat was completed early in the financial year.

The Cabinet Secretariat completed the first major upgrade to the CABNET secure document management system, and added a separate NSC database. SCNS and NSC processes were progressively brought on line via CABNET from December 2003, with the changeover completed early in 2004.

The Cabinet Secretariat also implemented the necessary CABNET system changes to accommodate the ministry changes announced on 29 September 2003.

Cabinet business

During 2003–04, 99 per cent of minutes from meetings of Cabinet and its committees (excluding the NSC) were settled and circulated within 24 hours of the conclusion of the meeting. This can be favourably compared with 92 per cent in 2002–03 and 96 per cent in 2001–02.

A total of 31 submissions and memoranda (or approximately 21 per cent of all submissions and memoranda) were identified as not requiring detailed discussion in Cabinet and were therefore dealt with under the streamlined arrangements described in the 2001–02 Annual Report. That is, they were circulated for consideration by ministers for a period of 10 days each, after which—provided that any issues raised by ministers had been addressed—a draft minute based on the recommendations contained within each submission or memorandum was scheduled for consideration and endorsement at the next Cabinet meeting.

During 2003–04, 70 per cent of minutes from NSC meetings were circulated within 24 hours of the conclusion of the meetings. This figure was significantly affected by the teething problems following the first meeting for which electronic minutes were prepared and released on the CABNET system, which meant none of the minutes from that meeting were released within the target period. Excluding results from that meeting, 88 per cent of minutes were released on time.

Meetings

In 2003–04, the Cabinet Secretariat supported a total of 30 meetings of the Cabinet, 16 meetings of the NSC, 15 meetings of the SCNS and 21 meetings of Cabinet committees other than the NSC. Meetings were held in Sydney on three days and in Melbourne on one day (six days of meetings were held outside Canberra in 2002–03).

Executive Council

The Executive Council Secretariat, a unit located within the Cabinet Secretariat, continued to provide high-quality and timely advice, briefing and administrative support to the Governor‑General, the Executive Council and the Official Secretary to the Governor‑General during the year.

A total of 28 meetings of the Executive Council were held, with 591 papers considered. Of the papers only 53 (9 per cent of the total) were not available by the required two days prior to the relevant meeting. Those papers were accepted for consideration by the Executive Council on the basis of exceptional circumstances explained in writing by a senior executive of the relevant department or senior member of the relevant minister’s office.

CABNET upgrade

CABNET, now nearly six years old, is an electronic system used to securely store and transmit Cabinet documents. A major CABNET standard operating environment (SOE) and workstation upgrade project commenced in March 2003 and was completed in July 2003. The project to upgrade the CABNET server infrastructure was completed in January 2004.

The SOE project involved replacing all CABNET workstations (including finger-scanning devices) and installing a new SOE. Departments and agencies funded the replacement of their CABNET workstations, including those located in the offices of their ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

The server upgrade project saw the replacement of hardware and software, both of which had been in use since the system’s development in 1998. The upgrade brought the server operating environment into line with that on the CABNET workstations. The software enhancements also significantly streamlined administration processes, and consequently improved access control, leading to improved security of both the system and the data on it. The department funded the full cost of the server upgrade project.

A separate NSC database was developed to support meetings of the SCNS and NSC and provide a secure means to store and transmit their documentation, including material classified as secret and below. Australian Government departments and agencies were brought on line from November 2003 and ministers’ offices were brought on line in December 2003.

Visiting officials

The Cabinet Secretariat hosted briefing sessions for:

• an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of New Zealand, in April 2004
• officials from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers of Nepal, in May 2004
• officials from Brunei, in June 2004
• officials from Vietnam, on a study tour conducted by the Australian National University, in June 2004.

The briefing sessions covered Australian Government Cabinet processes, the CABNET system, appointment processes, conflict-of-interest protocols, and document handling.

Relations with overseas counterparts

A representative of the Cabinet Secretariat visited the Solomon Islands in February 2004, as part of a broader AusAID‑funded scoping mission to provide, at the request of the Solomon Islands Government, assistance with machinery of government reform processes.

The Cabinet Secretariat, on behalf of the department, was also successful in securing AusAID funding of $48,800 to give effect to a partnership agreement with the Royal Thai Government Secretariat of the Cabinet (SOC) through the Thailand–Australia Government Sector Linkages Program. The agreement provides for a short‑term exchange of mid-level officials, to give them opportunities to obtain first‑hand experience of each other’s machinery of government operations, and generally to establish ongoing cooperative arrangements between the department and the SOC.

Access to Cabinet records

Assistance was provided to the National Archives of Australia in preparing for the public release of Cabinet documents from 1973 (papers of the Whitlam Government) and the second release of Cabinet notebooks dating from January 1953 (papers of the Menzies Government).

The Archives Act 1983 provides for Cabinet notebooks to be opened to public access (subject to the conditions in the Act) after 50 years, rather than the 30-year period that applies to most Commonwealth records, including other Cabinet documents. Cabinet notebooks are used by officials of the department to record discussions in Cabinet as an aide-mémoire for the preparation of formal Cabinet minutes.

Cabinet Room flooding

On 18 April 2004 the Cabinet Room in Parliament House was flooded by a leaking water pipe in the ceiling. Water built up to a depth of 25 centimetres behind the room’s sealed doors before the leak was discovered. The Cabinet Room was out of action for approximately two months while the damage was repaired. During that period, the Cabinet Secretariat made arrangements for Cabinet meetings in other venues in Parliament House or outside Canberra.