Cabinet record – Cain/Kirner government 1982-1992

The Cabinet record is a series consisting mostly of volumes that logged attendances, decisions made, and matters noted at each of the 489 cabinet meetings held between 1982 and 1992. It is not a detailed record of the discussions that occurred during each meeting, and such a record was never created.

To use this search you will need to have a rough idea of when a matter was likely to have been discussed in a Cabinet meeting. This will assist in consulting the register of Cabinet decisions or the Cabinet record itself.

There are two types of searches that can be conducted depending on whether the objective is to consult the Cabinet record over an extended period, or to find an entry within it relating to a specific Cabinet meeting or decision.

Option 1:  Finding volumes created over an extended period. Browse the list of volumes in VPRS 11948 Cabinet Record, Cain/Kirner Government and order the volume or volumes that cover the period you are interested in. Each volume is identified in the catalogue by reference to the dates and numbers of the meetings documented in the volume. Alternatively, you can use the green search box below to find specific volumes using a year range.

Option 2: Finding an entry for a specific cabinet decision or meeting. Download and open VPRS 11955 Register of Cabinet Decisions (Database Output), Cain-Kirner Government, the output from the Cabinet Office database that records details of every decision made at each cabinet meeting. 

Scroll through the document and note both the decision number and the meeting number shown in the respective columns. Next, use the link in Option 1 above to identify and order the volume that contains the meeting number you identified. 

To find the specific decision within that volume, first identify the record for the relevant meeting. Then refer to the decision number, which appears on the right-hand side of each page after the decision entry. 

Each meeting entry in these volumes follows a standard format. Typical information recorded includes the names of Cabinet members present and any apologies, issues requiring Cabinet agreement, bills under consideration, appointments to senior government positions and statutory positions, and reports from standing or ad hoc Cabinet committees submitted for endorsement by the full Cabinet.

The entry for each meeting in the Cabinet record was prepared after the meeting by the Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet and subsequently approved and signed by the Premier. Copies were provided to each Cabinet member. VPRS 11948 is the master set. 

These records were created by the Cabinet Office [known as Cabinet & Executive Branch 1991-1992; Cabinet Secretariat 1992 - 2015] ( VA 2989 ): 1982 - 1992.

Once you have found the volume or volumes of interest to you, order them online to view in the Reading Room.