Cabinet and Cabinet Committee submissions – Cain/Kirner government 1982-1992

Submissions are documents that were prepared by Ministers and/or agencies that formed the basis for discussion during Cabinet or Cabinet committee meetings. Cabinet committees consist of several Cabinet members appointed to deliberate about specific matters and to develop options for consideration by the full Cabinet. The great majority of these submissions are held in one series, VPRS 11944 Cabinet and Cabinet Committee Submissions, Cain/Kirner Government (1982-1992) and Kennett Government (1992-1999), with some exceptions held in seven other series.

To use this search, you will need to know roughly when a matter was likely to have been discussed in a Cabinet meeting.

All submissions held by Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) are listed according to a submission number. You will need to first identify the relevant submission number from the electronic or hard copy register and then use that number to order the record.

For most submissions during this period, download and open VPRS 11954, the output from the database register created by the Cabinet Office, which recorded details about each submission lodged with it.

Please note the number shown in the first column labelled ‘subno’ (for submission number),and ensure any accompanying alphabetical characters are included.

If the submission number contains the alphabetical prefix AX (for example AX0034), these can be found in VPRS 11946 Submissions Relating to Appointments, Cain/Kirner Government - browse the records list to select the item that has the submission number range for the item you require.

For the remaining submissions, place the submission number in the search green search form below. Include any alphabetical prefixes and suffixes.

For Cabinet committee submissions between 1982 and 1986 only, download and open the digitised version of VPRS 11943 Register of Submissions to Cabinet Committees. This was the hard-copy register created by the Cabinet Office to record details about each committee submission lodged with it before the database was developed. This record contains a few sections, one for each of the committees to which submissions were lodged during this period. Note both the submission number and the name of the Cabinet committee.

To find and order a submission from VPRS 11944 Cabinet and Cabinet Committee Submissions, either 

• enter the submission number into the search below, or
• navigate to the list of records in VPRS 11944, and type a keyword into the "Keyword search..." bar above the list of record titles

To find and order a submission from any of the other relevant series, select the link that matches the committee to which they were submitted, and then browse or search (using the "Keyword search..." bar above the list of record titles) to find the record that matches the submission number. 

• Priorities, Planning and Strategy Committee (VPRS 11937)
• Urban Infrastructure Committee (VPRS 11938)
• Natural Resources and Environment Committee (VPRS 11939)
• Social Development Committee (VPRS 11940)
• Rural Affairs Committee (VPRS 11941)
• Economics Committee (VPRS 11942)
• Submissions Relating to Appointments (VPRS 11946) 

Submissions can vary considerably in length and detail and can include attachments. Submissions relating to the same subject, known as addendums, were also created and are identified separately through the addition of the alphabetical suffix A to the original submission number.

The Cabinet Handbook 1987 specifies that the following types of submissions were created:

• Appointments (to statutory positions including all to be made by the Governor-in-Council and other significant board, commission, committee and advisory commitment appointments)
• ‘Bills in Principle’ (sometimes abbreviated as ‘BIP’, submissions seeking Cabinet approval for the drafting of a bill)
• ‘Bills at Cabinet’ (sometimes abbreviated as ‘BAC’, submissions seeking Cabinet approval to submit a bill before Parliament)
• Non legislative matters (comprising information papers requested by Cabinet or submitted for noting by Cabinet)
• Ministerial Statements proposed to be made in Parliament and submissions made to or from Cabinet committees.

These records were created by Ministers and/or agencies for the purposes of discussion during Cabinet or Cabinet committee meetings. For this reason, they are attributed to the Cabinet Office [known as Cabinet & Executive Branch 1991-1992; Cabinet Secretariat 1992 - 2015] (VA 2989)

Once you have ordered the submissions of interest,  you will need to view them in the Reading Room.