Cabinet submissions

1. A Cabinet submission is the documentation by which a minister puts a proposal to the Cabinet or a Cabinet Committee. The rules and procedures below apply to Cabinet Committees as well as the full Cabinet.
2. Given the volume of Cabinet documentation that ministers need to consider, the Cabinet Secretary establishes strict guidelines on the format of submissions so that:
   1. the proposal and the problem it seeks to address are expressed clearly and concisely
   2. there is a focus on what action the Government could take
   3. the gendered impacts and consideration of gender responsive budgeting, impacts on Indigenous peoples and other impacts of the policy are explained
   4. the impact on the Government’s priority policy areas can be easily discerned
   5. implementation risks are clearly identified.
3. In addition to a prescribed format, the Cabinet also requires that, during the development of a submission, there is consultation between ministers (and departments) so that:
   1. there is agreement on the facts, including costs, being presented in the submission
   2. all relevant factors, from a whole‐of‐government perspective, are taken into account
   3. departments and agencies with responsibility for, and/or knowledge of, implementation in the policy area can provide input
   4. as far as possible, differences between ministers are resolved in advance of Cabinet consideration or are identified and set out in a way that will facilitate discussion and decision‐making.
4. The submission process, therefore, includes a number of mandatory basic consultation procedures. Particular attention should be paid to whether consultation with the following agencies are required:
   1. the National Indigenous Australians Agency
   2. the Office for Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
5. As ministers take collective responsibility for the decisions of the Cabinet and are bound by the principle of Cabinet solidarity to support and advocate Cabinet outcomes, it is imperative that they have sufficient time to consider submissions in advance of any Cabinet discussion.
6. The Cabinet Secretary, therefore, takes responsibility for ensuring there has been sufficient time for ministers to consider submissions by mandating the timeframes between exposure draft, coordination comments, lodgement, listing as an agenda item, and Cabinet consideration. Understanding the timeframes is particularly important when proposals are time critical.
7. The Cabinet’s requirements in relation to submission format, consultation and timeframe requirements seek to support collective decision‐making. Exemption from any aspect of these requirements should only be sought in exceptional circumstances and will require the agreement of the Cabinet Secretary.
8. Cabinet documents, including submissions, are subject to a strict confidentiality regime.
9. The CabNet+ system, managed by Cabinet Division, supports the confidential preparation, circulation and lodgement of Cabinet documents, including submissions and briefing material.

Joint submissions

10. The Prime Minister or the Cabinet may decide that submissions dealing with some subjects should always be prepared by a particular minister or jointly. For example, all matters involving taxation are required to be brought forward by the Treasurer or, where another portfolio minister has a significant interest, by the Treasurer and that minister.
11. Joint submissions require the sponsoring ministers to agree the text of the submission. It is highly desirable that they agree the recommendations, but where this is not possible ministers should indicate those recommendations on which they agree and should specify their divergent recommendations.
12. In addition, joint submissions will also be required for major and sensitive proposals with significant service delivery components delivered by another agency. At a minimum, all major and sensitive initiatives which have significant service delivery components will require joint submissions where responsibility for policy and implementation rests with different departments or agencies.
13. Although joint submissions are the joint responsibility of the ministers concerned, as a matter of practical administration there needs to be a clear understanding of who has the lead role in ensuring the work is undertaken and, in particular, which department will have responsibility for undertaking the mandatory consultation processes and lodging the submission with Cabinet Division.

Submissions prepared by one minister in consultation with others

14. Where the Prime Minister, the Cabinet or the Cabinet Secretary has asked a minister to prepare a submission in consultation with others, where a submission recommends action by ministers not signatories to it, or where matters directly affecting other ministers’ portfolio responsibilities are raised, the sponsoring minister must provide the other ministers concerned a sufficient opportunity to contribute to the development of the submission. Consultation does not necessarily require agreement, but ministers should be consulted sufficiently early in the drafting process to enable their views to be taken into account and should be given sufficient time to enable them to make a considered input into the description of the problem and possible solutions.

Memorandums

15. Departments may from time to time be requested to provide information and options on a certain matter for the Cabinet’s consideration. Such documentation is referred to as a memorandum. While there are a number of differences in style and format between a submission and a memorandum, the requirements in terms of brevity, analysis, consultation and confidentiality are the same.

Implementation analysis and planning

16. The Cabinet has instituted processes to ensure that implementation issues have been adequately addressed in submissions and memorandums, emphasising the importance of sound policy delivery.
17. To enforce this process the Cabinet Secretary is authorised to reject submissions or memorandums where the relevant secretary or agency head has not confirmed that the submission contains all the information that the Cabinet will require to assess the implementation challenges of a proposal.
18. The Cabinet is responsible not only for making decisions but as a collective forum for reviewing the Government’s strategic priorities and ensuring the delivery of key initiatives.
19. At a minimum, all submissions should:
    1. include rigorous analysis that justifies the proposed measures (including, as appropriate, business cases, feasibility studies and cost‐benefit analyses)
    2. identify how, when and by whom the recommendations of a submission will be implemented
    3. identify key risks and mitigation strategies
    4. identify tangible outcomes and benefits tied to the objectives of the policy – and metrics and milestones to measure progress against these outcomes – to ensure timely and accurate implementation reporting
    5. invite specific and focused comment on proposed approaches to implementation through the exposure draft and draft for co‐ordination comment processes.
20. To ensure this occurs, the Cabinet has requested that the authoring department’s secretary or agency head confirms, for each submission that their minister sponsors, that:
    1. the submission contains all the key information that the Cabinet will require to assess the implementation challenges of the proposal
    2. their department (or agency) has, or will, put in place the necessary capabilities to effectively manage implementation.
21. Where appropriate, submissions must detail how the recommendations they make can be implemented, if they are agreed by the Cabinet.
22. As the level of risk of a proposal increases, so too does the level of implementation planning required by ministers and central agencies. To establish what additional planning is required, departments or agencies must complete a formal risk assessment during the policy development process in consultation with central agencies. All submissions bringing forward proposals which have ‘significant implementation risks or challenges’ are required to submit robust implementation plans as an attachment to the submission.

Submission/memorandum format

23. Cabinet submissions are made up of the following elements:
    1. cover sheet providing summary of key points or ‘executive summary’ and financial implications
    2. recommendations (or conclusions for memorandums)
    3. supporting analysis
    4. coordination comments
    5. titles of any attachments.
24. Each of these elements has prescribed information requirements and strict limitations on length. These rules seek to ensure that the material put before the Cabinet is concise, substantiated by facts, realistic about risks and argued within the framework of the Government’s strategic policy agenda.
25. Templates for Cabinet submissions and Cabinet memoranda are available via CabNet+. Cabinet Division is able to provide direction and assistance on how to structure the submission.
26. If necessary, other essential supporting factual information (including New Policy Proposals, impact statements, presentations and draft media releases) can be attached to a submission.
27. Implementation plans must be attached to Cabinet submissions and all major program proposals if there are significant implementation challenges associated with the proposal.
28. It is open to the sponsoring minister(s) or department(s) to request that certain documents relevant to a submission not be distributed via CabNet+. This may occur due to the size or nature of these documents (e.g. a lengthy business case for an ICT project). These documents become ‘supporting documents’ and access is only provided upon request to Cabinet Division. Supporting documents remain Cabinet documents and must be handled accordingly.

Submission consultation processes

29. Good policy outcomes require informed decisions by ministers. Informed decisions require agreement on facts and an understanding of the opinions of those who have expertise in the subject matter. During the development of submissions ministers and departments will need to balance the benefits of broad consultation with adherence to the need‐to‐know principle, so that the confidentiality of the Cabinet’s considerations is protected.
30. The mandatory consultation processes for submissions outlined below relate to the consultation that occurs between ministers (and their departments) prior to Cabinet consideration.
31. Ministers are responsible for ensuring that these consultation processes are adhered to by their departments and offices.
32. The first step is for the authoring department(s) to identify ministers, departments (and agencies) with an interest in the policy area(s) under discussion in the submission.
33. As far as possible, consultation with these interested ministers and departments should ensure that differences between ministers on a proposed approach are resolved in advance of the Cabinet’s consideration or, if this is not possible, differences are identified and set out in a way that will facilitate informed decision‐making.
34. It is particularly important that there is agreement regarding factual matters (that is, matters that are not open to interpretation or differences of opinion), including costs, which will form the basis of Cabinet discussions. The Cabinet Secretary will not authorise distribution of submissions or memorandums to ministers where there is a disagreement about facts. Departments must consult Finance on whether there are any financial implications and any costs must be explicitly agreed by Finance (or Treasury in the case of revenue matters).
35. The two mandatory consultation processes during the development of the submission are:
    1. exposure draft
    2. draft for coordination comments.

Exposure drafts

36. An exposure draft is a working draft which invites comment and suggested changes and additions to all aspects of the policy proposal under discussion. It can be circulated prior to approval by the sponsoring minister(s). It greatly assists in refining the final submission and thereby focusing the resultant Cabinet consideration.
37. While it is essentially a working document, because an exposure draft is a draft of a document that will be considered by Cabinet and formatted using the Cabinet submission template it is therefore a Cabinet document and it must be handled accordingly (see Annex H – Cabinet documentation).
38. Departments must circulate at least one exposure draft but, provided there is sufficient time, complex or contentious proposals may benefit from circulation of several exposure drafts during the development of the submission.
39. Consulted departments should use the exposure draft as an opportunity to highlight any errors of fact, areas of concern or disagreement and identify implementation challenges and risks. Authoring departments should address as many concerns and comments raised at the exposure draft stage as possible. This will reduce any areas of contention raised in formal coordination comments at the draft stage (see coordination comments on draft submissions below).
40. In the preparation of the exposure draft the authoring department should ensure the necessary impact statements have been drafted and agreed with the relevant departments/agencies.
41. The exposure draft is also an opportunity to ensure that implementation risks and challenges associated with proposals are identified and thoroughly analysed from a whole‐of‐government perspective. Authoring departments should seek feedback on the adequacy and quality of their implementation planning, particularly from the central agencies and departments or agencies with relevant expertise.
42. An implementation focus during the exposure draft process ensures that authoring departments resolve issues such as resourcing, governance and oversight prior to Cabinet consideration, as well as ensuring that unresolved issues are identified and brought to the Cabinet’s attention.
43. Cabinet Division uses the exposure draft to provide guidance to the authoring department on the submission’s structure, format and compliance with core requirements. Particular attention is given to ensuring that the recommendations are action and decision oriented and supported by the submission’s analysis.

Coordination comments on draft submissions

44. Interested departments and agencies must be given the opportunity to provide a formal comment on the submission after it has been approved by the sponsoring minister.
45. These coordination comments form part of the final submission and provide a means for the Cabinet to receive the views of departments and agencies on proposals and the existence and depth of disagreement between departments. This is an important forum for departments to bring issues about adequacy and quality of implementation planning to the attention of the Cabinet.
46. Coordination comments are the impartial advice of Australian Public Service agencies to the Cabinet as a whole. They are not cleared by ministers or ministerial advisers. Any variation to these arrangements would compromise the independence of coordination comments.
47. Coordination comments should be no longer than half a page. They must only raise matters requiring consideration and agreement of ministers. This includes comments about the adequacy and quality of implementation planning. Disagreements between departments over procedural or technical matters that do not have a substantial bearing on the proposal should be handled between departments prior to the submission being considered by the Cabinet (generally, such issues should be resolved during circulation of the exposure drafts).
48. Coordination comments also provide an indication of the adequacy of the consultation undertaken during the development of the submission.
49. The Cabinet Division will not release submissions to ministers until coordination comments have been received from all of the consulted departments. Submissions therefore need to be circulated 48 hours prior to the submission being released to ministers, that is, five days before the Cabinet meeting, to allow adequate time for departments to provide coordination comments. Prompt provision of coordination comments by departments is also critical to ensuring that ministers receive submissions in a timely fashion.

Submission circulation and lodgement deadlines

50. The Cabinet Secretary advises the Prime Minister on the agenda items for meetings of the Cabinet and Cabinet Committees using forward programs maintained by the Cabinet Division (see Annex B – Managing the Cabinet business). Each department’s Cabinet Liaison Officer (CLO) holds copies of the Cabinet forward program schedule for their department’s items and associated lodgement deadlines.
51. The Cabinet submission deadlines are determined by the need to provide time for both ministers and departments to consider proposals. Understanding these timeframes is particularly important if a Cabinet decision is required by a specific date or within a set timeframe.
52. Deadlines for submissions which would be processed via the ‘10 Day Rule’ (see Annex E – Ten day rule procedures and processes) require 10 working days to have elapsed between lodgement and possible endorsement by the Cabinet.

Late submissions

53. In cases where it is absolutely necessary to do so and for matters which are genuinely urgent, unforeseen and unavoidable, ministers may seek the Cabinet Secretary’s agreement to waiving the three day requirement between lodgement and consideration. Requests to the Cabinet Secretary for items to breach the three day rule will not be agreed other than in the most urgent cases where the need for earlier consideration is clear and inescapable. The urgency should not result from delays and inadequate planning in ministers’ departments or offices.
54. Authoring departments are responsible for ensuring the deadlines for exposure drafts and coordination drafts are met.
55. Even where all deadlines are met, submissions may not be listed for consideration. It is for the Cabinet Secretary to determine what business will be dealt with at particular meetings of the Cabinet and Cabinet Committees. Considerations such as availability of particular ministers and pressure of other Cabinet business (for example, during the Budget process) may affect the timing of Cabinet or Cabinet Committee consideration of particular submissions. CLOs can seek advice from Cabinet Division on the scheduling of matters relevant to their portfolio.

Proposals involving administrative law

56. Administrative law is the body of law regulating government decision‐making. It is an accountability mechanism that generally applies to government decision‐making about individual matters, rather than broad policy decisions. The administrative law system includes primary       
    decision‐making by ministers and public servants, merits review of primary decisions, review and investigation by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and judicial review by federal courts. The Attorney‐General has responsibility for all of these matters with the exception of the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Administrative law principles in relation to review of decisions and the accountability of the executive government should apply consistently across all government decision‐making schemes. More information about administrative law policy can be found in the Administrative Law Policy Guide.
57. In order to ensure that administrative law considerations are taken into account in the development of all relevant government programs and policies, agencies drafting Cabinet submissions relating to decision‐making and regulation should consult the Attorney‐General’s Department (AGD). In particular, agencies should consult with the AGD in relation to all proposals:
    1. involving decision‐making by ministers or public servants
    2. to confer jurisdiction on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
    3. to establish a new tribunal or merits review body
    4. to set up a new regulatory body
    5. involving national regulatory schemes.

Submissions containing legislation proposals

58. Procedures for the preparation and handling of legislation proposals in submissions are detailed in the Legislation Handbook.

Cabinet Submission Timeline

Short Notice Submission Timeline