2001:When Australia went to the polls on November 10,the Howard government was comfortably returned.Credit:Paul Harris
Due to its sensitive nature,the deliberations and the briefing papers brought to it are heavily classified.
But 20 years after the debates and soul-searching,those documents are released by the National Archives to historians and the public who can glean how these important decisions were made.
To help tell the full picture of the documents,the Archives give to journalists - who are sworn to secrecy - early access to the papers plus the chance to talk to a minister from the year covered by the documents. Details of what is in those documents are embargoed until January 1.
I’ve been covering the release of cabinet papers since 2005 and during that time I’ve been surprised by some of the gems tucked away in the submissions and briefing notes.
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The papers of 1976 included revelations of a plan to assassinate future prime minister Bob Hawke and key members of Australia’s Jewish community. Papers from late 1989 revealed concerns that Australia’s embassy in Russia had been bugged,possibly by a bribed Australian diplomat or a Soviet agent who had managed to sneak into the building. The bug may have been in the embassy since 1983 with a van outside the chancery “probably containing VHF intercept equipment” as recently as November 1988. In 1995,the then Keating government was warned a debate about an Australian republic could lead to a rise of right-wing militias,with south-east Queensland a particular concern for the creation of “violent opposition”. At the same time,a review of national security laws considered whether it was time to create a separate law of “killing the Sovereign”.
It’s not just the cabinet papers. The cabinet notebooks - handwritten recordings of the debate going on inside the cabinet - are released 30 years after their creation. I had the cabinet book of 1963 at the time of the assassination of US President Kennedy made public,and it showed debate by the then Menzies cabinet on whether it would be a good time to make trade gains at America’s expense.