Executive summary

The establishment of National Cabinet, and subsequent ceasing of COAG, has provided a unique opportunity to reconsider and reset Australia’s intergovernmental architecture. COAG was a slow, bottom-up framework for intergovernmental cooperation that too often resulted in lowest common denominator outcomes. National Cabinet, in contrast, deals with issues quickly, based on advice from experts, with leaders dictating the priorities and parameters for their governments to implement.

Overview

Review purpose: to rationalise and reset the structure and work programs of the former COAG Councils and Ministerial Forums to better align the work of new Ministerial Forums with the revised federal relations architecture overseen by the National Cabinet and the National Federation Reform Council.

The Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) has referred this matter to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for investigation into how these documents left the Commonwealth's possession. The Secretary has confirmed that it is reasonably evident that the documents came from within PM&C.

Purpose

These rules have been developed to:

• ensure staff are aware of PM&C’s legal obligations under the FOI Act
• set out the structure of FOI processing at PM&C, and
• provide guidance for line area staff who are involved in the processing of an FOI request.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is proud to release and implement it’s First Nations Action Plan: Culture, Career, Capability.

The Action Plan is in response to the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy 2020-2024, released by the Australian Public Service Commission in July 2020.

The Strategy represents the Commonwealth’s continued contribution, as an employer, to the ‘Closing the Gap’ agenda.