1986 Cabinet Minutes reveal a year of change and chaos

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch today released the 1986 Queensland Cabinet Minutes, revealing a year of significant change and chaos.

On 1 January each year, Queensland State Archives release the Cabinet Minutes from a 30-year embargo.

“The release of Cabinet Minutes is always a fascinating opportunity to look back on Cabinet deliberations, and 1986 was particularly interesting,” Ms Enoch said

“The Cabinet Minutes show an incredible workload as Cabinet deliberated over 2526 submissions and made 2638 decisions over the course of the year,” Ms Enoch said.

“Cabinet was very busy, with over 50 submissions considered weekly.

“However, cabinet processes were often chaotic – ministers didn’t see all submissions and often weren’t briefed by their departments.

“The Premier also often made oral submissions at the end of meetings, avoiding the need for paperwork.

“The minutes from 1986 reveal a National Party at the height of their power and influence, but the first cracks of disunity that would eventually lead to Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen stepping down were just starting to appear.

“Nobody could have predicted that when the National Party won their way back into power in their own right in November, but earlier decisions would come back to haunt Sir Joh.

“Chief among those decisions was the Premier’s support of Mainsel’s $300 million bid over the $95 million bid from Seymour Developments.

“While the majority of 1986 Cabinet decisions were about development, agriculture and mining, the proposal to build the world’s tallest building in the CBD would prove to be the most controversial and, ultimately, costly.”

The State Budget was under immense pressure, interest rates were at a staggering 20 per cent and unemployment rates across Queensland were high.

“While the Cabinet maintained a narrow focus on supporting traditional industries, there was one person who recognised that diversifying the economy to support new and emerging industries would put Queensland at the forefront in global markets,” Ms Enoch said.

“Then Minister for Industry, Small Business and Technology, Mike Ahern – who would later become Premier – pushed hard to expand Queensland’s economic base and modernise the state, but his proposals to Cabinet failed to gain much traction.

“It would take subsequent Labor Governments of Peter Beattie and Annastacia Palaszczuk to invest in Queensland’s knowledge economy to keep the state globally competitive.”

One important social reform was approved by Cabinet during 1986, but it would not come without cost to the people the policy was intended to support.

“Nearly 20 years after gaining the right to vote, Aboriginal workers in the Department of Community Services were still paid less than the relevant industrial award,” Ms Enoch said.

“The Minister for Northern Development and Community Services, Bob Katter, fought hard for equal pay, calling the situation as it stood as legally untenable.

“In March, the Department advised Mr Katter that it couldn’t pay the award wages because it would cost $10 million and jobs would be cut.

“While Mr Katter would eventually win the argument for equal pay in Cabinet, no extra funds were approved, the award wages were paid through existing funds and jobs were, indeed, lost.

The 1986 Cabinet Minutes will be available to the public at Queensland State Archives at Runcorn from Tuesday 3 January 2017, and on the State Archives website www.archives.qld.gov.au from Saturday 1 January 2017.

Media contact: Daniel Lato 0438 830 201