Cabinet Handbook - The Department of the Prime Minister and ...

47. 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.
48. 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.
49. 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).
50. Coordination comments also provide an indication of the adequacy of the consultation
undertaken during the development of the submission.
51. The Cabinet Secretariat will not release submissions to ministers until coordination comments
have been received from all of the relevant departments. Submissions therefore need to be circulated
with adequate time for departments to provide coordination comments, that is, 48 hours before the
submission is to be released to Ministers. 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
52. The Cabinet Secretary advises the Prime Minister on the business list items for meetings of the
Cabinet and Cabinet committees using forward programs maintained by the Cabinet Secretariat (see
Annex B – Managing the Cabinet business). Each department’s Cabinet Liaison Officer (CLO) holds copies
of the Cabinet forward program schedule and associated lodgement deadlines.
53. 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.
54. Deadlines for submissions which would be processed via the ’10 Day Rule’ (see Annex F – Ten day
rule procedures and processes) require 10 working days to have elapsed between lodgement and
possible endorsement by the Cabinet.
Late submissions
55. 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 five
day requirement between lodgement and consideration. Requests to the Cabinet Secretary for items to
breach the five 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.
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