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

CABNET by an authoring department to the minister sponsoring the submission. In no other
circumstances are submissions to be circulated unless they are locked down and distributed via the
CABNET network.
9. The CABNET network is security rated to the Secret level and provides a means of circulating
classified documents and messages between departments and agencies. Only officers with Secret or Top
Secret security clearances are permitted to access the CABNET database. As well as access restrictions
(including biometric identification of users), there are additional document security measures.
10. Cabinet documents, including drafts, must be circulated strictly in accordance with the ‘need-toknow’
principle. The circulation of documents must be no wider than is required for the proper and
efficient conduct of the business at hand. It must be restricted to those officials who have a role in
contributing to the issues in the document and who hold an appropriate security clearance.
Departmental officials are not entitled to access merely because it would be convenient for them to
know or by virtue of their status or level of authorised access.
11. Information and details on the handling of Cabinet documents is also provided in the Protective
Security Policy Framework (PSPF) and further information on security matters can be sought from
departmental security advisers.
12. If you become aware of the circulation of a submission by any means other than as a locked down
version on the CABNET network, the Cabinet Secretariat should be notified as soon as possible. The
Cabinet Secretariat will identify any possible breach of Cabinet document protocols and contact the
relevant department’s security adviser.
Hardcopy attachments to Cabinet submissions
13. In the event that an attachment to a submission has been prepared in a format that is
incompatible with CABNET and cannot be locked down, the authoring department must provide a
hardcopy of the attachment to each department preparing exposure draft comments and coordination
comments. Drafters are asked to limit use of hardcopy attachments to instances when they are
absolutely necessary.
14. Hardcopy attachments are to be prepared and handled as follows:
(a) submission number and attachment reference clearly identified on the front page;
(b) all pages to be classified appropriately;
(c) the attachment should be bound or stapled, and numbered so that each copy of the attachment
has a unique number; and
(d) the hardcopies are to be delivered by safe-hand delivery with a record of distribution (that is, to
whom each copy number was assigned).
15. It is the responsibility of the sponsoring department to deliver hardcopy attachments to relevant
departments at the exposure draft and draft stages of the submission. At the draft stage of the
submission the sponsoring department is also required to deliver 50 copies of the attachment to the
Cabinet Secretariat. The Cabinet Secretariat will deliver these copies to ministers’ offices to accompany
the final version of the submission.
Custody of Cabinet documents
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