4.2 Cabinet Timetable
The Premier and Cabinet requires that the Cabinet Secretary maintain an ongoing whole of government Cabinet timetable which indicates proposed Cabinet business for all portfolios for the next six month period. This timetable is an aggregation of individual timetables lodged by portfolios, and is used as a primary tool in the coordination of government policy, programming the passage of legislation through the Legislative Assembly, and in the general management of the flow of Cabinet business.
Ministers, through their CLLO, are required to maintain accurate timetables for their proposed Cabinet business for the next six month period, and to ensure this information is accessible to the Cabinet Secretary via the Cabinet Information System. It is the Premier's expectation that timetable information recorded on the system is current at all times.
Each CLLO is to ensure that all Cabinet timetable information made available to the Cabinet Secretary in relation to their portfolio or department has first been authorised by their Minister.
Care is to be taken to ensure that proposed Cabinet dates for consideration of submissions are realistic and take into account impacting timeframes and processes such as:
- policy development processes as prescribed in the Queensland Policy Handbook;
- intra-government and external consultation requirements;
- lodgement timeframes and processes of Cabinet submissions as prescribed in the Queensland Cabinet Handbook;
- legislation drafting processes as prescribed in the Queensland Legislation Handbook; and
- legislation scheduling in the Legislative Assembly coordinated by the Leader of the House.
Nomination of unrealistic timeframes will engender false expectations of delivery within the whole of government Cabinet timetable used by the Premier, with flow-on impacts on policy coordination activities, Cabinet business list setting and Cabinet business workflow decision-making, and legislation scheduling. Given the pre-eminence of Cabinet's decision-making role, close attention to Cabinet business planning is necessary to allow the proper scheduling of government business.
The Cabinet Secretary will monitor Cabinet timetables and contact CLLOs where discrepancies in information become apparent.