The 1980 Cabinet Papers of the Fraser Government have been released by the National Archives of Australia.
The Liberal/National Party coalition government was in its fifth year in office. It won its third and final election on October 18.
The Cabinet papers are released under the 30-year-rule. This has now been reduced to 20 years, to be phased in over the next ten years with two years of documents to be released each year. Because of the workload involved in the releases, Cabinet documents from 1981 will be released periodically during 2011.
An embargoed media briefing was held in early December.
- Listen to the preliminary comments (12m)
Jim Stokes, from the National Archives, talks about 1980 and the release of Cabinet papers under the 30-year rule.
- Listen to Stokes (21m)
- Transcript of Stokes’s remarks
Journalist Paul Kelly gives his views on the significance of events in 1980.
- Listen to Kelly (24m)
- Transcript of Kelly’s comments.
Kelly and Stokes take questions from the media about the 1980 Cabinet Papers.
- Listen to the Q & A session (17m)
- The 1980 Cabinet Papers – National Archives
- 1980 Photograph Collection – National Archives
