David Hamill discusses the benefits of having an Opposition who have served as cabinet ministers. He outlines the role of the Opposition in closely monitoring the spending by the government.
Wayne Goss discusses the organisation of the shadow cabinet and cabinet, and the strategy behind key ministerial appointments like Education as well as Police and Corrections.
Russell Cooper discusses the increased workload of being premier and how to manage political and personal life. In his opinion making full use of the cabinet is important.
Ruth Matchett discusses the importance of her department area within cabinet, and states that the role of economic development is to enhance the quality of life of the state's citizens with a network of effective social services. She describes the difficulties in securing adequate resourcing. She states that a major change was that the Labor government took up Commonwealth funds unlike the previous coalition government.
Ruth Matchett discusses significant changes to the cabinet processes. Previously there had been no pre-circulation of cabinet submissions to government agencies or even an agenda for cabinet meetings. Cabinet processes became more systematic and thorough and implications of policies were discussed and considered. The Cabinet Secretariat was established with Stewart Tate as the first Cabinet Secretary. The Office of Cabinet, established in 1992, had a greater role in developing policy.
