ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief account of the process by which the guidelines became public documents as a prelude to asking whether these developments have had an impact on the way political life is organized and run. It argues that the growing bureaucratisation of cabinet and ministerial codes, public accessibility to them and the public debate which occurs when they are, or appear to be, breached has changed the dynamic of public scrutiny of ministers. In 1969 following the general election, the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet wrote to the ministers after the first cabinet meeting. By 1981 the rules had been codiFied into a loose-leafed folder that provided more detail about the way that cabinet was meant to work. The publications provided yet more detail on the way cabinet business should be undertaken, designed of course for the requirements of the Labor government then in power.
