All Cabinet and Cabinet committee papers with a security classification of In Confidence, Sensitive or Restricted must be lodged in CabNet, once the owning Minister has given their approval. Cabinet papers should be lodged in CabNet by 10am on the Thursday before the meeting it is intended to be considered at.
CabNet requires users to nominate the type of paper being uploaded at the start of the upload process. The three types are:
- general papers - policy, legislative, and any other proposals that are not Ministerial travel or appointment-related
- travel papers - proposed Ministerial overseas travel papers and reports on Ministerial overseas travel
- appointment papers - proposed appointments.
Papers with the endorsements of Budget, Staff, Legally Privileged or Commercial can be uploaded into CabNet (follow this link for more information on security classifications and endorsements). Do not upload papers with a Confidential, Secret or Top Secret Classification, or with a New Zealand Eyes Only or Special Handling Required endorsement. These are highly classified papers, and are handled off-line only. Follow this link for more information about the lodgement of highly classified papers, and contact the Cabinet Office if you have a paper that has a Confidential or higher classification or one of the endorsements mentioned above.
Who can upload Cabinet papers#
Two different groups of users can upload papers into CabNet once a Minister has approved it for lodgement:
- officials from government agencies can upload final drafts of Cabinet papers, which are then lodged by Ministers' offices. The agency uploads the paper, related attachments, and inputs basic metadata related to the paper, such as the agencies consulted during the paper’s development. Ministers' offices then confirm the information entered by the agency, add additional information such as the Ministers that were consulted, and lodge the paper with the Minister's approval. Follow this link for advice on how to upload a final draft
- Ministers' office staff can either:
- lodge a final draft that has been uploaded by an agency or upload a final draft themselves and then lodge it (two-step processes), or
- skip straight to lodgement (a one-step process).
Follow this link for information on how to upload and lodge Cabinet papers.
What can be uploaded into CabNet#
Uploaded Cabinet papers should be in Microsoft Word format, and attachments should be in PDF format. Powerpoint files can also be uploaded if required.
The file types that can be uploaded into CabNet are:
- Word 2003 .doc
- Word 2007-2013 .docx
- Powerpoint 2003 .ppt
- Powerpoint 2007-2013 .pptx
- PDF document .pdf
If the source file is not Word or PowerPoint it should be converted into a PDF for uploading.
Documents over 10MB cannot be uploaded into CabNet. This size limit avoids large files failing to display in the system, or problems with the overall operation of the system.
If an individual document intended for upload is over 5MB, consider using image-compressing functionality. For further advice on reducing file sizes for individual documents contact IT support within your agency.
Note that there is no need to upload electronic copies of legislation or regulations drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office. This information is uploaded by the Cabinet Office.
When should Cabinet papers be uploaded into CabNet#
Final versions of Cabinet papers can be uploaded into CabNet once they have been approved by the owning Minister (or Ministers, where more than one Minister is submitting the paper for consideration).
Agencies can upload final draft papers with the approval of the owning Ministers’ office. The Minister’s office can then lodge the paper with the approval of the Minister. Follow this link for guidance on Ministerial approval of final draft papers.
The presence of a paper in CabNet with a ‘Lodged’ status is confirmation that the Minister has approved it for lodgement - separate confirmation of approval is not required, and the uploaded paper should not include a Minister’s electronic signature.
If your Minister wants to upload a paper after the 10am Thursday deadline, then you must contact the Cabinet Office.