About Cabinet and Executive Council

The Northern Territory Cabinet consists of those elected members of the Legislative Assembly who have been appointed as Ministers by the Northern Territory Administrator.

The Cabinet generally meets on a weekly basis to make decisions on matters such as major policy issues, proposals with significant expenditure or employment implications, matters which involve important initiatives or departures from previous arrangements, proposals with implications for Australian, state and local government relations, legislation, and high level government appointments.

Cabinet Submissions

Most business comes before Cabinet by way of formal Cabinet submissions, each of which is allocated a consecutive number.  Cabinet submissions generally follow a set format.  This includes a cover sheet which provides a brief details of the submission (e.g. title, purpose, sponsoring Minister, relationship of the proposal to existing policy, timing considerations, staffing implications, costs) followed by the body of the submission which includes recommendations, background materials, options, budget implications, timing issues and other key topics.  There may also be attachments to the submission. Submissions are usually prepared by Government agencies at the direction of, or with the agreement of, the Minister responsible for that agency.  Submissions may also include comments from other Northern Territory Government agencies which were consulted during the development of the submission.

Cabinet Decisions

Each decision made by Cabinet is formally recorded in a separate document known as a Cabinet decision.  Like Cabinet submissions, each Cabinet decision is given its own consecutive number. Most Cabinet decisions will have a corresponding Cabinet submission, but Cabinet may also issue a Cabinet decision without a submission.  Note that the decision number is not the same as the corresponding submission number (apart from a small number of very early submissions and decisions in a new government's term each when the numbers may coincidentally align).

Other Cabinet Papers

Ministers may from time to time present memoranda to Cabinet, or table a document at a Cabinet meeting.  These documents will generally be incorporated in the formal records of the Cabinet meeting.  Such documents will usually result in a Cabinet decision, but not in every case.