Overview
- The National Archives published 2005 cabinet records that confirm a July decision to deploy about 150 SAS special forces to Afghanistan for a planned 12‑month tour, presented as counter‑terrorism and alliance maintenance.
- Departmental briefs on the Howard government’s WorkChoices reforms reveal internal concern about likely industrial disputation and impacts on farm labour attraction, even as finance officials backed a unified workplace system.
- After the London bombings, the national security committee examined a national ID card but did not proceed, and ministers developed a community‑focused plan addressing young Muslims’ sense of exclusion with a later social cohesion plan agreed following the Cronulla riots.
- Cabinet accepted findings of systemic immigration failures that led to Australian citizen Cornelia Rau being unlawfully detained for 10 months.
- Other disclosures include a sealed note on a southern Philippines counter‑terrorism initiative, US‑influenced wording on Pine Gap, major tsunami recovery aid alongside concerns about warning systems, and early pandemic‑response planning.