The release of the 1998-99 cabinet papers by the National Archives of Australia has revealed that in 1999 the Howard government was deep into developing a contingency plan in fear of what the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug, which ended up not being bad as predicted, would do to computer systems worldwide when the date ticked over from 31 December 1999 to 1 January 2000. In a submission made to cabinet in March 1999, then Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Trade Minister Tim Fischer warned of how Y2K was going to have global disruptions in “banking, finance, transportation, communications, manufacturing, energy, water and sewerage, health facilities, emergency supplies, and food supply”.

Read full article on ZDNet