Tropical Cyclone Winifred lashed northern Queensland, claiming three lives, Yvonne Chapman became the first woman to secure a cabinet position in the state's Parliament, a mine explosion at Moura killed 12 workers and the Roma Transit Centre opened.

And Sir Joh was at the height of his power and influence, with his Nationals securing a nine-seat majority at the election in November, the first under new boundaries and increased districts.

The Queensland State Archives releases the cabinet minutes from a 30-year embargo on January 1 each year, with the 1986 documents now available online.

The minutes reveal a frantic pace, with cabinet deliberating over 2526 submissions and making 2638 decisions during the year.

Ministers waded through about 50 submissions a week, with often trivial matters, like cars for police officers or promotions, coming up for discussion alongside bigger issues.

To put that in perspective, Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said the Palaszczuk government might consider up to 14 submissions in one week.

"The cabinet minutes show just how chaotic the decision-making processes for the government were," Ms Enoch said.

"In the days before the introduction of the cabinet handbook, there was not the administrative capacity to support the extreme workload nor was their adequate time to consider decisions in detail."

Ministers did not see all submissions, were not always briefed by their departments and the premier often made oral submissions at the end of meetings, avoiding the need for paperwork, Ms Enoch said.

A Joh for PM T-shirt worn by National Party delegate. The campaign was conceived in late 1985.

Griffith University researcher Jennifer Menzies said the trivial decisions swamped the big issues.

"I don't know if that was a way of the premier having control over the cabinet, that you were just swamped with this information and then things like the world's tallest building would slip through," she said.

In 1986, conflicts of interest did not need to be registered, allowing cabinet to freely consider issues such as the redevelopment of National Party headquarters in Spring Hill.

"What happens now in cabinet is if a submission comes up that a minister feels he or she has a conflict of interest in, they raise it in the cabinet meeting, and the cabinet secretary takes minutes so they therefore say 'Mr such-and-such left at this time for this discussion' and then they note when they come back in," Ms Menzies said.

But while most decisions were about development, agriculture and mining, the proposal to build the world's tallest building in the CBD was the most controversial.

Ms Enoch said the tipping point in 1986 to Sir Joh losing the leadership was his support of the development of the world's tallest building on the corner of Edward, Ann and Turbot streets.

"The controversial project did not have approval from Brisbane City Council and would lead to the confrontation with his cabinet that ended with him stepping down as premier," she said.

While Mainsel's $300 million bid to redevelop the Queensland Railway land with a massive tower which "exceeds any building in the southern hemisphere", was not the preferred tender according to expert evidence, it had the premier's support and won against the $95 million bid from Seymour Developments.

Sir Joh's championing of the project was a turning point, and in 1987 he sacked five ministers who refused to allow the project to go through.

"A lot of the seeds of his demise can be seen in the '86 record," Ms Menzies said.

Under Sir Joh's leadership, Queensland has been described as a "police state", and in March 1986, the deputy premier and police minister recommended the police force be increased by 359, after statistics showed "escalating criminal activity".

Infamous businessmen, such as Christopher Skase and Alan Bond, began to have a rising influence in the state.

The state budget was also under immense pressure, interest rates were at a staggering 20 per cent and unemployment rates across Queensland were high.

At the same time, Australia's AAA credit rating was downgraded to AA1, but there were no strategies considered in Queensland's cabinet to address this downturn.

There had been a freeze on the number of public service positions since 1975, which meant there had been no growth in public services.

Several departments made submissions to cabinet during the year asking for more money and positions so that services such as new hospitals could be staffed and opened. They were usually refused or asked to reapply as part of the budget process.

Coming ahead of the Fitzgerald Inquiry in 1987, the minutes show an insight into the premier's notoriously litigious attitude, as he made oral submissions in March seeking approval for the costs of some actions to be paid by the taxpayer.

"The day after cabinet agreed, the premier issued five writs for defamation at the public's expense," Ms Enoch said.

Ms Menzies said the defamation actions were about shutting down anyone who brought up issues around corruption, including the media and opposition.

"They just had the levers of power and they weren't letting go of them," she said.

Innovation, Science and Digital Economy Minister Leeanne Enoch speaks to media after releasing the cabinet minutes from 1986. Photo: Glenn Hunt

Unlike contemporary practice, the work of cabinet did not stop during the caretaker period in October 1986, and instead continued a full schedule, including considering 68 submissions at the meeting on October 27.

Bob Katter also makes an appearance, then as Aboriginal and Islander affairs minister, as he lobbied for Indigenous workers to be paid award wages.

He was told it would cost the Department of Community Services $10 million extra to pay its Indigenous workers award wages and jobs would be cut.

While Mr Katter was eventually successful, jobs were indeed lost as the wages were to be paid from existing departmental funding.

During 1986, Queensland was in frequent conflict with Bob Hawke's federal Labor government.

In a case of history repeating itself, a review into the Railway Department was on the agenda, just as it is in 2016.

The minutes show cabinet recommended reviewing progress on recommendations from a report a few years earlier, that said improvements could be made in management structure, industrial relations, manpower planning, mechanical maintenance and handling of traffic.

Planning also continued for Expo 88, with a minute from December 15 including discussion of how to use every dollar of free publicity to promote the event given the authority's limited international promotion budget.

There were also some lighter moments, as the brolga became Queensland's official bird emblem and cabinet agreed to turn out street lights for the passing of Halley's Comet.

The embargoed release of the cabinet papers in December was the last media event held in the Executive Building at 100 George Street before it was due to be demolished to make way for the Queen's Wharf development.