Media release
Thursday July 2, 1998
Urgent action needed to safeguard Australia's archives, ALRC warns
Australia's archives authority would take its rightful place alongside other major Commonwealth cultural institutions under a blueprint outlined by the Australian Law Reform Commission.
In an important report tabled in federal parliament, the ALRC has revealed the parlous state of recordkeeping in many Commonwealth agencies that can only be overcome if the National Archives of Australia (NAA) is allowed to adopt a pro-active policy stance.
The report Australia's Federal Record: A review of the Archives Act 1983 - tabled in federal parliament by Attorney-General Daryl Williams - is the result of extensive community consultation during a two year inquiry by the ALRC.
Commission President Alan Rose said that, without doubt, the major weakness of the present Archives Act was its failure to treat recordkeeping as a single continuum that needs to be managed in an integrated way, from the creation of records to the point of disposal.
"Our review found mediocre and fragmented recordkeeping is so widespread within the federal administration that its failures are now accepted with a degree of fatalism.
Mr Rose said new electronic technologies offer almost limitless possibilities for handling information, if they are planned and managed adequately.
"But if recordkeeping is allowed to drift uncertainly between electronic and paper systems, which may or may not duplicate each other, there will be serious consequences," he said.
Mr Rose said the report outlined a new structure and role for the NAA, which would be replaced by a statutory authority bearing the same name, but having a much greater degree of independence.
"National Archives should have a higher public profile and play a pivotal role in providing a consistent, clearly articulated strategy for the management of Commonwealth records. It must be allowed to take its rightful place alongside other major Commonwealth cultural institutions such as the National Library of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia."
The Commission has recommended the Archives Act 1983 be replaced by a new Archives and Records Act, which would allow the NAA to issue mandatory recordkeeping standards to be implemented by Commonwealth agencies.
Mr Rose said the report recommended a strengthening of the public access provisions of the legislation and would require agencies to put in place programs to ensure the earliest possible release of non-sensitive government records, regardless of age.
Present arrangements which allow open access to most archives after 30 years should be retained, but the Commission has recommended the number of exempt categories to the 30-year rule be reduced from 15 to nine. An additional category relating to information whose disclosure is restricted under the customary law of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders should be included.
(Editors note: Australian Archives was renamed the National Archives of Australia in February this year, but the name change was of an administrative rather than legislative character.)