7. National Archives of Australia and National Security Committee of Cabinet

Legislative requirements under the Archives Act

Under the Archives Act, the NAA is responsible for identifying, preserving and making publicly available the archival resources of the Commonwealth.

Section 29 of the Archives Act, allows for a Commonwealth institution, with the agreement of the Director-General of the NAA, to determine that a record is exempt from transfer requirements under section 27 of the Archives Act.²⁷ The NAA is not aware of any section 29 determination that has been made in relation to NSC records. However, in a scenario where a department or agency and the NAA had conflicting views on a section 29 determination it is difficult to see how the Director-General could avoid involvement.
At present, were such circumstances to arise, the Director-General would be unable to sight the material himself and would need to rely entirely on the advice of his officers who had the appropriate security clearances. We question whether such an arrangement would be considered credible in the event of the matter becoming public, leading to intense media and political scrutiny.

On 1 January each year, as part of the annual Cabinet release, the NAA proactively releases approximately 250 Cabinet records from 20 years prior. This is not a legislated requirement, but an initiative by the NAA to promote public and media awareness of the role of the NAA and interest in the historical record of the nation’s most significant government decision-making body.
A selection of journalists and the Cabinet historian select the records for release in advance, allowing time for description, examination and digitisation to be completed. Only records submitted to full Cabinet are part of the proactive release process.
An embargoed media event takes place 4 weeks before the open access period, providing journalists early access to the records.
The NAA advised the proactive release initiative commenced in the mid‑1980s. It was not intended to cover all Cabinet records or the records of Cabinet committees.

Since the commencement of the public release scheme, no adjustments have been made to the principles that underpin the NAA’s release scheme. This includes no adjustments to reflect the fact that the NSC, established in 1996 by the Howard Government, is a decision-making body which does not normally have its decisions endorsed by the full Cabinet.
It is, of course, a matter for the NAA to determine how it conducts its annual release program, which has been highly successful. However, given that the NSC is a full decision making committee of the Cabinet, we think there is a certain logic in including NSC records as part of the annual release initiative, noting that more of its records than those of the full Cabinet may remain closed for security reasons.

The NAA advised that while most NSC records are not currently included in the annual Cabinet release project, this does not prevent public access. Any records not proactively released can still be accessed on application, including any NSC records that reach the open access period. In addition, records not yet in the NAA’s custody can still be accessed through application to the NAA.²⁸ The Review notes that this is subject to the NAA holding the necessary metadata for the public to discern what material exists. Access is also dependent on the NSC records not being subject to a section 33 exemption.

See also other exemptions: Archives Act 1983 (Cth) ss 29(1)(b). Return to footnote 27 ↩
Archives Act 1983 (Cth) s 40.Return to footnote 28 ↩