Alex Somlyay (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to speak on the Archives Amendment Bill 2008 today. The reason for that is that I have served on the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council for 12 years, which I think is a record for anybody serving on the advisory council. Throughout the Howard government years, I was the parliamentary representative from the House of Representatives. My counterpart from the then opposition was Senator John Faulkner, who is now the Special Minister of State, the minister who has responsibility for the Archives and for carriage of this bill. I know, from serving on the advisory council with him for 11 years, that he is a great advocate for the Australian National Archives. His love of things historical and his knowledge of the political history of Australia are second to none.

This bill was actually drafted during the previous government and, due to legislative pressures, unfortunately did not pass through both houses. I had many occasions to speak to the minister responsible at the time, Senator Rod Kemp, while endeavouring to have the bill passed by the parliament, but unfortunately the government would not give the bill precedence in the busy program it had. But I would really like to pay tribute to Senator Faulkner for bringing the bill to this place.

I have a long history in the Canberra workforce. I first came here as a 17-year-old, with the intention of going to the ANU. I worked in the Commonwealth Public Service in my 20s and 30s and entered parliament in my 40s. I was here in my 50s and I am still here in my 60s, so I have a long association with Canberra. I hate to admit that! I have been part of a lot of radical changes in the workplace, from the old days of typing pools, central registries—each department had a registry—carbon copies and stencils to the evolution of photocopiers, laser printers, personal computers and emails. The role of the Archives throughout that period has changed with technological change. Technologies are vastly different now from what they were 25 years ago, and I am sure they are very different from what they will be in 25 years time. When I worked in the Commonwealth department of health, the computer used in the department filled a whole floor of a building over in Woden. Today, my mobile phone has twice the capacity of that large, cumbersome computer.

Twenty-five years ago when the Archives Bill was first presented there was no provision in the drafting process to include an objects clause. This bill is now able to include an objects clause and therefore confirm the role of the National Archives of Australia.

Retrieval of information is part of our busy lives. With internet technology in our lounge rooms we can Google any time we want. Surfing the net is old school and instead the many clips on YouTube or the latest news via the news agency web pages ensure we have the latest news and information at our fingertips. With the overload of information and ability to communicate with fellow humans across the world at the press of the button it is even more important to ensure we have an avenue to ensure our living history is in the care of the Archives.

One of the major amendments in this bill, as outlined by the parliamentary secretary, is the recognition that there are times that archival records should be retained by their agency of origin, or in some other appropriate place. Therefore, references to ‘in the custody of’ in the bill have been replaced with ‘in the care of’. For instance, information kept by the weather bureau would be more appropriately stored within that department. This is important as specialist skills may be required to retrieve, interpret or manage the data.

This bill also allows for new technologies, as I have said before, to ensure the definition of ‘record’ is more open. The term ‘record’ was defined very specifically in the original act. Technology has made such a remarkable difference to our lives and this has also impacted on the collection and storage of documents. Digital technology was outside any boundaries previously considered. Records were thought to be paper, microfiche and then magnetic tapes. It was therefore important to make the term ‘record’ able to encompass future technologies.

This bill also formalises the process for identifying the archival resources of the Commonwealth, currently undertaken within the destruction and disposal provisions. It also allows the Director-General to identify and determine conservation requirements before records begin to deteriorate. This is especially important for electronic records—just ask any family that has precious family videos on beta tapes!

During the Howard government I was at one stage chair of the Privileges Committee and I saw firsthand the importance of historians having access to documents of significant events in our Westminster system. One of the most important achievements through my chairmanship of that committee was the release of the Browne and Fitzpatrick papers enabling them to be tabled in federal parliament and made available in the archives. These papers were previously hidden from historians. The release of these papers gives us rare understanding of the reasons behind the decision by our federal parliament to jail two people found in contempt by the parliament. That information was not available to the public until it was released a number of years ago.

It is important that our history be available to historians, researchers and those simply interested in the reasons behind many of the events that shape our lives. When two public servants in a department can exchange many emails in a day, when they sit at a desk next to each other, it is important our systems can be flexible enough to cope with today’s technology and make decisions as to what has to be kept and what does not. The minister noted in his tabling speech that the changes in this bill, while relatively minor, are an important step towards improving government recordkeeping and public access arrangements. It is important that we have these arrangements. We need to ensure our archives keep up with the changing pace of new and emerging technology.

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Director-General, Ross Gibbs, and his dedicated team of archivists in Canberra and capital cities across Australia and commend them for their work. Their passion and ability will be of great benefit to future generations of Australians. I would encourage my fellow members of parliament to pay attention to the work of the Archives. We often receive notification of events that are happening there, part of the contribution the Archives make to preserving the history of this country, of which we all form a part. I implore you to get involved in the activities of the Archives. To my fellow councillors on the Archives council: thank you for your passion in assisting the work of the National Archives. I commend the bill to the House.

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