Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I make a ministerial statement on ensuring access to the National Archives of Australia. The Rudd Labor government is committed to assisting individuals in their search for information about themselves, their families and their country. The vast holdings of the National Archives of Australia provide a rich resource for academics, researchers and other interested groups, whether they are searching for information on the dramatic events that shaped our nation’s history or the decisions that touched individual lives. Each family’s history forms part of the fabric of our national story. That is why the National Archives is today hosting Shake Your Family Tree Day to encourage more Australians to see what information they can unearth about their own family.

Today I can announce that the government has responded to community concerns about the closure of the National Archives of Australia’s Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart offices and will guarantee that a physical National Archives presence will be maintained in every state and territory. The stand-alone National Archives offices in Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart will remain open in each instance until a permanent solution involving co-location with a local organisation has been found.

This solution aims to remove the operational inefficiencies inherent in running stand-alone offices of the National Archives in each jurisdiction. It will also reflect the changing reality, which is that people overwhelmingly access records online today, while ensuring a National Archives presence in every jurisdiction and maintaining local access to the services provided by the National Archives.

The November 2009 decision to close these National Archives offices was a fiscally responsible decision. The offices in Hobart, Adelaide and Darwin are the National Archives’ smallest offices, with the lowest visitor numbers. Each of these offices costs over $800,000 per year to operate, with the Darwin office costing around $1 million. Yet visitor numbers to these offices are low: in 2008-09 they totalled just 337 in Darwin, 720 in Adelaide and 635 in Hobart, compared with 22,290 nationally. This equates to an average cost to the Australian taxpayer of over $1,000 to $3,000 per visit—a cost which is simply unsustainable in today’s fiscal environment.

I do understand the importance of maintaining a National Archives presence at a state and territory level—after all, that is where Australia’s history emerged. The Rudd government has listened to the concerns of the local community, academics, researchers and other interested groups over the proposed closure of National Archives offices. I seek leave to incorporate the remainder of the statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The remainder of the statement read as follows—

I would like to acknowledge the work done by my colleagues including the Member for Solomon, Damian Hale, the Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, Senator Trish Crossin, the Member for Lyons, Dick Adams, the Member for Hindmarsh, Steve Georganas, the Member for Franklin, Julie Collins, the Member for Port Adelaide, Mark Butler, and the Minister for Sport and Youth, Kate Ellis, in representing constituents’ concerns over the closures. I also acknowledge the work of all of the individuals and members of historians’ and archivists’ societies who have highlighted the significance of the local offices of the National Archives, and I thank them for their contribution. I also recognise the petition on the office closures tabled in the House of Representatives earlier this month by Julia Irwin, the Member for Fowler.

National Archives repositories around the country hold many records containing important information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their history. I would like to particularly emphasise the fact that the Government will not change existing access arrangements for records relating to the separation policies imposed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; these access arrangements were strengthened in response to the landmark 1997 Bringing Them Home report on the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

The reality is that fewer people are visiting the National Archives in person to access their records. Instead, the country has moved to an online environment: in 2008-09 more than 1.9 million records were accessed online compared to 57,000 records accessed in reading rooms nationally. Demand for online access to records is expected to continue to increase apace, and the National Archives is developing plans to provide digital access to ever more of its records, including those currently held by the National Archives in Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart.

In today’s society, we need to explore other ways of ensuring access to archives other than a fully functioning National Archives office at a cost to the taxpayer of up to $3,000 per visit. In what is a very successful partnership, the National Archives already co-locates with the state institution in Victoria. The National Archives will be required to work with local cultural heritage institutions and other organisations in pursuit of further co-located reading rooms and record storage facilities. In this way, the Government can ensure that the National Archives maintains face-to-face services in all jurisdictions, while shaping its operations in a way which will meet the needs of future generations.

The Rudd Government is committed to ensuring continued public access to records documenting Australia’s history. This is part of our broader aim of restoring trust and integrity in the use of government information through improved transparency and accountability. The Rudd Government is committed to promoting a pro-disclosure culture across government, and ensuring that Australians can realise their right to access government information.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State and Scrutiny of Government Waste) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Obviously, the coalition welcome this change, but it does come on the back of the electoral education centres issue, where the government moved to close the centres down. I just want to say a couple of things, particularly in relation to page 2 of the ministerial statement. Honestly, the nerve of the minister and the government trying to give this hotchpotch of government members any credit at all for this decision—it is complete and utter rubbish. I want to put on the record who actually was involved in this. I am talking about Senator Bernardi, Senator Birmingham, Senator Abetz, Senator Scullion and Senator Hanson-Young. They were actively involved. It had nothing to do with that ragtag of people named in the ministerial statement. Those people came in at the end of it when they realised what damage was being done. It is senators on the opposition and middle benches who actually stood up for this. They are the same people who stood up for the education offices of the Australian Electoral Commission.

Finally—because I am sure others will want to speak on this—I want to turn to page 3 of this statement. My colleagues will be fascinated to hear these words:

This is part of our broader aim of restoring trust and integrity in the use of government information through improved transparency and accountability. The Rudd Government is committed to promoting a pro-disclosure culture across government, and ensuring that Australians can realise their right to access government information.

I reckon there are a lot of people who were part of the insulation program who would like to see those words put into practice. There would be a lot of people who are wondering at this very moment why they were not told by this government what the state of play was. There will be a lot of people wondering: what is the disclosure culture of this government? It is a disclosure culture that has left a thousand people wondering whether their homes are safe. It is culture in which there is a dangerous situation for many Australians, not of their own making but due to the utter incompetence of Minister Arbib and the minister for the environment, both of whom refused to acknowledge any responsibility at all for the insulation program. This is not a pro-disclosure government. This is a government, quite frankly, that should sack at least two ministers—and, while they are at it, the minister for mates should go as well: Senator Conroy. There are a group of people responsible for saving these offices, but they are not on the Labor Party side. It is the coalition and the Greens who can take ownership of this decision.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—On the same matter, just briefly: I do tend to agree with Senator Ronaldson in that I think it is a little ironic that the government are now taking credit for the work of saving the National Archives offices around the country. It is of course because of the people in Hobart, Adelaide and Darwin who came to their elected representatives and said, ‘We need to see these offices saved,’ and it is because of the work of their senators on this side of the chamber—the opposition and the Greens, including Senator Milne and Senator Brown in Tasmania—to ensure that those people’s voices were heard. That is why those offices have been saved.

Debate interrupted.