Summary of activities

Meetings

The Council met on four occasions this year, as follows:

• 17 August 2001, Canberra
• 30 November 2001, Canberra
• 22 February 2002, Canberra
• 31 May 2002, Canberra

Statements required under the Act

The Archives Act requires the Minister and the Archives to place certain materials before the Council that specifically relate to disposal practices and special access matters.

National Archives records disposal practices

The Council received no statutory reports under subsection 25(1) of the Act.

Although no statutory reports under subsection 25(1) of the Act were received, the Council has continued to take a great interest in the disposal practices of the National Archives. The principal issue engaging the Council's attention has been the most effective method of consulting the community about appraisal decision-making in the interests of producing better appraisal outcomes. The Council took a keen interest in the stakeholder consultation process developed by the Archives and the Australian Historical Association and in the subsequent trial of the process. This led to the articulation of objectives and principles for community consultation, which were discussed and endorsed by the Council.

In the course of the reporting year the Council was briefed about the number and range of Commonwealth agencies working with the Archives on Designing and Implementing Recordkeeping Systems (DIRKS) projects.

Special access to official records

Under subsection 56(2) of the Archives Act 1983, access may be granted to official records under the 30-year age threshold. Application is made directly to agencies responsible for controlling the relevant records. Deciding whether to grant access is the responsibility of the agency. Special arrangements have been in place since 1988 to assist agencies in this decision-making. At each meeting Council members noted reports prepared by the Archives on requests and decisions relating to access requested under section 56(2) of the Act.

Five applications were received by agencies in the reporting period 2001–02, four of which were granted by the agencies concerned.

There were no access applications under consideration at the beginning of the reporting period, and there was one case still under consideration at the end of the reporting period.