National Archives of Australia - Annual reports

In March 2011, the Archives issued an authority tocover the records of four land councils: NorthernLand Council, Central Land Council, Tiwi LandCouncil and Anindilyakwa Land Council. Thisrecords authority was developed in cooperationwith the land councils using the ‘cluster approach’to cover similar areas of business in multipleagencies.The Archives also developed a records authoritytemplate for use by Australian Governmenttribunals or agencies with responsibility for theoperation of tribunals. These agencies haveresponded positively to the efficiencies that thistemplate offers.Following the High Court’s decision in Cornwellv The Commonwealth of Australia (2005) andsubsequent appeals, the Archives issued a disposalfreeze to prevent destruction of selected personnel,superannuation, workplace and policy records.These records could be required to ensure therights and entitlements of affected individuals, orby the Australian Government in defending claims.The Archives sent a letter to all agency heads inJanuary 2011 advising them of the freeze. TheDepartment of Finance and Deregulation requestedbroadening of, and extension to, the freeze tosupport ongoing litigation. To assist agenciesimplement the freeze the Archives, in conjunctionwith the Department of Finance and Deregulation,held two information sessions in Canberra inFebruary 2011. A total of 84 people from 59agencies attended.Strategic relationshipsThe Archives works closely with stakeholders tobuild information management capability. Theseinclude government, information managementindustry bodies, tertiary education institutions andthe private sector. During 2010–11, the Archivesactively liaised with key government agenciesincluding the Office of the Australian InformationCommissioner, the Australian GovernmentInformation Management Office and the AustralianNational Audit Office. The Archives also participatedin government working groups, including theSpatial Data Management Group (sponsored bythe Office of Spatial Data Management), and across-agency Metadata Community of Interest.An Archives staff member was seconded to theAustralian National Audit Office in January 2011to assist in a series of audits on recordkeeping,including management of electronic records. Suchaudits are a valuable source of information forthe government and the Archives on the state ofinformation management in agencies. They alsoprovide an indication of where additional guidancemay be useful.The Archives was represented by the AssistantDirector-General, Government InformationManagement on the Government 2.0 SteeringGroup. This group was established to implementthe work program arising from the government’sresponse to the Government 2.0 Taskforce report,Engage: getting on with Government 2.0.The Archives is a member of the Cloud InformationCommunity, which is hosted by the AustralianGovernment Information Management Office. Thepurpose of the Cloud Information Community is todevelop whole-of-government guidance on cloudcomputing. The Archives is a key agency providingadvice on these matters.May 2011 was Information Awareness Month,a national initiative supported by the informationindustry and professional bodies. As part ofInformation Awareness Month, the Archives hosteda forum on e-discovery and the law in whichguest speaker, Seamus Byrne, a director withKordaMentha Pty Ltd, discussed digital recordsas evidence and recent court practices. The forumwas attended by 90 people.More information on the Archives’ strategicactivities relating to the information managementindustry is at Appendix C.18 Annual Reports 2010–11