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Abstract
Shortly after the election of the new Western Australia (WA) Government in March 2017, the new Premier, Mark McGowan, announced the first round of Machinery of Government changes to the WA public sector. The structural changes were promoted as creating collaborative departments focused on whole-of-government objectives and for delivering services in a more efficient and effective way. Part of these changes was to move the State Records Office of Western Australia under the State Library of Western Australia. The Australian Society of Archivists Western Australia Branch Committee discusses this act and the implications for the independence of the State Records Office.
Notes
1. Australian Society of Archivists, ‘Statement of Position: Merger of SRO (WA) with the State Library of WA’, 2017, available at < https://www.archivists.org.au/documents/item/1093 >, accessed 20 December 2017.
2. J Strutt, ‘State Records Office: Archives Cost-Cutting Bid Sparks Fears of Another “WA Inc”’, 2017, available at < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/concern-over-amalgamation-of-state-records-office-of-wa-inc/8697196 >, accessed 20 December 2017; S Easton, ‘Society of Archivists Votes to Keep Fighting WA State Records Merger’, 2017, available at < https://www.themandarin.com.au/81797-society-of-archivists-resolves-to-keep-fighting-wa-state-records-merger/#.WXgQSlvb9rk.facebook >, accessed 20 December 2017.
3. Australian Society of Archivists, ‘Restore the Independence of the State Records Office (WA)’, 2017, available at < https://www.change.org/p/hon-david-alan-templeman-mla-minister-for-local-government-heritage-culture-and-the-arts-restore-the-independence-of-the-state-records-office-wa >, accessed 20 December 2017.
4. Available at < https://www.change.org/p/hon-david-alan-templeman-mla-minister-for-local-government-heritage-culture-and-the-arts-restore-the-independence-of-the-state-records-office-wa >, accessed 13 February 2018.
5. State Records Commission of Western Australia, ‘Annual Report 2016–2017’, available at < http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/src_annual_report_2016-17_web.pdf >, accessed 20 December 2017.
6. Australian Society of Archivists, ‘Statement of Position’.
7. JF Gregor, A Conti, R Dawson, F Harman and C Sharman, ‘Commission on Government Report No. 2 – Part 1’, 1995, available at < https://www.slp.wa.gov.au/publications/publications.nsf/DocByAgency/D7065CDD58C787544825698300109D09/$file/report2.pdf >, accessed 20 December 2017; GA Kennedy, RD Wilson and PF Brinsden, WA Inc. Royal Commission, 1992, available at < http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/intranet/libpages.nsf/WebFiles/RC+1992/$FILE/0015319.pdf >, accessed 20 December 2017.
8. ibid., pp. 4–8, section 4.3.6.
9. Gregor et al., p. 37.
10. ibid.
11. Sheila McHale, ‘State Records Bill 2000’, 12 September 2000, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Western Australia: Legislative Assembly, pp. 1054–55, available at < http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/HANS35.NSF/(ATT)/94E02CBD89CFC7B9482569CA00115C63/$file/A35+S4+20000912+p1052e-1074a.pdf >, accessed 13 February 2018.
12. Government of Western Australia, ‘Public Sector Management Act 1994’, available at < http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/wa/consol_act/psma1994235/ >, accessed 20 December 2017.
13. Government of Western Australia, ‘State Records Act 2000’, available at < http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/sra2000156/ >, accessed 20 December 2017.
14. ibid.
15. State Records Commission of Western Australia, ‘Annual Report’, p. 19.
16. Chris Hurley, ‘Re: [archives-and-records-australia:2100] Re: ABC Report – “Minister under Investigation by Queensland State Archives”’, post to Archives and Records Australia Google Group copied to the Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia, RIM Mailing List, 27 July 2017.
17. State Records Commission of Western Australia, ‘Annual Report’, p. 34.
18. ibid.
19. Parliament of Western Australia, ‘Petition 020 – Conduct of Officers in City of Melville’, 2017, available at < http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/petitionsdb.nsf/($all)/6AC3BF9236E6FF144825819A001D77FF/$file/ev.020%20Petition.pdf >, accessed 20 December 2017.
20. Australian Society of Archivists, ‘Statement of Position’, p. 4.
21. C Hurley, ‘Records and the Public Interest: The “Heiner Affair” in Queensland, Australia’, in RJ Cox and DA Wallace (eds), Archives and the Public Good: Accountability and Records in Modern Society, Quorum Books, Westport, CT, 2002, pp. 293–317; K Lindeberg, ‘Where Best Practice Recordkeeping Ends, Corruption Begins: The Heiner Affair’, in M Pember and AC Cowan (eds), iRMA Information and Records Management Annual, Records Management Association of Australasia, Perth, 2009, pp. 61–83; K Walker, ‘The “Heiner Affair”: A Matter of Professional Concern’, Informaa Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 3, 2010, pp. 2–3.
22. Australian Society of Archivists, ‘Statement of Position’, p. 5.
23. Public Sector Commission, CEO Working Group on Public Sector Efficiency, ‘July 2017 Issues Paper’, available at < https://publicsector.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/ceo_working_group_on_public_sector_efficiency_-_issues_paper_-_10_july_2017.pdf >, accessed 20 December 2017.
24. Australian Society of Archivists, ‘Statement of Position: Archives and Libraries in the Digital Age’, available at < https://www.archivists.org.au/documents/item/1198 >, accessed 20 December 2017.
25. State of Western Australia, ‘Service Priority Review: Final Report to the Western Australian Government’, 2017, available at < https://www.dpc.wa.gov.au/ProjectsandSpecialEvents/ServicePriorityReview/Documents/SPR_Report_FINAL-5-Dec.pdf >, accessed 9 January 2018.