National Archives of Australia and National Archives of Australia Advisory Council Annual Report ...

184 Pages·2013·3 MB·English

National Archives
of Australia
National Archives of Australia
Advisory Council
Annual Report 2012–13
National Archives: an agent of change
The Archives’ leadership role in bringing about change was prevalent throughout
2012–13. The theme of this year’s annual report is ‘Archives: an agent of change’.
It reflects on how the Archives has positioned itself to bring about change, whether
leading the Commonwealth into the digital age, delivering innovative and progressive
ways of accessing the national archival collection, or promoting our ground-breaking
preservation techniques both nationally and internationally. Each section opening of the
report focuses on a key activity that was instrumental in allowing the Archives to effect
change across government, industry, education and the archival profession.
National Archives
of Australia
National Archives of Australia
Advisory Council
Annual Report 2012–13
Published by the National Archives of Australia
© Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2013
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ISSN 1400-8961
ISBN 978-1-920807-98-6
Contact Officer
Requests for authorisation and/or inquiries regarding this report should be directed to:
Annual Report Coordinator
National Archives of Australia
PO Box 7425
Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
An online version of this publication can be found at: annualreports.naa.gov.au
From the Office of the Director-General
Senator the Hon George Brandis QC
Attorney-General
Minister for the Arts
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Attorney-General
We have pleasure in forwarding to you the annual reports on the operations of the
National Archives of Australia and the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council
for the year ended 30 June 2013.
The reports are submitted in accordance with subsections 68(1) and 68(2) of the
Archives Act 1983, which require the Archives and the Advisory Council to furnish you
with reports of their operations and proceedings during the preceding 12 months as soon
as practicable after 30 June each year.
The Archives’ annual report is also made under section 70 of the Public Service Act 1999.
Subsection 70(1) of the Act requires the report to be given to you for presentation to
Parliament. The report has been prepared in accordance with the guidelines approved on
behalf of Parliament by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit as required by
subsection 70(2) of the Public Service Act.
Yours sincerely
David Fricker The Hon Dr John Bannon AO
Director-General Chair, Advisory Council
18 September 2013 18 September 2013
Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes ACT 2600 • PO Box 7425, Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
t [phone] f [phone] e [email protected] naa.gov.au

Contents
Letter of transmittal iii
Archives at a glance 1
Director-General’s review of 2012–13 5
Report on performance 14
Deliverables and key performance indicators 15
Government records management 19
Storage and preservation (collection management) 27
Access and participation 35
Management and accountability 54
Governance framework 54
Corporate governance activities 57
External scrutiny 64
Human resource management 65
Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance 70
Asset management 72
Procurement 74
Financial performance 75
Financial statements and supporting notes for the year ended 30 June 2013 78
Appendixes 136
Appendix A Resources allocated to the Archives 136
Appendix B Advertising and market research 137
Appendix C Volunteers 138
Appendix D Strategic and community relations 139
National Archives of Australia Advisory Council Annual Report 2012–13 144
Glossary and indexes 152
Glossary 152
Shortened forms 153
List of requirements 154
List of figures and tables 158
Index 159
... embracing During the reporting period, the Archives
continued to embrace technology to
technology to
provide users with new and innovative ways
to access and interact with the national
provide users
archival collection. The Design 29: creating
with new and a capital exhibition was enhanced by an
augmented-reality application. The app,
innovating ways loaded onto an iPad, supplemented and
provided extra layers of meaning to the
to access and
designs on display. Other access initiatives
developed during 2012–13 include SODA
interact with
(showcasing recently digitised records),
our collection. arcHIVE (allows users to transcribe records),
Vintage Canberra Facebook page and the
Banned blog featuring censored material
from the mid-20th century.
Innovative access
Archives at a glance
Who we are
The National Archives of Australia is an executive agency within the portfolio of the
Attorney-General. Our roles and responsibilities are established under the Archives Act
1983. The head of the Archives is the Director-General, David Fricker. The Attorney-General,
Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, is responsible for the Archives. The National Archives
of Australia Advisory Council provides advice to the Minister and the Director-General. The
Minister or the Director-General can also seek advice from the Council.
A total of 450 people around Australia are employed by the Archives. Our National Office
is in Canberra and we also have offices and repositories in all states and territories.
What we do
Under the Archives Act, our roles and responsibilities can be broadly grouped into the
areas of:
• leading Australian Government agencies to create and manage authentic,
reliable and useable Commonwealth records and authorising their retention
and appropriate disposal
• securing national archival value records from agencies and describing and
preserving them
• making publicly available the archival resources of the Commonwealth in accordance
with the Archives Act.
Our stakeholders
We work cooperatively with our stakeholders to build constructive relationships. Our
stakeholders include:
• the Attorney-General
• the Australian Parliament
• Australian Government agencies
• the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council