Hobbs Marian: Public Records Bill — First Reading 
Hobbs Marian: Public Records Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:620;Page:15775] 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand) 
: 
 I move  
That the Public Records Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be referred to the Government Administration Committee. This bill repeals the Archives Act and the document and archive provisions in Part 17 of the Local Government Act 1974. It reflects the changes in technology legislation and record-keeping practices that have occurred in the last half-century. Public records provide evidence of Government activities and are a key component of ensuring public accountability. They enhance democracy by informing citizens about issues decision-making processes and results. They also contribute to who we are as a nation by recording people’s experiences with Government. The growth of email and the Internet has created a new set of challenges including the erosion of administrative record-keeping practises and the increasing complexity of recording business transactions. The bill addresses those challenges by establishing record-keeping requirements for public offices and local authorities. 
Archives New Zealand was established as a stand-alone Government department in 2000. The Government strengthened the role of Archives New Zealand to enable it to provide leadership to set standards for consistent and effective record-keeping and to enhance communication between agencies. Public records are a key component of ensuring that Governments are accountable to society for decisions made and actions taken. Public records provide essential evidence of people’s rights and entitlements the actions of Governments—both positive and negative—since 1840 and record a history of individuals whanau communities and society as a whole. Good record-keeping within Governments improves the accountability of Government institutions by providing reliable evidence of their decisions actions and interactions. 
Public archives are a tremendously rich resource of evidence about our collective past. They enhance New Zealanders’ sense of national identity by enabling us to piece together the ever-changing story of who we are and how we got here. Archives New Zealand has holdings of 80000 linear metres of textual records 750000 photographs 300000 maps and plans 1300 works of art comprising the New Zealand war-art collection and 20000 motion picture reels. Archives New Zealand is also custodian—and I notice the empty gallery—of the Treaty of Waitangi and the women’s suffrage petition. 
Since the Archives Act was passed in 1957 the Official Information Act and the Privacy Act have come into being. They also provide systems for accessing and managing Government information. The Public Records Bill clarifies how those other Acts interface with the archives legislation. We have also seen the establishment of State-owned enterprises and Crown-owned companies which have resulted in ambiguity about what agencies are covered by the Archives Act. The bill addresses this. It provides a broad definition of public office and a mechanism to encompass any future governance models. The bill creates a record-keeping framework that will ensure that public records are managed appropriately until their authorised disposal. Disposal is a technical term in this context; it means the transfer to Archives New Zealand for permanent preservation or destruction. 
The bill also ensures that there is broad coverage of the activities of Government and that public archives will be accessible. Transparent processes give the Government and the public confidence that the evidence of the Government’s actions contained in public records is properly managed. The policy for records of local authorities is similar to the framework for central government but will reflect their community focus and autonomy from central government. This means that local authorities are not subject to the reporting or auditing requirements of the bill. 
The following are key provisions. The bill confirms the duty of the Chief Archivist to exercise leadership in record-keeping in public offices and in the management of public archives in New Zealand. The bill continues the authority of the Chief Archivist to decide which Government records may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of and confirms independence from ministerial directive in discharging this duty. The bill will apply across the broad public sector to include not only public service departments but also tertiary institutions State schools district health boards and other Crown entities State-owned enterprises and offices of Parliament—amongst others. The bill provides a broad definition of records and confirms the inclusion of electronic records and non-textual media. 
The bill recognises that there is a legitimate interest in decisions made about record-keeping in Government. It establishes an Archives Council which will advise the Minister on archives and record-keeping matters. Two members of this council must have knowledge of tikanga Maori to ensure that Maori views are taken into account. There are increased consultation expectations imposed on the Chief Archivist including a requirement for public comment to be sought on disposal recommendations. The bill continues the role of the Chief Archivist in protecting and providing access to Government records that have long-term value and that need to be kept permanently as archives. Such archives must come under the Chief Archivist’s control after 25 years but this can happen earlier by agreement. The right of the public to inspect such archives free of charge is confirmed. 
Where there are reasons for controlling access to public archives such as protection of privacy this is protected; and the public office that transferred the archives will make decisions on access according to relevant legislation such as the Official Information Act and the Privacy Act. There will be occasions when public archives are better kept by the office that created them—for example some specialised electronic records. The bill is flexible enough to allow these arrangements while ensuring the archives are protected according to standards set by the Chief Archivist. Disposal decisions made under the Archives Act will remain valid through a transition provision. They will also apply to access decisions and other arrangements made for the transfer of archives to Archives New Zealand and those also continue as if they were made under the provisions of the bill. 
The bill confirms that the Chief Archivist has a role in fostering archival capacity within the community and in facilitating access to archives. The bill sets a context in which the Treaty of Waitangi is to apply in public record-keeping and specifies what actions need to be undertaken in order to comply. I commend the bill to the House.