Hipkins Chris: State Sector Management Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: State Sector Management Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 09 December 2010. Volume:669;Page:16305. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I am very happy to take a call on the State Sector Management Bill and express some concerns that I have about the amalgamation of Archives New Zealand into the Department of Internal Affairs and in particular the impact that that will have on the independence of the Chief Archivist. We cannot underestimate and understate the importance of the independence of the Chief Archivist given the importance of the material— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Leave it to Beaver. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: —that is right—that Archives New Zealand looks after. I can recall for example only 3 or 4 years ago following the passing of the late Rt Hon David Lange that there was a bit of a furore about material held by Archives New Zealand in his name being made public and whether there was adequate process to make sure that we were not releasing some stuff that should not be released. I think some SIS stuff and some Government Communications Security Bureau stuff ended up being released when David Lange’s papers were all released. There was a review I understand of some of the practices and processes— 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: He forgot to hand it back. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Yes he forgot to hand it back; that is right. There was a review of the practices and processes that Archives New Zealand undertakes in releasing papers following somebody’s demise. One of the things that that underscored however was the importance of the independence of Archives New Zealand as the guardians of our nation’s history. After a period of time people have a right to know what is going on and to have access to whatever is contained within such papers however inconvenient the content may be. Archives New Zealand records significant volumes of information regarding ministerial decisions Government decisions members of Parliament and public records. That information may become inconvenient over time and Ministers and members of Parliament may not want it to see the light of day. It would be very concerning if we created an environment in which any political pressure could be brought to bear very subtly behind the scenes on the Chief Archivist. 
The concern I have is that if the role is downgraded to a third-tier manager within the Department of Internal Affairs then in fact the diminished significance of that role leaves the Chief Archivist more open to pressure. It leaves the Chief Archivist more open to pressure in a number of respects. First of all the reporting function to Parliament will be significantly weakened. At the moment the Chief Archivist has a direct reporting line to the Minister where he or she can advise and meet with the Minister independently. The Chief Archivist has a direct reporting line to this Parliament. The Chief Archivist presents us with an annual report and all of the other documents that an independent agency would present to this Parliament. Much in the same way that I have concerns about the role of the National Librarian being merged within the Department of Internal Affairs I have concerns about that regarding the Chief Archivist. 
The potential for the Department of Internal Affairs to starve Archives New Zealand of the necessary resources to fulfil its statutory functions is increased by the changes being proposed in this legislation. Also weakened is the ability of the Chief Archivist to express concerns about that and to whistle-blow or alert Parliament or the Minister to the fact that it does not have the resources it needs to carry out its statutory functions. 
We have seen in recent years a welcome move quite frankly to reduce the volume of information provided in annual reports and statements of intent that come to this House. I am concerned that if we try to shrink down the information that we get from a department like the Department of Internal Affairs which has such a broad range of totally incompatible functions we will lose all meaning in what is reported to the House and Parliament will not receive the information it needs. If we put that in the context of having entities like the Chief Archivist and the National Librarian merged into the Department of Internal Affairs that concern only becomes more apparent because the more contradictory and incompatible the functions incorporated within the Department of Internal Affairs the more likely it is that they will feel the squeeze and the significance of the functions that they undertake will be undermined. There have been significant concerns raised about this particular proposal by people who work in this area. The New Zealand Historical Association and the New Zealand Society of Authors were particularly concerned about having access potentially restricted to archived material if political constraints and political considerations become part of this mix. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Boy this is riveting stuff! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: He is on the edge of his seat. Tau Henare is quite literally on the edge of his seat and I think that that is really good. 
Grant Robertson 
: It’s the only way he can sit down. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: It is the only way he can sit down nowadays but I am glad that he has found this particular contribution entertaining and I would be happy to continue to entertain him for another 5 minutes.