Guy Nathan: State Sector Management Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Guy Nathan: State Sector Management Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 09 December 2010. Volume:669;Page:16301. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand) 
: 
 Part 3 amends the Public Records Act 2005. In essence it removes the reference to “chief executive” and replaces it with “Chief Archivist”. Therefore the Chief Archivist can focus purely on his or her pure role of getting on with the functions of the job which is vitally important. 
We have heard a lot this afternoon about what occurred in the 1990s. I point out that moving forward Parliament addressed that with the Public Records Act 2005 which was supported by the then National Opposition. The 2005 Act focused on the auditing of practice and the independent external parties that the Chief Archivist has to have come in to look at his or her performance. Also the results of the audit are tabled in Parliament which is another important point of scrutiny. These provisions further strengthen the independence of the Chief Archivist as confirmed by the Crown Law opinion. As a result of that three reports are available to the public. First the Chief Archivist is responsible for the State record-keeping of public offices; secondly there is the audit report; and thirdly there is the report of the Archives Council. Those three reports will all be available to the public. 
The crux of Part 3 is covered in new section 12 in clause 41. It states for those who are listening and even for the Opposition that the Chief Archivist “(a) must act independently in exercising his or her professional judgment; and (b) is not subject to direction from either the Minister or the chief executive.” The Committee should be reassured by that very important point. The provisions have been further strengthened by those who have been involved as part of the select committee process and I need to acknowledge those people who have been involved in that process. 
The other important point to make about this is to look at where Chief Archivists operate around the world and I think it is important to give members some examples. They all have statutory independence. In Australia the Chief Archivist sits within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. In Sweden the Chief Archivist operates under the Ministry of Culture. In the UK the Chief Archivist operates out of the Ministry of Justice. In Ireland the Chief Archivist operates out of the Department of Tourism Culture and Sport. And in Canada it sits within the Canadian heritage portfolio. All operate with statutory independence. 
I also wish to mention in relation to the focus on digitisation and getting more information online the $12.6 million that over 4 years will help to store preserve and give access to important public records for all New Zealanders. The other significant point is that a recent survey concluded that half of the information that local governments up and down the country have in their records is not now in a form that they can reuse. That is an important point. We have to move forward on these matters while allowing the Chief Archivist to have statutory independence and that very important provision is covered in new section 12.