MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
NATIONAL ARCHIVES STRETCHED TO BREAKING POINT WHILE LIBERALS WASTE $1 MILLION KEEPING PALACE LETTERS SECRET
The National Archives is wasting $1 million fighting to prevent the public's Right to Know, at the same time as it is blaming resourcing constraints for a scathing report from the Auditor-General.
According to the Auditor-General the National Archives has been largely ineffective in monitoring, assisting, and encouraging entities to meet targets for their Digital Continuity 2020 policy which is critical to ensuring Australians have access to archival records.
The Liberals have cut around 10% of the National Archives budget each year since 2014, and a review of the archives is due to report soon amidst the growing chaos.
These cuts have been further exacerbated by the more than $850,000 the National Archives has spent on legal fees fighting applications to access national archival information.
Why is the Liberal Government on track to waste over $1 million fighting Professor Jenny Hocking''s application to access the Palace Letters through the Archives?
The Liberals obsession with secrecy and dismissal of the public's right to know is worrying.
The Palace Letters are important historical communications between the then Governor-General, Sir John Kerr and the Queen, pertaining to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975. The public has a right to know what they say.
The National Archives argues that these communications between the Queen and the Governor-General are personal. However, Labor MP Julian Hill said it is complete nonsense to claim that letters between two of the highest figures in Australia's system of government are personal communications.
"What are they exchanging recipes or saying, 'hi love, hows the kids?'," Mr Hill said. "It is astounding the amount of taxpayer money that is being wasted to block the release of what are public documents. Surely Australians have a right to know what was said during this critical time in Australia's history."
The Government should make the Palace Letters public and stop wasting money that the National Archives desperately needs.
FRIDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2019
