History Councils of Australia submission

The HCNSW, as Chair of the History Councils of Australia, has made a submission to the Attorney-General’s Department about the Functional & Efficiency Review of the National Archives of Australia (Tune Review).

In part it reads:

“The History Councils of Australia support recommendations that empower the NAA in decision-making, increase staff numbers and resources, invest in new technologies, enable the speedy acquisition and classification of collections, and make records more accessible to all researchers, including those who are based interstate. We are however very concerned that recommendations to centralise collections and increase user fees will discriminate against interstate researchers in particular. We are also very concerned that the NAA should not compromise on which records are kept, or on the quality of their maintenance. 

 

Studying our past and telling our stories is critical to our sense of belonging, to recovering hidden and at times awkward histories, and to creating our shared future. Our National Archives are the core resource for these stories, as well as the indispensable repository of official records. We urge your attention to the points raised and to support the NAA mission to truly ‘connect Australians with the nation’s memory, their identity and history’.“

You can read the HCA’s full submission here.  Further information about the Tune Review recommendations can be found on the Attorney-General’s website here.

The History Councils of Australia consists of the History Council of NSW, the History Council of Victoria, the History Council of South Australia and the History Council of Western Australia.

(Image:  “Tune Review” title)

LISTEN

Saving our historical records

By Phillip Adams on Late Night Live, Radio National (click the button below to access the recording via the ABC website)

READ

The Digital Cliff – Protecting the National Archives of Australia

(By Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee. AM FAHA FASSA )