14.
"identifying the archival resources of the Commonwealth" and "preserving and making publicly available the archival resources of the Commonwealth"[1].
36 To that end, the Archives Act mandates existence of the Archives as an "organization", being "a group of persons centrally controlled and acting in concert to perform particular functions"[2], within the Department of the Minister administering the Archives Act[3]. Under current administrative arrangements, it is in the Attorney-General's Department[4]. The Archives is therefore not "a legal entity independent of the executive government"[5]. Like the Department in which it is located, it lacks a distinct legal personality.
37 The Archives Act mandates too the appointment or engagement under the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth) of the Director-General[6]. Upon the Director-General it confers a number of specific powers and imposes a number of specific duties and in the Director-General it reposes general authority to exercise any of the powers and perform any of the duties which it confers or imposes on the Archives[7].
38 For the purposes of the Archives Act, the "archival resources of the Commonwealth" consist of such "Commonwealth records and other material" as fulfil two conditions. One is that they are of "national significance or public interest". The other is that they "relate to", amongst other things, "the history or government of Australia" or "a person who is, or has at any time been, associated with a Commonwealth institution"[8]. One of the specific powers conferred on the
- ↑ Section 2A of the Archives Act.
- ↑ Church of Scientology v Woodward (1982) 154 CLR 25 at 69.
- ↑ Section 5(1) of the Archives Act.
- ↑ Administrative Arrangements Order, 5 December 2019, Schedule Pt 2.
- ↑ Church of Scientology v Woodward (1982) 154 CLR 25 at 57.
- ↑ Section 7(1) of the Archives Act.
- ↑ Section 7(2) of the Archives Act.
- ↑ Section 3(2) of the Archives Act.
