Management and accountability

Corporate governance

Senior Executive and responsibilities

The Director-General, Mr Ross Gibbs, PSM, is the chief executive of the Archives appointed by the Minister. He is assisted in the management of the organisation by an Executive team. Each member of the Executive has responsibility for particular functional areas.

During 2004–05, the Archives made a number of new appointments to this leadership team. Ms Anne Lyons was appointed to head the branch responsible for the Archives’ public communication and services functions. Dr Stephen Ellis was promoted to oversee the Archives’ services to, and relationship with, Australian Government agencies.

The Director-General also created the new position of Deputy Director-General during 2004–05. The Deputy Director-General coordinates the Archives national and international activities. Ms Karen Gosling initially held the position, and was succeeded in March 2005 by Mr James Barr.

Mr Steve Stuckey, a long-serving member of the Archives’ Executive team, retired in March 2005. Following Mr Stuckey’s retirement, the Director-General made a decision to increase the Archives’ strategic emphasis on preservation of the collection. As a result, the functions of the Collection and Preservation Management Branch are currently managed in two new entities – the Collection Management Branch and the Preservation Branch.

The Archives’ executive management team and their areas of responsibility at 30 June 2005 are:

Mr James Barr, Deputy Director-General:

overall management and oversight of State offices;
major strategic projects, including legislative amendments;
corporate governance, including audit, risk management, fraud control, parliamentary and ministerial liaison and support for the Advisory Council;
national leadership activities, including relationships with professional groupings such as the Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities, the Australian Society of Archivists and the Records Management Association of Australasia;
executive administrative and strategic support; and
the Personal Records Service.

Ms Jenny Anderson, Assistant Director-General, Corporate:

financial management;
human resources;
information management;
information and communications technology;
security; and
facilities management.

Dr Stephen Ellis, Assistant Director-General, Digital Government:

research, development and promulgation of standards and initiatives that assist government to design and implement efficient recordkeeping systems in a digital environment;
provision of advice, assistance and training in recordkeeping for Australian Government agencies;
authorisation of the retention and disposal of Commonwealth records; and
digital preservation initiatives.

Mr Stephen Grieve, Acting Assistant Director-General, Collection Management:

research, analysis, description and repackaging of existing collection materials to enhance public access;
servicing of the collection by managing the movement of records to and from reading rooms and the transfer of records into the Archives’ care;
development and maintenance of standards for archival description; and
review of the collection to ensure that the Archives continues to use its resources to manage only those records that represent the archival resources of the Commonwealth.

Ms Anne Lyons, Assistant Director-General, Access and Communication:

provision of services that assist the public to research and have access to the collection;
implementation of the access provisions of the Archives Act by examining records for public release;
design and development of exhibitions and other programs and events that present and interpret the collection for a range of audiences;
management of a publishing program, including a range of websites, that enhances or showcases research into and interpretation of the Archives’ collections and services.

Mr Michael Tuite, Acting Assistant Director-General, Preservation:

preservation and conservation treatments, both for the collection as a whole and for individual items at risk, to ensure the longevity of the collection;
development and maintenance of systems for the preservation and copying of particularly fragile audiovisual materials;
delivery of the digitisation-on-demand service which provides electronic access to collection material to Australians through the Archives’ online collections database; and
other copying, photographic and imaging services.

Corporate governance practices

The Corporate Governance section manages and supports the Archives’ as per key governance structures and activities. The section ensures the Archives’ compliance with its responsibilities as an Executive Agency under the Public Service Act 1999, the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) and other relevant legislation. Its major activities include:

coordination of strategic planning and reporting;
coordination of advice to the Minister, the Department and other significant stakeholders;
support for the Advisory Council on Australian Archives, the Internal Audit Committee and the Risk Management Steering Committee; and
development and maintenance of significant risk-management policies and plans including a fraud control plan, business continuity plans and national emergency arrangements.

Corporate planning and review

In 2003–04, the Archives re-examined its strategic directions and priorities, resulting in the publication of the National Archives of Australia Corporate Plan 2004–06. This plan has guided the Archives’ internal planning throughout the year, and has led the Archives to review its performance information as published in the Portfolio Budget Statements for 2005–06.

The Archives’ Corporate Plan informs its internal business plans. The Archives’ staff performance management scheme places a strong emphasis on the need to have clear links between the objectives of the Archives as reflected in the Corporate Plan and the goals and directions set for all staff members in their individual performance agreements. As a result, performance agreements are closely linked to business plans.

Management committees

Management committees assist the Executive with decision-making in key areas.

Internal Audit Committee

As required by the FMA Act, the Archives has an Internal Audit Committee. The committee met five times during the year, including a special meeting to examine the Archives’ annual financial statements. The current membership of the committee is:

Director, Adelaide office (Chairman)
Deputy Director-General
Assistant Director-General, Corporate
Director, Brisbane office
an external member.

The Archives’ internal auditor, KPMG, the Chief Finance Officer and representatives of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) sit as observers at meetings of the committee. During the year the committee began a review of its terms of reference and membership in response to the release of the ANAO’s Better Practice Guide, Public Sector Audit Committees.

Risk Management Steering Committee

The Internal Audit Committee maintains strong links with the Risk Management Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee has in 2004–05 overseen the redevelopment of the Archives’ risk-management framework. The new framework, to be implemented in 2005–06 and supported by improved risk-awareness training, emphasises the need to incorporate risk assessments into business planning at all levels of the organisation.

As part of this new framework the Executive conducted a Strategic Risk Analysis workshop in February 2005. The outcomes of this workshop have informed both the strategic risk register for the Archives and ongoing strategic planning processes.

Contracts committees

The Archives’ Chief Executive Instructions require that a Contracts Committee be established to examine the letting of any contract valued at greater than $80 000. Contract Committees include both independent representatives and those with expertise in the relevant area. All committees examining contracts valued at $1 million or more must include a member of the Executive.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategic Planning Committee

This committee consists of four Assistant Directors-General, the Director, Information and Communications Technology, and two State directors. The committee:

oversees the development and maintenance of ICT strategy and governance;
determines priorities and directions for project development, infrastructure, application development and maintenance;
provides appropriate input into the Archives’ budget deliberations; and
makes recommendations to the Director-General about major information technology (IT) infrastructure decisions and major IT expenditure proposals.

Information Management Policy Committee

The Assistant Director-General, Corporate chairs the Information Management Policy Committee. The committee exists to:

help ensure that the National Archives pursues an agency-wide integrated, coherent, cost-effective and strategic approach to information and knowledge management, providing a model site of best practice to Commonwealth agencies;
advise the Director, Information Management, on strategies and tactics to facilitate the better management of information within the Archives; and
promote internally the value of well managed and shared information to Archives’ staff.

National Emergency Planning Committee

The Deputy Director-General chairs the National Emergency Planning Committee, of which the Assistant Director-General, Corporate is also a member. The committee meets regularly to ensure that the personnel, procedures and resources for the safe response to emergencies are maintained, monitored and improved.

Workplace Relations Committee

The Workplace Relations Committee is chaired by the Assistant Director-General, Corporate. It consists of employee, management and union representatives, and is the peak consultative body within the Archives. The committee also functions as the national council for purposes of occupational health and safety under the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991. See Appendix H – Occupational health and safety.

Fraud measures

The Director-General certifies that the Archives complies with the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines through:

undertaking a fraud risk assessment;
preparing a fraud control plan;
ensuring that appropriate fraud prevention, detection, investigation and reporting procedures are in place; and
collecting and reporting annual fraud control data to the Attorney-General's Department.

The Archives incorporated into the Chief Executive Officer Instructions the requirement to create contract committees to examine the letting of any contract valued greater than $80 000. This action was in response to the conviction of a former staff member for obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The National Archives of Australia Certified Agreement 2004–2007 includes the Australian Public Service (APS) and Archives’ values. The importance of the Archives’ values is reinforced in internal publications including the Workplace Diversity Program 2005 and the draft Workplace Harassment Policy.

Senior Executive Remuneration

The Archives determines SES remuneration from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) APS Remuneration Survey that is commissioned annually. The salary and conditions are in accordance with the data supplied by DEWR. The base salary is negotiated between the Director-General and the SES officer with bonus provisions allowed subject to performance. These conditions are prescribed in an Australian Workplace Agreement. Note 14 in the Financial Statements details executive remuneration.

External scrutiny

Review of access decisions

The Archives Act 1983 provides the public with a two-stage appeal process if the Archives withholds records from public access. The first stage is internal reconsideration by the Archives. The Act provides that the Archives should review and notify decisions on applications for internal reconsideration within 14 days. During 2004–05 the Archives received 30 applications for internal reconsideration and reviewed 31 per cent of decisions within the 14-day statutory period. Decisions were modified in 74 per cent of cases. See Table 9.

The second stage of the appeal process is an application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. No applications were received by the Tribunal in 2004–05 for review of decisions made under the Archives Act.

Judicial decision

A former staff member was convicted of obtaining a financial advantage by deception in relation to a contract he had administered while an employee at the Archives. The Archives has made changes to its contracting arrangements to ensure greater internal scrutiny throughout the procurement processes (see Fraud measures). As the Archives fully recovered the funds, there was no significant operational impact.

Auditor-General

The Archives was included in the performance audit by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on Safe and Accessible National Collections. Two recommendations were directed to the Archives:

introduce regular reporting of records on loan to users in the reading rooms and follow-up loans to institutions and require the return of items within set timeframes; and
re-examine performance information to develop targeted indicators.

A further five recommendations were directed to all audited institutions:

perform a detailed security risk assessment to underpin IT security plans for network and collection management systems;
consider reporting the actual parameters set and the standards achieved in relation to the storage conditions of collections;
evaluate current exit procedures to ensure that staff ceasing employment do not retain security access cards and access to IT systems;
formulate long-term digitisation plans with evaluation criteria for the measurement of success; and
develop a set of key common performance measures.

None of the recommendations represents a serious criticism of the Archives’ operations. The Archives agreed to all recommendations contained in the report.

The ANAO’s Measuring the Efficiency and Effectiveness of E-Government audit, begun in 2003–04, was also completed. The ANAO recommended that agencies develop indicators for the performance for their online service delivery. The Archives agreed with the recommendations although expressed its reservations about the usefulness of measuring non-financial benefits of providing services via the Internet.

In March 2005 the ANAO wrote to the Archives advising that the Archives may be included in an audit of the management and reporting of expenditure of consultants. This included advice on a number of minor discrepancies in the Archives’ reporting of its consultancies, which have now been rectified.

Privacy Commissioner

There were no reports to, nor reports or determinations by, the Privacy Commissioner about the Archives’ activities during 2004–05.

Commonwealth Ombudsman

The Commonwealth Ombudsman made no reports to the Minister in relation to the Archives under the provisions of the Ombudsman Act 1976 during the year.

Freedom of Information

The Archives had two requests for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Commonwealth). A Freedom of Information Statement is provided at Appendix I.

Parliamentary committees

The Archives appeared before the Senate’s Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee during the Additional Estimates period on 15 February 2005, and during Budget Estimates on 25 May 2005.

There were no other reports of Parliamentary Committees on issues of particular relevance to the Archives during the year.

Figure 4 – Staff distribution by office

Figure 5 – Employment classification by gender as at 30 June 2005

Table 10 – Archives’ salary ranges as at 30 June 2005

Local designation	Minimum annual salary ($)	Maximum annual salary ($)
Australian Public Service 1–2	31 572	39 368
Australian Public Service 3	40 552	43 940
Australian Public Service 4	45 186	48 691
Australian Public Service 5	49 820	53 440
Australian Public Service 6	56 192	62 348
Executive Level 1	69 517	74 818
Executive Level 2	83 419	90 255
Graduate Australian Public Service	36 091	39 368
Professional 1	41 710	53 440
Public Affairs 2	57 844	64 242
Public Affairs 3	76 474	83 922

Management of human resources

In August 2004 management and staff of the Archives agreed to the 2004–07 Certified Agreement. The Agreement forms the foundation for the Archives to build a strong performance culture within the organisation.

There were no requests for reviews of human resources decisions during 2004–05. There were no appeals to the Industrial Relations Commission and no grievances referred to the Merit Protection Commissioner.

Certified Agreement and Australian Workplace Agreements and productivity gains

The three-year Certified Agreement for 2004–07 has set the framework for improved workplace productivity and has delivered an improved participation rate in the Performance Management Scheme and a reduction in unscheduled paid personal leave.

Eight non-Senior Executive Service (SES) and six SES Australian Workplace Agreements have been entered into with employees.

Performance pay

Two Archives’ officers received performance pay in the SES band. The performance payments totalled $11 363.

Workforce planning, staff turnover and retention

In response to emerging ageing workforce issues, the Archives’ 2004–07 Certified Agreement includes measures to help mature-age staff prepare for the transition to retirement while capturing their skills and knowledge through mentoring and coaching programs. Specific focus for 2004–05 was on awareness-raising strategies.

The next 10 years will see a significant number of experienced staff retire. This will represent a significant challenge to the Archives. The approach to workforce planning outlined above will enable the Archives to better manage its changing workforce over the next 10 years.

Learning and development

Induction of new staff continues to be a priority. A review was undertaken of guidance material available electronically for supervisors and staff. The resulting ‘new-starters kit’ provides a streamlined online resource targeted to both supervisors and new starters. The kit complements the practical focus of the induction courses conducted throughout the year.

Development of current and future leaders has been a major focus during the year. An assessment of leadership capability was undertaken with the senior leadership group, with the outcomes contributing to the development of a Leadership Development Strategy for the Archives.

The Archives has continued to participate in management development programs with other cultural institutions, such as the Cultural Managers Development Program and the Advanced Workplace Skills Program.

The Archives’ graduates attended the induction course and participated in communication (written and presentation), project management and recordkeeping courses. These activities supported learning gained through rotations. Mentoring also provided support in organisational understanding and career development.

A program of professional development seminars was conducted, with presentations videoed to enable viewing by staff in state offices.

The Reading Circle, a discussion group that explores archival theory and practice, was expanded to include a state office through teleconferencing.

A number of staff were sponsored to attend the annual conferences of the Australian Society of Archivists and the Records Management Association of Australasia.

The Archives provided assistance to staff through the study assistance scheme, Studybank, and by supporting staff attendance at courses, seminars and conferences.

Commonwealth Disability Strategy

The Archives is committed to the Commonwealth Disability Strategy to remove barriers which prevent people with disabilities from having access to the Archives’ policies, programs and services.

Provider

The Archives provides a range of services to the public including reference services, exhibitions, publications and websites. Disability strategies are incorporated into the development and continuous improvement of all of these services. All Archives’ reading rooms provide wheelchair access. In addition, the Archives provides researchers with aids to reading records, including reading slopes, cushions for supporting heavy volumes and magnifying glasses. The national reference service can be contacted via a TTY facility.

All Archives’ exhibition galleries are accessible for people with disabilities. The Archives’ website at www.naa.gov.au complies with disability guidelines.

The Archives’ Service Charter commits to ensuring exhibitions and research facilities are accessible for people with disabilities. The Archives’ complaints and grievances mechanism is outlined in its Service Charter. The Archives has a dedicated email address for complaints and comments, yourcomments@naa.gov.au, and a system for monitoring, responding to, and reporting comments received.

All Archives’ employment policies, procedures and practices comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

The Archives provided all staff with an effective complaints and grievance mechanism through Part G of the 2004–07 Certified Agreement.

The Archives is committed to providing an employee with a disability with services and/or facilities to assist them in carrying out the inherent requirements of their employment which does not impose unjustifiable hardship on the Archives.

The Archives’ training and development programs take into account any special needs of employees. For the courses arranged and offered internally, information on disability issues is included where appropriate.

Employer

All Archives’ employment policies, procedures and practices comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. This is further supported through elements of the Archives’ Workplace Diversity Program.

Potential applicants for employment can obtain written recruitment information on request by email, phone, facsimile, mail and TTY if required. All recruitment information is made available on the Archives’ website. The Archives’ training and development programs take into account any special needs of employees.

The Archives is implementing an online application system that meets access and equity standards.

For the limited number of courses arranged and offered internally, information on disability issues is included where appropriate.

The Archives provided all staff with an effective complaints and grievance mechanism through section H of the 2004–07 Certified Agreement.

Assets management

The Archives employs an effective asset management framework for the control and accountability of assets at the organisation and program level. Operations, including the creation of the necessary physical asset records, data required for financial reporting and the annual stocktake, are undertaken according to the Chief Executive Instructions and Administrative Procedures on Asset Management.

Development of asset replacement plans and strategic life cycle planning for major Archives’ sites has provided an efficient management tool to program economic asset replacement and maximise service potential. An internal process of harmonisation, in accordance with the Archives’ planning cycle, is being developed to improve all aspects of asset management and reporting.

Purchasing

The Archives employs a devolved procurement framework, which places responsibility for procurement activity with the appropriate sectional manager.

All procurement and purchasing activities performed by the Archives were conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines and the Archives’ Chief Executive Instructions, administrative procedures and supporting accounting policies, available to all organisational staff through the Archives’ intranet.

Over the past 12 months, the Archives has implemented a number of measures to improve procurement practices. These include:

preparing a new Chief Executive Instruction (No. 5.23 – Procurement and Contract Administration) that implements the requirements of the 1 January 2005 Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines and supports the general procurement Chief Executive Instructions;
introducing contracts committees, which include an independent member to ensure probity and procedures are followed, for all procurement costing $80 000 or more;
with advice from the Australian Government Solicitor, preparing new Archives’ contract templates, the terms and conditions of which ensure compliance with the requirements of the 1 January 2005 Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines;
conducting professional procurement awareness training, through Major Training Services and the Australian Public Service Commission, to key staff from all offices in November 2004; and
facilitating staff attendance at Department of Finance and Administration procurement awareness seminars nationally.

Consultants

The Archives engages consultants when the expertise required is not available within the organisation, or when the specialised skills required are not available without diverting resources from other higher priority tasks. In accordance with procurement guidelines, consultants are selected by advertisement, panel arrangements or selective tendering. See Appendix K.

Competitive tendering and contracting

Contracts let

The Archives engaged in a number of competitive tendering processes during 2004–05. They resulted in 96 contracts being let with a total value of $20 078 286.

Contractual provisions allowing access by the Auditor-General

The Archives’ standard contract templates include an ANAO audit clause. All contracts signed in the reporting period of $100 000 or more provided for the Auditor-General to have access to the contractors' premises.

Contracts exempt from the Purchasing and Disposal Gazette

No Archives’ contracts that cost more than $2 000 inc GST (1 July – 31 December 2004) or $10 000 inc GST (1 January – 30 June 2005) have been exempted by the Chief Executive from being published in the Purchasing or Disposal Gazette.

Information management

Information management strategy

The Archives Information Management Strategic Framework continues to guide activities aimed at improving the collection, use and management of information in the Archives to support the performance of its functions.

Records management

During the year, 110 338 records were captured by staff into the Archives’ electronic document management system (EDMS). A total of 145 staff from across the Archives attended training sessions on good recordkeeping practices and on using the EDMS.

In 2004–05 a project was undertaken to plan an upgrade of the EDMS. It included product testing against defined criteria and made purchase and configuration recommendations.

The new EDMS will be compliant with the Archives’ upgraded technical environment and is expected to deliver an improved service to the state offices. The upgrade will occur in 2005–06.

Library services

The Library has sites in every Archives’ office and supports the work and professional development of staff. The Library collection is well used, with annual loans totalling 1 184.

During the year, procedures were released aimed at improving the management of the state office libraries. This procedure completes a suite of library policies and guidelines developed over recent years to guide the delivery of library services to the organisation.

Internal information network

A redeveloped intranet site was released on 1 July 2004. During 2004–05, content was improved and a number of new facilities added to the site, including a staff bulletin board.

Statistics gathered by the Archives’ IT area show a significant increase in usage of the intranet over the past 12 months, acknowledging the significant role it plays in providing staff with easy access to up-to-date information needed to support their work.

An Intranet Committee meets quarterly with representatives from each Branch and provides a channel for staff to give feedback and influence the overall development of the site.

Information infrastructure

These Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects were completed:

implementation of a new voicemail system;
implementation of Internet Sheriff antispam appliance;
revision of the ICT Risk Register, ICT Security Plan and Disaster Recovery Plan;
replacement of all network routers, switches and firewall, and implementation of encryption on wide area links;
installation of Virtual Private Network appliance for remote access; and
implementation of additional servers to support external users of the RecordSearch database.