Hon Julie Freeman questions the Minister for Creative Industries regarding resource constraints, storage capacity issues, and the curtailment of the preservation program at the State Records Office. The Minister's response outlines ongoing efforts and attributes past decisions to budget cuts.

AnsweredQoN 277Legislative Council
Asked
5 May 2026
Portfolio
Creative Industries

QuestionView source ↗

State Records Office—Storage capacity
277. Hon Julie Freeman to
the minister representing the Minister for Creative
Industries:
I refer to the State
Records Office of Western Australia Archives
Keeping Plan of November 2024.
(1) Noting that the document references a
lack of resources, when will the government prioritise the comprehensive
management of the state's archives?
(2) Noting that the SRO has been unable
to accept regular transfers of state archives from government organisations due
to a lack of archival storage capacity, leading to a backlog of 75 linear
kilometres still awaiting transfer, has the government urgently prioritised the
attainment of extra state records storage locations?
(3) What was the reason for the
curtailment of the annual preservation program in 2012?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question. The following response has
been provided by the Minister for Creative Industries.
(1) Opportunities have been identified
for the State Records Office to work with other agencies to support compliance
with the State Records Act 2000 and improve
access to state archives and work is underway.
(2) The State Records Commission has
established a state archives management committee to advise on requirements and
arrangements for storage and management of state archives.
(3) This was a decision by the Barnett
Liberal–National government as part of 2012–13 budget corrective measures.

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