365. Hon ALISON XAMON to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Culture and the Arts:
I refer to the government’s decision to amalgamate the State Records Office of Western Australia with the State Library of Western Australia .
How does the government reconcile this machinery-of-government change with —
(a) recommendation 20 of the WA Inc royal commission; and
(b) recommendations in section 7.5.5 of the Commission on Government?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(a) – (b) On 1 July 2017, the State Records Office was administratively placed in, not amalgamated with, the State Library of Western Australia. This is an administrative change and the State Records Office will continue to support the independent State Records Commission of Western Australia and legislative responsibilities of the state archivist and executive director, state records in accordance with the State Records Act 2000.
No changes have been made to the State Records Act 2000, which was enacted in direct response to the recommendations of the WA Inc royal commission and the Commission on Government, although not all recommendations in section 7.5.5 of the Commission on Government were included in the State Records Act 2000 as a result of parliamentary processes.