Bureaucratic amnesia forgets freedom of information

The discovery of a forgotten cache of sensitive federal cabinet documents left lying around gathering dust for more than 40 years is possibly even too far-fetched for the political satires Yes Minister and Utopia.

But such amateur-hour low jinks in Canberra have exposed a disregard for transparency among the very upper levels of the Commonwealth public service charged with ensuring Australians have access to information about how their elected governments arrive at the decisions that affect the nation.

Former ASIO and DFAT boss Dennis Richardson has been investigating the documents’ disappearance. Credit: Louie Douvis

The lost documents came to light after an embarrassing glitch when the government realised that records provided to journalists before Christmas to prepare embargoed stories for New Year’s Day were, in fact, incomplete.

The National Archives of Australia’s January 1 release of 2003 cabinet papers included the Howard’s government’s decision to enter the Iraq conflict. But the submissions relied upon by the nation’s spy agencies to justify the decision to join the “coalition of the willing” were missing in action. In an unprecedented development, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet announced some documents were not transferred and subsequently appointed Dennis Richardson, head of ASIO at the time, to investigate the mishandling of the documents, including official reports to the national security committee.

Richardson’s final report was delivered to the secretary and archives director-general Simon Froude on January 25. The department said Richardson had found the incomplete transfer of Howard cabinet records in 2020 was an “administrative error, caused, in part, by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic”. Further, the review confirmed all 2003 cabinet records had now been transferred to the National Archives of Australia and there had been no political interference or influence in the failure to transfer records in a timely manner.

Richardson said restrictions during the pandemic had left a box of cabinet records awaiting a review by an intelligence agency, to become forgotten. Another document being considered by a historian was recovered bundled with records from other years.

But somewhat incredibly, in addition to the 78 Howard cabinet documents that had not been delivered to the NAA, Richardson found more missing documents, some dating back to Malcolm Fraser’s administration. They had been locked away and hidden in sealed envelopes and forgotten in dusty parts of the prime minister’s own department.

During the search for the missing 2003 documents, officials turned up 30 secret cabinet notebooks covering governments between 1978 and 1992 – some of which go to the heart of the operation of previous administrations. These notebooks often contain records of comments made by senior ministers during cabinet meetings. Ordinary cabinet documents are released only 20 years after their creation. Notebooks are not released for 30 years due to their increased sensitivity.

Preparation for the January 1 publication of cabinet records is tortuous, involving obtaining clearances from individuals and departments involved, and can take years. The process has been further complicated by cuts to department budgets for record keeping.

Richardson identified systemic problems with the NAA and the prime minister’s department in dealing with old cabinet documents, noting some staff had little interest in record keeping and relevant public servants, including the director-general of the NAA, did not have the security clearances required to examine top-secret documents.

Richardson made five recommendations that address improving the archival processes for cabinet records within the department, ensuring senior staff hold appropriate security clearances, and updating the archive’s public-release process, which the government has accepted.

But there is no escaping the fact that the shambles reflect badly on the bureaucracy. These public servants are paid good money to treat cabinet documents with respect rather than apparently dump them behind some office cabinet.

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