National Archives
How our personal records ended up in a Mormon mountain vault in Utah
Privacy concerns are growing over a government agency that allows a church the ability to identify people and their family connections for commercial benefit.
- Claire Aird, Greg Muller and Claudianna Blanco
Latest
- Exclusive
- How To Poison a Planet
The disappearing words exposing 3M’s decades of deception over cancer link
The explosive document delivered a “holy shit” moment to lawyers fighting the Wall Street giant, showing the company had known for decades about the dangers of its forever chemicals.
- Carrie Fellner
- Editorial
- Cabinet paper release
Bureaucratic amnesia forgets freedom of information
The discovery of a cache of sensitive federal cabinet documents that had been forgotten and left lying around gathering dust for more than 40 years is possibly even too far-fetched for political satire.
- The Herald's View
Secret government papers disappeared decades ago. They turned up in a dusty corner of parliament
Like a scene from The Office, highly secret cabinet documents were forgotten and left to collect dust in safes inside one the country’s most important departments.
- Shane Wright and Olivia Ireland
Albanese wants ex-spy chief to find out if missing 2003 Iraq war papers were a cover-up
Slamming the discovery of the extra documents just before Christmas, the prime minister said there was no reason why the documents should not be made public.
- Matthew Knott, Olivia Ireland and Shane Wright
Missing cabinet papers means that no one is held to account
The government could use the precedent established by the Howard government in 2000. In that year, the Howard government made public, in advance of the then 30-year rule, historical records on Australia and East Timor between 1974 and 1976.
The ‘once-only’ opportunity to expand Australia’s size by almost 50 per cent
Cabinet documents reveal the Howard government moved quickly to lock in a claim over huge areas of the seabed across the Pacific, Indian and Southern oceans, including key areas off Australia’s Antarctic territory.
- Shane Wright
Why John Howard intervened to kill the emissions trading scheme his cabinet wanted
Cabinet documents reveal the Howard government went close to supporting a carbon price in 2003. They also show why it was killed off.
- Shane Wright
- Exclusive
- Pollution
Defence was warned about forever chemicals. They kept it quiet for three decades
Documents show Defence took steps to protect its workers from toxic chemicals while tens of thousands of Australians were exposed.
- Carrie Fellner
Australia to declassify long-secret files on Malaysian plane tragedy
Malaysian politicians, including a state minister, were killed when an Australian-made aircraft went down in 1976, fuelling secrecy and conspiracy theories.
- Chris Barrett
Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/national-archives-of-australia-1npo