Shredded records ‘breach of NSW State Records Act’

The NSW Premier’s office breached the State Records Act when a staffer shredded documents relating to a $250m ­council grants scheme, an inquiry has found.

Gladys Berejiklian’s senior policy adviser Sarah Lau. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

The NSW Premier’s office breached the State Records Act when a staffer shredded documents relating to a $250m ­council grants scheme, an inquiry by the state archives office has found.

The report by the NSW State Archives and Records Authority found that Gladys Berejiklian’s office breached the Act with the “unauthorised disposal of the working advice notes”, but did not establish that this was the result of an explicit instruction by anyone in her office.

The shredding incident followed allegations that the Berejiklian government used the Stronger Communities Fund to rubber-stamp 249 council grants, almost all in Coalition seats, and purposely left no paper trail.

An analysis of the grant allocations by the opposition revealed 95 per cent of the money went to projects in Coalition electorates in the lead-up to the 2019 election, with Ms ­Berejiklian signing off on $141m in grants.

Sarah Lau, Ms Berejiklian’s senior policy adviser, told the NSW parliamentary inquiry into council grants last year that physical copies of a briefing note provided to the Premier about why Hornsby Shire Council received a $90m grant to turn a quarry into a park were shredded and digital copies “deleted”.

Emails from Ms Lau tendered to the committee also referred to the Premier as “signing off” on the grants, but in evidence the staffer said it was just a “turn of phrase” and that Ms Berejiklian did not have the power to approve grants.

The archives authority found that guidance provided by the “Minister’s Office Handbook” provided to all ministerial staff was too broad and “likely to have resulted in unauthorised disposal driven by misunderstanding.”

However, the authority noted that it lacked investigative powers and could not compel individuals to provide statements of evidence, so was reliant on the advice of the Premier’s office that “Ms Lau does not recollect any directions or guidance being provided to her by other members of staff within the Premier’s Office regarding the disposal of records.”

The authority said it would not be pursuing legal penalties because that was not consistent with its regulatory model and because “such action does not pass a cost/benefit analysis”.

A NSW government spokesman said the government would support all the recommendations, including updating the retention and disposal advice and that there would be enhanced training for ministerial staff to ensure they met their responsibilities under the Act.