Archives concerns

There can be little surprise at the apparent mismanagement at Archives New Zealand, highlighted in recent press and radio reports ( Privacy breach shuts down online access, Nov 17).

In 2010 Archives New Zealand, the one independent agency charged with overseeing public recordkeeping and providing access to state documents, was reincorporated into the Department of Internal Affairs. Since then, key functions have been eroded, its very identity blurred.

This was recognised by the present Labour leadership, noting in the 2017 party manifesto that the forced merger had ‘‘undermined the independence and influence . . . [of a] . . crucial part of our constitutional and democratic structure’’.

Hence it pledged to re-establish our national archives as ‘‘a separate and independent entity’’ and to seriously investigate ‘‘the National Archivist becoming an Officer of Parliament’’.

Yet in the ensuing five years there has been no move to restore

independence; rather, silent compliance with Internal Affairs ambitions to even more closely enfold the institution within a departmental ‘‘documentary heritage campus’’. Arguably the failures reported are a result.

Is the Government prepared to address the current dysfunctionality of Archives New Zealand, or should this be regarded as another broken promise?

Brad & Kathryn Patterson, Seatoun