Workshop: Archives and Accountability
What Are the Roles of Recordkeeping and Recordkeepers in Accountability
From the Viewpoint of the Public Records Act in Australasia
2018 Volume 29 Pages 77-100
Details
2018 Volume 29 Pages 77-100
We researched what a recordkeeping system supporting accountability is and how archives play a role in it from the viewpoint of the Public Records Act in Australasia. In Australia, state government corruptions occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, which revealed the connection between corruption and their records mismanagement. From those experiences, they established or amended the Public Records Act for improving government accountability. We found that the recordkeepersʼ roles are separated by some authorities（such as minister, archivist, and advisory council）and they have functions for checks and balances in the acts. In the recordkeeping system, archives play the important role of supporting accountability, such as standard setting, facilitating, monitoring,and being the watchdog, in the government records management.
