In December 2022, the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet highlighted stewardship as a key responsibility for the public service, and noted the importance of record keeping in effectively discharging this stewardship.

Well-managed government information delivers a number of benefits to the community including that it:

• supports well informed policy and programs across government;
• enables transparency and accountability, and builds trust;
• minimises costs by minimising duplication and re-work; and
• when preserved in the national archives, forms part of the history, identity and memory of Australia both before and after settlement.

This audit examined the effectiveness of the National Archives of Australia’s implementation of the Building Trust policy and selected entities’ management of information assets (records, information and data).

Key findings:

• The National Archives of Australia’s (National Archives’) implementation of the Building Trust policy was partly effective. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s management of information assets was partly effective. The Australian National Maritime Museum had implemented minimal arrangements, however, overall the management of information assets was not effective.
• The National Archives’ arrangements to plan, oversee and manage implementation of the policy are partly effective. It has established internal governance arrangements to manage implementation including a project board and project, risk, monitoring and stakeholder engagement plans.
• The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) has had partly effective arrangements for the management of information assets, consistent with the Building Trust policy. It is currently refining its governance arrangements for information management and upgrading key information systems in order to improve the effectiveness of its approach.