Retention, disposal and destruction of public records
All public records must be managed so that they remain complete and reliable records for the minimum retention period. To do this, you need to understand:
- what public records you need to keep
- where and how you need to keep them
- how long you need to keep them for.
You should determine and document what public records are the best evidence of your public authority’s work.
The public records should:
- be trusted records that provide context to the activities and decisions of your public authority
- meet any legal requirements specific to your public authority
- be captured through business processes into trusted business systems.
Some of the information and data you work with is captured automatically through the business applications and systems you use.
In some instances, you will need to do more with the information and data to make and keep public records.
In these situations, make sure you include:
- a short description
- the date and time
- decisions or recommendations made
- advice or instructions given
- actions taken
- rationale
- people involved.
A retention and disposal schedule will outline how long you need to keep public records for, depending on any legal, community or business requirements for your public authority.
Before deleting or disposing of public records (which includes information and data), you must check with your relevant record management, legal and Right to Information areas to confirm that there are no potential legal, community and business requirements to keep the public records for longer.
Find a schedule
Use the schedule search or search at the top of any page with a schedule's name, number or the public authority it's issued to find it.
Advice for records managers
Disposal advice for record managers provides more detailed information on establishing your systems and processes. This is especially useful for record managers and covers Records governance policy requirement 6.
No protection notices have been issued under the Public Records Act 2023 (Act) at this time. Any current or revoked protection notices issued by the State Archivist under section 24 of the Act will be published on the Protection notices page.
Resources and tools
Resources and tools for records management have been developed to help you implement best practice records management at your public authority.
Contact us
Stay informed about the latest news and developments by visiting our News and events for records management page. If you have any questions or need further information on records management send us a query or phone (07) 3037 6777.