In February 2022 we announced in For the Record that we would be revising the General retention and disposal authority: local government (GA39). This was as a result of a request from our Board to assess all disposal authorities issued over 10 years ago and is also in accordance with our advice that disposal authorities issued over 10 years ago need to reviewed. GA39 was issued in 2011.

Following significant work to streamiline the disposal authority, an exposure draft was released in October 2023 with feedback requested by December 2023. We would like to thank the councils that responded to the request for feedback. Although some concerns were expressed about the work involved in any change, most councils were supportive of:

  • the two-level structure, in particular those councils using TechnologyOne Enterprise Content Management
  • the streamlining of disposal classes
  • the removal of records covered by the General retention and disposal authority: administrative records (GA28)
  • the removal of the automatic requirement for pre-1920 records to be required as State archives.  

The second exposure draft reflects much of the feedback received. This includes:

  • removal of some of the separate activities including ADVICE & ENQUIRIES; CERTIFICATES; EASEMENTS; PERMITS so that they are managed as part of the relevant activity.
  • a three-element numbering system, e.g. 14.0.4, rather than 14.4, while retaining the two-level structure
  • minimising increases in retention periods. Some retention periods have been decreased or changed to retain until administrative or reference use ceases so that classes can be combined. Since these are only minimum retention periods, councils may choose to retain records for longer to suit their business needs. 
  • building certificates now have the same retention period as the related development applications. This does mean that some records that had a 10-year retention period are now required as State archives or required to be retained for a certain period of time after the structure is removed or demolished. 

Main changes from GA39 to August 2024 exposure draft

  • the number of entries has been reduced from 928 to 102
  • entries covering common administrative records such as finance, personnel, fleet management etc. have been removed as these are covered by the General retention and disposal authority: administrative records (GA28) which councils already have permission to use
  • amendment of requirements where there has been legislative change, e.g. companion animals register 
  • removal of entries covering energy supply, water, and wastewater services as these are covered by other disposal authorities
  • adoption of a 2-level rather than 3-level authority. There are 22 activities rather than 33 functions
  • renaming of ROADS as SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE
  • addition of coverage for legacy records
  • removal of the entry requiring all pre-1920 local government records as State archives.

Please note that while entries from GA39 may have been combined, the scope of classes, and in many cases, the retention periods, have not changed. Most records that have already been sentenced using GA39 should not need to be reappraised. Where changes have been made, for example, to companion animal records as these are now managed by the Office of Local Government, the mapping tables will note what changes have been made. 

This change will also not require councils to change their Business Classification Scheme or file plans - although disposal authority references will need to be updated in document management systems for records that have not already been destroyed using GA39 and previous instruments such as GDA10.

Councils can gradually implement the new authority once it has been approved by the State Records NSW Board  and officially issued. Given the size of the authority and need to incorporate further feedback, we expect the new authority to be issued in the first quarter of 2025. Mapping tables will be provided to facilitate re-sentencing or mapping with existing systems. Excel versions of GA28 are also available on our website if councils wish to start using GA28 for records. 

To assist with the provision of feedback the following are provided:

Feedback is requested by 27 September 2024 and can be emailed to govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au. Please also use that email for any enquiries about the exposure draft.

Please note that we will be inviting the councils who provided feedback to take part in a working group over the next few months. Please contact us if you would like to participate but did not provide any feedback. 

 

Published 20 August 2024

Consultation period
08/20/2024 to 09/27/2024