Harradine Reports

Senate order for the production of indexed lists of departmental and agency files

In 1994, the Senate agreed to a motion by Senator Brian Harradine requiring that all Australian Government departments and agencies produce an indexed list of their files every six months for tabling before parliament. The production of the list is intended to make the operations of Government more transparent and accessible to the Australian public. 

As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to give Australians greater access to relevant Government information quickly and easily, the original Senate Order was amended in 1998 and now requires departments and agencies also list these files on their internet websites.

The lists are required to be tabled twice a year, once in the Spring sittings, comprising file titles created in the preceding January to June, and once in the Autumn sittings, comprising titles created in the preceding July to December.

Under the terms of the order, ‘relevant files’ include those relating to policy advising functions, the development of legislation and matters of public administration. Files excluded include case related files, files related to our internal administration and files transferred to the National Archives of Australia. 

PWSS indexed file lists