Senator Woodley asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, upon notice, on 15 October 1996:

With reference to Item number Set 1, of the Commonwealth Records Series A6242, entitled Australian Personnel A-Z, a document which was under control of the department:

(1) Is this a closed document.

(2) Was the document an open document when submitted to the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia; if so, what was the reason for the change in status of the document.

Senator Parer —The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(1) Yes, this is a closed document. The status of the document is, however, under review and it is likely that it will be changed to open access with exceptions.

The series referred to consists of security cards created for Maralinga Range covering the period 1955 to 1967. The Department of Primary Industries and Energy is currently arranging for these records to be transferred to Australian Archives.

The security cards contain personal information such as physical characteristics, full name, date of birth, sometimes a photograph, as well as information on occupation, employer, home address and period of work at Maralinga. Some cards also contain information on civil offences. Australian Archives will determine if any cards are to remain exempt from being placed in open access.

Cards created in the years 1966 and 1967 will not be opened prior to the expiry of the thirty year period. That period expires on 31 December 1996 for cards created in 1966 and 31 December 1997 for cards created in 1967.

(2) Records held by the Department of Primary Industries and Energy and by the Australian Archives do not indicate that this series was ever submitted to the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia.