Report on missing Iraq war docs finds systemic issues and absence of expertise

The report said that, "Any suggestion of political interference of influence is without foundation."

However, it also highlighted a peculiar occasion where a box of cabinet records was forgotten and left in a secure area of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The 82 documents have been transferred to the archives but are not yet public.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ordered an inquiry in January after it was discovered in late December that 78 20-year-old documents were not available to be publicly released with the rest of the annual cabinet records on January 1. A further four cabinet records were subsequently found.

Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Glyn Davis appointed former departmental secretary and head of ASIO Dennis Richardson to lead the inquiry. Mr Richardson's final report was delivered to the secretary and archives director-general Simon Froude on January 25.

A statement from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet said Mr Richardson found the incomplete transfer of 2003 John Howard government cabinet records to the archives in 2020 was an "administrative error, caused, in part, by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by internal systemic issues".

Mr Richardson has flagged issues with the department's record-keeping, handling of classified material and compliance with transfer requirements as set out in the Archives Act 1983 and which may require a wider look across the public service.

"It is possible that these matters may have wider relevancy across government," Mr Richardson stated.

He highlighted "circumstances particular to 2020", finding that the COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on normal processes and resourcing within the Cabinet Division of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Changes to the Cabinet Committee architecture to support government's response to the pandemic "effectively doubled" the work program in relation to National Cabinet.

Cabinet records are held in different parts of the department, depending on security classification, and there is no central register of the location of cabinet records within PM&C.

On one occasion, as a result of the office restrictions, a box of cabinet records was left in a secure storage area pending intelligence agency review and subsequently forgotten.

There was also a pause in physical transfer of Commonwealth records during the 2020 COVID-19 restrictions.

When it came to the records in question, Mr Richardson found that the National Security Committee of Cabinet records at the "Protected level" and relating to the Iraq war were transferred to the NAA in 2020, but those at the Secret and above level were not.

Not all of the withheld documents related to the Iraq war decision.

Mr Richardson was scathing of how the cabinet material was held, describing it as "poorly itemised, tailor-made for a mistake in a future transfer process from PM&C to the NAA."

He described, as the reviewer, getting access to a room containing several cabinets "which no one person within Cabinet Division had access to".

The review, in looking at PM&C and the archives processes and practices, found "incomplete" standard operating procedures regarding transfer processes, an "absence" of records management expertise within Cabinet Division, no consistent knowledge of Archives Act transfer obligations within the Cabinet Division, and no effective central control of cabinet records.

Compounding the problem was key personnel not having appropriate security clearances.

"It is a system which maximises the risk of error," Mr Richardson said.

Neither the officer called in during the end of the 2023 shutdown period to gather the cabinet records for transfer nor the head of the Cabinet Division had a Top Secret Positive Vetting clearance.

The National Archives Director-General also does not have one, leading Mr Richardson to query how he could "properly and credibly discharge his legislative responsibilities in certain circumstances".

The Canberra Times has sought comment from the National Archives.

The review led the Cabinet Division to locate 30 cabinet notebooks that had not been transferred to the NAA, one from 1978 while others were from a mix of years up to 1992. They were classified from Personal-in-Confidence to Top Secret.

All 2003 cabinet records were transferred from the department to the archives by January 5, with the Richardson review insisting there was "no political interference or influence in the failure to transfer records in a timely manner".

Mr Richardson interviewed previous and current secretaries of PM&C, including Phil Gaetjens who headed the department in 2020. Mr Gaetjens advised that he had never been involved in the transfer of cabinet records, nor had he ever received direction or inquiry from the then prime minister, Scott Morrison, or his office about such matters.

There are five recommendations including that senior staff at PM&C must hold appropriate security clearances and the archives should consider updating its public release process to always include records of the National Security Committee of Cabinet. This would have documents from the decision-making body treated the same way as records of the full cabinet.

The Department of PM&C said it has already begun implementing the recommendations and it will provide an update by the end of June.

PM&C officials have advised that cabinet records created in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 have not yet been transferred to the NAA. These records are planned to be transferred by April.