State Records operates under the State Records Act 1998, which replaced the Archives Act 1960. The Act provides for the creation, management and protection of the records of public offices of the State and for public access to those records. It also established State Records and its Board.

The State Records Act commenced on 1 January 1999, with the exception of Part 4 (concerned with transfer of archives to State Records' control), which commenced in July 1999.

The Act underwent a statutory review in 2003 and 2004. This resulted in a number of amendments which came into force on 15 July 2005.

The State Records Regulation 2005 also commenced on 15 July 2005. The regulation:

• contains a revised version of the guidelines on normal administrative practice;
• prescribes a number of public offices for the purpose of exempting their collections of private records from the Act; and
• updates the list of other legislation authorising the disposal or alteration of State records.

For further information or queries contact the Executive Officer.