Previous accession system transfers
AA1966/24
Items medium note
Summary heading
Function and purpose
This is the Department's main file series; only court martial case files (CRS A471) have been consistently separate, although staff files have been separate since 1932 (CRS A1593, A800, A2153, etc). The series commenced in 1929, replacing the existing systems and contains material top-numbered from those series, including papers back to 1901. Rival systems were again superseded after the merger (in 1950) of the Central Office and Crown Solicitor's Office registries.
In January 1951, a system of allocation of blocks of numbers to different divisions of the department was introduced. This system continued until 1979, with the allocations changing from time to time as the demand for files increased and with the allocation of new blocks of numbers to new areas. Initial allocations were for Crown Solicitor; Drafting; Executive; Advisings; Administration. In 1956 a new allocation was made for Deputy Crown Solicitor, ACT (block allocation 5000 onwards) but this ceased at the end of 1958 when the Deputy Crown Solicitor's Office set up its own filing system (CRS A1498).
In 1975, with the introduction of computerisation, block allocations were abandoned in favour of alphabetical prefixes denoting the Division for which the files were raised. These prefixes are divisional indicators only and are not an integral part of the series control. As from 21 December 1988, records previously created in A2153 are being created in this series, and are given a 'PER' prefix for easy identification.
The Attorney-General's Department Registry recorded files for Office of Parliamentary Counsel from 1970 till 1979, when the Office established its own registry and correspondence file series (A4969). The Office of Parliamentary Counsel originally dealt with all Legislative Drafting (Bills to Acts, Regulations, etc) (from 1970 - 1972). Due to an enormous backlog a new Division within Attorney-General's, called the Legislative Drafting Division began in March 1973. Its functions took over all ACT Ordinances and Regulations (this includes all Territories), drafting of all Statutory Rules for the Commonwealth, and reprinting of all Legislation. Since 1973, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel has dealt with the drafting of Bills to Acts only, and internal administrative matters. The block allocations used for the Office of Parliamentary Counsel are: 1970/1000-1331; 1971/1000-1411; 1972/1000-1976; 1973/1000-1721; 1974/1000-1278. From 1975 - 1979 block allocations were not used, the files were given a "PC" prefix instead.
The Administrative Arrangements Order dated 19 December 1972 assigned the responsibility for censorship to the Attorney-General's Department and for Attorney-General's to be responsible for the administration of the Customs Act 1901- 1971 Section 50 "insofar as it relates to the making of regulations and provisions in the nature of censorship of imported goods (including printed matter and films)". Records of the Literature Section of Customs and Excise became the responsibility of Attorney-General's. Customs and Excise continued to be responsible for the control of private (literature) importations, but with regard to commercial importations, the examination of material was to be carried out by Attorney-General's Department officers. Arrangements were also made at that time to treat the importation of films in accordance with the proposed provisions of the Customs (Cinematograph Films) regulations which were eventually introduced in 1974.
In 1982, a number of files originally created by the Department of Business and Consumer Affairs within CRS A425, were transferred to the custody of the Attorney-General's Department, and top-numbered into this series. These files followed the transfer of the Consumer Affairs function to the Department of Home Affairs and Environment in 1983 and were retained by that Department in their 1982 A432 series' numbers. The files were subsequently returned to Attorney-General's Department as a result of the 1984 administrative changes and again retained in their 1982 numbers.
As a result of portfolio changes announced by the Prime Minister on 14 July 1987, the Attorney-General's Department gained responsibility for law enforcement functions hitherto handled by the Department of the Special Minister of State, Central Office (SMOS) (CA 3497). These functions included the Australian Federal Police, the National Crime Authority and law enforcement policy.
Files continued to be raised into the SMOS series until around October 1987 at which time Attorney-General's central registry began raising the files into this series.
A number of SMOS files were transferred to the Attorney-General's Department and active SMOS files were top-numbered into this series by adding 30,000 to the original SMOS number. For example, SMOS file 85/132 became Attorney-General's file 85/30132; SMOS file 87/1063 became Attorney-General's file 87/31063 etc.
The original SMOS series was CRS A6310, Correspondence files, annual single number series with letter prefix (1984-1987).
The division-indicator prefix used by the Attorney-General's Department for these records is FJO (Federal Justice Office).
On 18 May 1988 the Executive Council approved the relevant regulations for the transfer of responsibility of the Australian Federal Police Appeals Board from the Attorney-General's Department to the Merit Protection Review Agency (MPRA) (CA 4497) to take effect from 29 May 1988 and files previously raised in this series were transferred to that agency. The files which were transferred fall between 87/015416 - 88/006899 with gaps. As from 21 December 1988, records previously created in A2153 were created in this series. These are given a 'PUR' prefix for easy identification.
Following the abolition of the Community Affairs Division in April 1988, some records from this series were transferred to the newly established Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). This is a Sydney based organisation which assumed the functions of the Censorship section of the former Community Affairs Division, and should be regarded as an autonomous outrider agency of the Attorney-General's Department.
When CRS A7171 (Staff position occupancy history and recruitment files) was discontinued on 31 December 1988 all new staff position files were made up into CRS A432 with an "SPF" (Staff Position File) prefix.
By 1 August 1991, a portion of series A432 had been transferred to the control and custody of the Department of Health, Housing and Community Services (DHHC) (CA 7297), as a consequence of the function relating to Food Standards being transferred to that Department. The portion relating to the Australian Federal Police Appeals Board is controlled by CA 4497.
The Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence (ABCI) has been transferred to the responsibility of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) (CA 2999). The personnel records of the employees of the ABCI have therefore been transferred from this Department's record series A432 to the custody of the Australian Federal Police.
The Family Court of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia took responsibility for some of their own functions. A portion of files from CRS A432, relating to these functions, were transferred to the Courts in Sydney.
A series CRS A8891 (Printout of files destroyed under sentencing program for CRS A432) was created as a finding aid for the destructions carried out on A432 material now being sentenced. One folio will be placed in the front of each control record CRS A5021 (28 volumes) noting that, if a particular record is not found the destruction list series A8891 should be consulted.
In July 1992, some records from CRS A432 were transferred from CA 5, Attorney-General's Department to other agencies within the Attorney-General's portfolio and they are listed below:
63 files transferred to CA 2534, Family Court of Australia,
Australian Capital Territory
77 " " " CA 7288, Australian Securities Commission,
Australian Capital Territory
12 " " " CA 2420, Federal Court of Australia,
Australian Capital Territory
58 " " " CA 2965, Office of Parliamentary Counsel,
Australian Capital Territory
48 " " " CA 2999, Australian Federal Police,
Australian Capital Territory
Some records were also transferred to:
8 files transferred to CA 6326, Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission, Sydney, New
South Wales
3 " " " CA 1621, PoliceStaffCollege, Manly, New
South Wales
12 " " " CA 4916, Legal Aid Office, Hobart, Tasmania
In March 1993, as a result of the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the Attorney-General's Department transferred part of the law function dealing with 'competition policy' to the control and custody of the Department of the Treasury. The block allocation of numbers for the Competition Policy Branch were 15500 to 16499. In December 1995, the Attorney-General's Department advised that it had transferred all the 'competition policy' files to the Department of the Treasury. A small number of files were identified as being LAW 3000 files from an as yet unregistered series.
As a result of the Department's loss of the consumer affairs function in the March 1996 Administrative Arrangements, files raised by the former Office of the Federal Bureau of Consumer Affairs have been transferred to Department of Industry Science and Technology.
. The Consumer affairs component of CRS A432 TP (Trade Practices)
prefix files, date range 1982-83.
. CRS A432 CV and BCA prefix files D/R 1985-96
In April 1996, as a result of the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the Attorney-General's Department transferred the files and function dealing with 'Business Law' to the control and custody of the Department of the Treasury.
On 16 February 2010, the Attorney-General’s Department notified the National Archives of Australia about an administrative change relating to the Judicial Pensions function. The matter of Judicial Pensions was transferred to the Department of Finance and Deregulation (CA 9194). The transfer of this matter came into effect from 1 January 2010, and is reflected in the Administrative Arrangement Orders issued on 6 May 2010.
The following is a table of prefixes for CRS A432 as provided by the Attorney-General's Department in 1994. The table is only a rough guide, not only because it does not contain all the prefixes used over the years, but also because whenever a new prefix was created, it was common practice to change the old prefix on all relevant files, making it very difficult to judge exactly when a prefix came into being. A good example of this is the prefix 'FJO' which was created in February 1992 for the newly set up Federal Justice Office, but because of back-capturing, FJO appears on files created as far back as 1980. Attorney-General's Department also provided a list of prefixes used during 1975-1994 and their date ranges. The date ranges are noted beside these prefixes in the following list.
AFP Australian Federal Police *
APS Australian Protective Services *
AUS Auscript *
AV or A Advisings Division (old prefix) 1975-1994**
B Business Affairs Division (old prefix)
BA Business Affairs (old prefix)
BAD Business Affairs Division 1984-1992
BCA Federal Bureau of Consumer Affairs 1985-1994
BLD Business Law Division 1991-1992
CA Corporate Affairs (ex BACA files) (old prefix) 1982-1983
CAD Community Affairs Division 1984-1988
CD Commercial and Drafting (old prefix) 1982-1988
CDD Commercial and Drafting Division (old prefix) 1984-1990
CF Community Affairs (old prefix)
CL Criminal Law Division
CLE Commonwealth Law Enforcement Board 1984-1994
CLW Civil Law Division 1992-1994
CRS Commonwealth Reporting Service (old prefix)
CS Crown Solicitors Division (old prefix) 1975-1994
CSD Corporate Services Division (old prefix) 1984-1992
CSL Criminal and Security Law Division 1985-1992
CSP Staff Policy files (old prefix)
CV Federal Bureau of Consumer Affairs (old prefix)
DPP Director of Public Prosecutions
E Exec Justice and Business Affairs (old prefix) 1975-1984
EX Executive (old prefix)
EXE Executive 1984-1994
F FOI Requests (old prefix)
FJO Federal Justice Office 1980-1994
G Management and Special Services (old prefix) 1975-1984
GC General Counsel (old prefix)
ITG Information Technology Group 1991-1992
ITS Insolvency and Trustee Service 1984-1994
JA Justice and Administrative Law (old prefix) 1984-1988
JAL Justice Division 1975-1988
JUS Justice Division 1988-1992
LAF Office of Legal Aid and Family Services 1975-1994
LD Legislative Drafting (old prefix) 1975-1994
LS Legal Services Co-ordination (old prefix)
LSC Legal Services Co-ordinator (old prefix)
LT Litigation (old prefix)
M Ministerials (old prefix) 1983-1988
MD Corporate Services (old prefix)
MQ Parliamentary or Senate Questions (old prefix)
MS Staff Policy Files (old prefix)
NCP National Competition Policy Review Secretariat 1992-1993
NCR National Competition Policy Review
OCL Office of Commercial Law 1985-1993
OFC Office of Film Censorship
OGC Office of General Counsel 1985-1992
OIL Office of International Law 1990-1992
OLD Office of Legislative Drafting 1985-1993
OLT Office of Litigation 1984-1993
OPC Office of Parliamentary Counsel
PB Parole Board (old prefix) 1975-1987
PC Office of Parliamentary Counsel (old prefix) 1975-1979
PDG Practice Development Group 1991-1992
PER Personnel Files prefix 1988-1992
PMG Practice Management Group 1991-1992
RSG Resources Group 1992-1993
SA Special Advisors (old prefix)
SAV Special Advisors 1984-1991
SE Security (old prefix)
SEC Security Division
SGA Solicitor-General Acting
SGC Solicitor-General's Chambers
SP Special Projects (old prefix) 1984-1987
SPF Staff Position Files 1988-1993
TP Trade Practices (old prefix) 1982-1984
WO Washington Office (old prefix)
* These prefixes were created to cover ministerial representations only, where the necessary information was sought from these agencies.
** Many Advisings Division files from the mid 1970s are listed on consignment lists as having ‘AV’ prefixes when in fact they actually have an ‘A’ prefix.
Acronyms at end of item titles
2015 transfer of Native title files included an asterisk and an acronym at the end of item titles. The acronym denotes the business unit responsible for the file but unfortunately, staff at time of transfer were unable to locate a legend to explain these acronyms.
Related legislation
Using the series
Language of material
Physical characteristics
System of arrangement and control
This series is controlled by an annual single number system with an alphabetical prefix at item level.
Relationships with other records
Finding aids
Some items, including those determined as being of enduring value in the custody of the National Archives of Australia as at June 2003 have been entered onto the item level database.
Access conditions
Series history
Provenance
Immediate source of acquisition
Custodial history
Quantity in agency custody
Disposal history
National Archives staff have reviewed various consignments of this series. Some records from these consignments that were transferred into the National Archives of Australia’s custody were assessed as no longer justifying retention in the collection. These records were disposed of in accordance with records disposal authorities approved by the National Archives of Australia and by the Commonwealth agency responsible for the function to which the records related. Other records are determined as being of enduring value in accordance with the same disposal authorities or by the application of current NAA policies.
The destroy portion of temporary consignment A432/13 was destroyed on 1 September 2004.
Temporary consignment A432/39 was destroyed on 15 October 2009. Temporary portions of consignments A432/16, A432/20, A432/25, A432/31, A342/40, A432/47, A432/66, A432/67, A432/68, A432/70, A432/71, A432/72, A432/75, A432/77, A432/79, A432/107, A432109, A432/129, A432/135, A432/136, A432/137, A432/139, A432/147, A432/153, A432/190, A432/191, A432/200 and A432/207 were destroyed in April 2010.
The destroy portion of consignment A432/87 was destroyed on 31 August 2011.
The temporary portions of consignments A432/25, A432/40, A432/66, A432/71, A432/78, A432/87, A432/107, A432/109, A432/137, A432/153, A432/190and consignmentsA432T8, A432/88, A432/90, A432/91, A432/92, A432/93, A432/94, A432/95, A432/96, A432/97, A432/98, A432/99, A432/100, A432/101, A432/102, A432/103, A432/104, A432/108, A432/110, A432/111, A432/112, A432/113, A432/114, A432/115, A432/120, A432/124, A432/125, A432/126, A432/127, A432/128, A432/132, A432/133, A432/140, A432/146, A432/148, A432/151, A432/152, A432/154, A432/157, A432/159, A432/161, A432/162, A432/163, A432/165, A432/166, A432/167, A432/174, A432/175,A432/176, A432/185, A432/186, A432/188 were permanently withdrawn by the agency on 3 May 2016.
Temporary records A432/38 was permanently withdrawn by the agency on 16th April 2019.
Publication note
Additional information
End notes
Sources