22.
attracts the operation of s 6(2). If it attracts the operation of s 6(2), the prior arrangement also necessarily attracts the operation of s 6(3).
Legislative history
54 The parliamentary process which culminated in the enactment of the Archives Act was unusually long. The process overlapped with, and at various stages influenced, the sequence of events resulting in the deposit of the correspondence already recounted.
55 The parliamentary process commenced with the introduction of the Archives Bill into the Senate in June 1978. There it became the subject of parallel inquiries by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs[1] and the Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts[2], both of which reported in October 1979. However, it lapsed upon the prorogation of the Parliament which preceded the general election of October 1980.
56 The Government's response to the reports of the two Senate Committees was incorporated into the Archives Bill as reintroduced into the Senate in 1981 before itself lapsing upon the dissolution of the Parliament which preceded the general election of March 1983.
57 Following the change of Government which occurred at that general election, a further revised version of the Archives Bill was introduced into the Senate in June 1983. The passage of that version, with amendments, resulted in enactment of the Archives Act in November 1983.
58 The three iterations of the Archives Bill involved no change to its basic structure. The central concept of the "archival resources of the Commonwealth" as consisting of "Commonwealth records and other material" and the critical definition of a "Commonwealth record" as "a record that is the property of the Commonwealth or of a Commonwealth institution" remained unchanged throughout the parliamentary process. So too did the material terms of the provisions which came to be enacted as ss 5(2)(f), 6(2) and 70(3).
