Thanks to the 128 attendees who joined us for the November 2025 PRIME Network meeting. If you were unable to attend our final CoP for 2025, or want a brief recap, please see below for a summary of what was discussed.
This meeting focused heavily on “disaster preparedness” to assist public authorities with preparing for the approaching disaster season. The sessions aimed to prompt public authorities to think about what they may need to do now to prepare for a possible disaster event and should one occur, and some insights to assist in managing records following a disaster event.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS MEETING
Guest Presentations
The Community of Practice was privileged to hear from two different public authorities, Department of Education (Renae Iconomidis) and Brisbane City Council (Annabel Lloyd) on their experiences with severe weather events.
The presentations covered:
- How the weather events impacted their organisations
- Challenges they faced
- Key lesson learnt from these events and how they have helped to inform and shape current disaster planning and preparedness
- Steps that were taken after an event for records recovery/ preservation
QSA Preservation Services
We had our own, very wonderful, Preservation services team come and talk about the role of Incident Response Kits (IRKs) and what to do after a disaster.
This included covering off on:
- The 5 key steps for disaster management for public records
- What IRKs are, what they should be, what they should contain, when they should be used
- Immediate steps to respond after a disaster
- Salvage techniques for paper records
- Recovery and review of damaged records
You can check out QSA’s Risk and disaster management for records | For government | Queensland Government webpage and the Queensland Museums and Galleries Disaster Preparedness and Recovery webpage for further information.
Draft Mandatory Standards Update
The QSA Policy team provided an update on the draft Mandatory Standards (MS), providing some preliminary insights into round 3 consultation with Chief Executive, the Community survey and further details about the ongoing data analysis.
Early Findings
QSA received 139 submissions for the Chief Executive survey, including a 100% response rate from Departments.
Outcomes from the data analysis thus far show:
- Respondents agree the MS will benefit their organisation
- 48% expect significant benefits
- 36% expect moderate benefits
- 90% state costs would be nil to moderate
In the Community survey “Your Records, Your Say” which asked the community questions around government management of records, QSA received 269 responses.
So far, the data is showing that the community has high levels of agreement on the value of:
- Clear records descriptions
- Proper disposal processes
- Benefits of digitisation
Analysis of Consultation feedback is continuing
The draft Standards may be refined based on feedback from Chief Executives. The draft Standards must then be approved by regulation under section 46(2) of the Public Records Act 2023 before they can be published and take effect. QSA can confirm the Mandatory Standards will not commence before 1 July 2026.
Next Steps in the Draft Mandatory Standards
Draft MS regulation documents are underway, as is the initial planning for the development of revised training resources and other supporting resources. These resources will be developed in the first half of 2026 in preparation for release to support public authorities to implement the new Mandatory Standards.
Source Records Disposal Update
The Digital Archives team provided an update on the draft Source Records Disposal retention and disposal schedule.
Over the last year, Queensland State Archives has been updating its disposal coverage for source records to align with current best practice across the sector and to enable public authorities in Queensland to better manage their public records digitally by default.
This work has led to the drafting of a new Retention and Disposal Schedule that focuses specifically on source records. This new Schedule is intended to be a ‘one stop shop’ for public authorities to easily consult when undergoing any disposal activity involving source records.
The new Schedule provides disposal coverage for source records that have been:
- Digitised or converted to a new format
- Migrated from business system to another
- Digitally transferred to QSA
Once finalised and approved, the new schedule can be used by public authorities to dispose of source records, when and if a public authority chooses to do so. The main aim of the new schedule is to help reduce unnecessary duplication of public records across multiple formats and systems and maintain consistency in how its information is managed.
Consultation was extended through to Friday the 5th of December with the Digital Archives team aiming to commence analysis of the data in early 2026.
Consultation on QLD Government AI use
The Data and Digital Team from the Department of Customer Service, Open Data and Small and Family Business (Kate Conroy) popped in to quickly chat about a consultation they are running on AI use in the Queensland Government.
The survey will help contribute to research and testing to improve AI use in Government.
User Testing on ForGov Web Content
QSA announced that in 2026 we will be partnering with the ForGovernment Website team to conduct user testing on our Records Management web content.
Our aim is to better understand user behaviour and deliver engaging, user-friendly content that ensures easy navigation, allowing you to find what you need more easily, and read and interact with the content.
It’s anticipated that testing will begin in early 2026. If you’re interested in participating, email us with your EOI at rkqueries@archives.qld.gov.au
2025 Wrap Up
The QSA PRIME Network Team would like to thank all the community of practice members for your enthusiastic participation throughout 2025. Since the CoP commenced in 2024, we have seen a 25% increase in the number of PRIME Network community registered members. Thank you for spreading the word!
We look forward to continuing to build this community of practice in the coming years.
We hope you all have a restful and safe holiday season and look forward to engaging with you all again in 2026.
Keep Up to Date!
To keep up to date with QSA in 2026, make sure that you stay tuned in with our various communications channels:
- See our News and Events page
- Sign up to our Agency newsletter here Update from the Archives and read previous editions here
- Check out our blog for posts on contemporary records management issues affecting the Queensland Public sector, summaries of our PRIME CoP meetings and summaries of other activities such as consultations
- Register your interest to join our community of practice: Register for PRIME Network
Records Connect 
Leave a Reply