New South Wales Consolidated Acts

STATE RECORDS ACT 1998 - SECT 3

3 Definitions

(1) In this Act:
"access direction" (see section 51).
"Authority" means the State Records Authority constituted by this Act.
"Board" means the Board of the Authority established by this Act.
"control" has its meaning affected by section 6.
"Director" means the person holding office as Director of the Authority under Chapter 2 of the Public Sector Employment and Management Act 2002 .
"dispose of" means dispose of by destruction or by any other means.
"exercise" a function includes perform a duty.
"function" includes a power, authority and duty.
"open access period" (see section 50).
"person" includes a public office and a body (whether or not incorporated).
"public office" means each of the following:

(a) a department, office, commission, board, corporation, agency, service or instrumentality, exercising any function of any branch of the Government of the State,

(b) a body (whether or not incorporated) established for a public purpose,

(c) a council or county council under the Local Government Act 1993 ,

(d) the Cabinet and the Executive Council,

(e) the office and official establishment of the Governor,

(f) a House of Parliament,

(g) a court or tribunal,

(h) a State collecting institution,

(i) a Royal Commission or Commission of Inquiry,

(j) a State owned corporation,

(k) the holder of any office under the Crown,

(l) any body, office or institution that exercises any public functions and that is declared by the regulations to be a public office for the purposes of this Act (whether or not the body, office or institution is a public office under some other paragraph of this definition),

but does not include the Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer established under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 .

Note: In some cases, a private organisation can be a public office in respect of records that were formerly the records of a public office. See section 8.

"record" means any document or other source of information compiled, recorded or stored in written form or on film, or by electronic process, or in any other manner or by any other means.
"State archive" means a State record that the Authority has control of under this Act.
"State collecting institution" means each of the following:

(a) Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust,

(b) Australian Museum Trust,

(c) Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales,

(d) Trustees of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences,

(e) National Parks and Wildlife Service,

(f) Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust,

(g) Library Council of New South Wales (in respect of the State Library of New South Wales),

(h) Sydney Opera House Trust,

(i) Zoological Parks Board,

(j) any public office that is prescribed by the regulations as a State collecting institution (a "prescribed State collecting institution").

Note: See section 5 for how this Act applies to State collecting institutions.

"State record" means any record made and kept, or received and kept, by any person in the course of the exercise of official functions in a public office, or for any purpose of a public office, or for the use of a public office, whether before or after the commencement of this section.

(2) Notes included in this Act do not form part of this Act.