95bFM ‘Our memories as a nation are precious’ — concerns over cuts to archiving roles in Aotearoa
5 April, 2025
Interview by Castor Chacko, adapted by Vivek Panchal
The Public Service Association’s Fleur Fitzsimons says the potential cuts of approximately 30 roles at Archives New Zealand and the National Library would be a “real loss”.
Almost 30 roles at Archives New Zealand and the National Library are facing proposed cuts.
Librarians, curators, archivists, advisors, and other specialised staff are among those at risk of losing their jobs.
National Secretary at the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, told 95bFM’s The Wire that the organisation are “really worried” about these potential cuts.
“These are people that undertake the work maintaining New Zealand's historical records, which have been collected by Government agencies dating back to 1840, so it's very important work.”
“People who look into the stories of the past, who look into information about court records or citizenship files, police records, prison records … artworks and maps, mental health and welfare records … they're all [using] Archives New Zealand.”
Fitzsimons says this will impact the population as people will have a harder time accessing information, resulting in growing backlogs.
“There are often time-sensitive requests that are made here for legal or civil processes. For example, if someone needs to access their divorce record from archives to prove marital status, it could delay that. [This] could also [result in] delays in applications for pensions and impact remarrying or the processing of wills.”
She says this will also impact literacy rates.
“The government spoke a big game about lifting literacy rates [in schools], but again, these cuts are undermining the Government's own policy.”
“We know that they've reduced librarians and reading services in schools for the National Library, for example. They do really important work in liaising with teachers and sourcing material so that students can improve their literacy.”
If these cuts were to go ahead, Fitzsimons says this would be a “real loss” to the country.
“Our memories as a nation are precious. They should be cherished.”
