Documents created prior to 1 December 1977 are not covered by the Act, and are, strictly speaking, not available. Older documents which can still be accessed are:

However, the Act encourages release of documents whenever possible and the Government discourages agencies from relying on this rule without good reason [s 14]. Under the Archives Act 1983 (Cth), documents more than thirty years old are available for public access by applying to any office of the Australian Archives.