Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I speak to voice the concerns of many of my constituents about the imminent threat to Trove, an extraordinary information service provided by the National Library of Australia. Trove is a remarkable resource. It contains about six billion digital items: books, journals, maps, archives, digitised newspapers and magazines, photographs, web archives, parliamentary papers, reports, theses and more. All are available at no charge to users. The site is accessed 63,000 times every day. That's 22 million visits every year. There are almost 1,000 organisations contributing to trove. It's an extraordinary service and one which has become an essential part of many people's lives. I'd like to share some of the correspondence I've received from constituents from Kooyong about the importance of Trove to them.

Mrs Sandra Torpey, of Hawthorn, writes:

The first of my family to settle in Australia arrived in Tasmania in 1836. Many more came by sea in the following years. They weren't distinguished people but their arrivals can all be found in Trove. As can their births, engagements, marriages and deaths. Their small honours and rewards, serving their country in its wars and more besides. We cherish their stories which would be lost without Trove.

Associate Professor Chris Wright, of Camberwell, an intensive care specialist and Academic Director of Clinical Programs for the Monash University medical course, has also written in, urging me to push for the restoration of funding for Trove and, more broadly, for support of that wonderful institution that is the National Library of Australia.

I heard from Elizabeth Yewers, President of the Hawthorn Historical Society, who emphasised that Trove has democratised knowledge. It's brought important historical resources to Australians who can't otherwise access them at public institutions.

The Melbourne Tram Museum, a volunteer led group in Hawthorn, shared how invaluable Trove is for supporting their exhibitions and said:

Failure to provide ongoing funding for the Trove service will have a serious impact on our museum's ability to inform the public and support ongoing research on tramway history.

The defunding of Trove will lead to vastly diminished public access to nationally significant collections. It will also remove access to records that are significant because of the history that they preserve and the memories that they protect. To quote Ray Bradbury:

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.

On behalf of all of the constituents of Kooyong and the wider national communities of Trove users, I call on the government to step up and provide the National Library of Australia with the funding it needs to ensure the preservation of this essential service.