Duplicate Images Across ACT Government Databases: What Happens Next and the Key Decisions Ahead

ACT government agencies are facing a decision point on how to handle thousands of duplicate images sitting across departmental servers, shared drives and legacy content management systems — a problem that has compounded with every machinery-of-government change since 2020. The question now is not whether to act, but which path forward carries the least risk to public records obligations under the Territory Records Act 2002.

The issue matters now because the ACT Government's Digital Strategy, which runs to the end of 2026, includes a formal commitment to rationalise agency digital asset libraries before the next budget cycle. Agencies that fail to demonstrate progress risk losing discretionary ICT funding in the 2027–28 budget round, according to the strategy's published milestones. For a public service workforce that relies on consistent imagery for everything from community consultation documents to light rail stage 2 public engagement materials, duplicated files create version-control headaches that slow output and inflate storage costs.

Two Canberra institutions are already working through the problem on their own terms. The Australian National University's Scholarly Information Services team began a structured deduplication project across its digital asset management platform in late 2025, targeting research image libraries held across colleges in Acton and Kambri. Separately, the Canberra Institute of Technology, whose Bruce campus hosts the majority of its administrative functions, has been piloting an automated duplicate-detection tool integrated with its SharePoint environment since February. Neither project has published outcomes yet, but both are being watched by ACT Shared Services, the central agency that manages IT infrastructure for most ACT public service directorates.

The Technical Fork in the Road

Agencies essentially face two options. The first is a manual audit: staff review image libraries systematically, flag duplicates against a master asset register, and delete or archive redundant files following an approved retention schedule. The second is automated deduplication software, which uses perceptual hashing — a technique that identifies visually similar images even when file names or metadata differ — to surface candidates for removal without human review of every file.

Manual audits are resource-intensive. A mid-sized directorate holding roughly 40,000 image files could expect a trained records officer to spend upward of six weeks on a thorough review, based on industry benchmarks cited in the National Archives of Australia's digital preservation guidance published in March 2024. Automated tools can process the same volume in hours, but they carry a non-trivial false-positive rate — meaning legitimate unique images can be flagged for deletion if the threshold settings are too aggressive.

The ACT Government's own procurement rules add another layer. Any software solution above $25,000 requires a whole-of-government procurement process through the Digital, Data and Technology Solutions panel. That process takes a minimum of eight weeks from initial approach to contract execution, which means agencies hoping to deploy a tool before the December 2026 strategy deadline need to have their approach-to-market paperwork filed by late September at the absolute latest.

Practical Steps for Agencies Starting Now

Records managers across the Territory's Russell Drive precinct and the Canberra Nara Centre in Mitchell — which handles archival transfers — are already being advised to begin with what is achievable without new spend. That means running a storage audit using tools already licensed, such as Microsoft Purview, which is available to most ACT directorates under existing Microsoft 365 enterprise agreements. Purview's data map function can generate a duplicate content report without triggering additional procurement.

From that report, agencies can build a prioritised deletion schedule, starting with image assets tied to concluded projects or superseded communications campaigns — categories least likely to involve disputed retention obligations. Files linked to ongoing matters, including light rail stage 2 consultation imagery or active ministerial records, must remain untouched until a formal disposal authority is in place.

The ACT Territory Records Office, based on London Circuit in the city centre, has indicated it will release updated guidance on digital image disposal by September 2026. Agencies waiting on that guidance before acting should, at minimum, complete their storage audits and have a deduplication proposal ready so work can begin the week the guidance lands. The window between that release and the December deadline will be narrow.