A Government push to make the State Records Office (SRO) part of the State Library of WA threatens good accountable government and raises the spectre of WA Inc, a peak body has warned.

The change is part of machinery of government public sector reforms but the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) said it went against the recommendations of the WA Inc Royal Commission and Commission on Government of the 1990s.

Both recommended the establishment of an independent and separate archives authority.

WA Inc was the subject of a royal commission, and refers to a series of deals struck with big business figures like Alan Bond and Laurie Connell by the then Labor government under Brian Burke.

Australian Society of Archivists president Julia Mant said the change meant it was likely the conditions for poor government recordkeeping that characterised WA Inc would reappear.

"It is astounding that the WA Government did not research the history of this issue when making the change and would seek to reverse a recommendation [of the WA Inc Royal Commission] that was intended to promote integrity in government," she said.

'Records must be protected in public interest'

The society's treasurer, Dr Mark Brogan, said the change happened without a proper review of the implications and he believed it was a cost-cutting measure.

He said the independence of the State Records Office was crucial to maintain integrity and ensure government documents and records were authentic, reliable and were not compromised.

"It's a big reputational issue for the WA Government, nobody wants to seriously revisit those [WA Inc] times," Dr Brogan said.

"We want to have confidence that Government is acting in a proper manner, that its records can be relied upon.

"Business has no desire to work with a government that has integrity issues surrounding it."

He cited the stolen wages case, where some Indigenous West Australians had been able to seek redress by accessing archived state records for documents supporting their claims, as evidence of the importance of independent archiving of records.

"Without archives that justice could not be achieved, so from a citizens' rights standpoint we need a vigorous State Records Office that is protecting records in the public interest," he said.

ASA has vowed to campaign to have the decision reversed and the independence of the office restored and maintained.

Community service 'to be enhanced'

In April, Premier Mark McGowan announced the first round of government changes in the public sector, which includes slashing the number of departments by 40 per cent.

At the time there was no mention of any impact on the State Records Office but an internal note, sent on June 30, from then Department of Culture and Arts director-general Duncan Ord, informed staff the office would become part of the State Library with effect from July 1, as part of the changes.

"This is an administrative arrangement with no changes to the legislation of either organisation," Mr Ord wrote.

"The state archivist and executive director State Records will be reporting to the chief executive and State Librarian, and the functions required under the State Records Act 2000 will continue to be administered with the current SRO resources."

Mr Ord, who now heads up the new Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, denied the changes to the SRO would compromise its independence.

"I'm very confident that these administrative changes are actually net positive and we have no intent to diminish the standard of record keeping in this state," he said.

Mr Ord told staff the change was in the best interests of Western Australians and the two institutions and would provide opportunities to "enhance services to the WA community".

Dr Brogan said previously the executive director of state records had reported directly to the minister and the new reporting model was not appropriate.

In May, former WA premier Colin Barnett broke his post-election silence to claim the preconditions existed for a repeat of the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s.

Mr Barnett made the claim during his first speech to Parliament since the March election loss, warning Labor risked returning to a dark chapter in WA's past, but he has since refused to detail the "preconditions" he was referring to.

Opposition Leader Mike Nahan said the Government's decision to make the State Records Office part of the State Library was another illustration of a lack of thought.

He said there was plenty of historical evidence for why the State Records Office should be completely independent of the State Library of WA.