Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As joint chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Library, I wish to offer my condolences on the passing of Mr Harold Weir. I rise to give my thanks for the very significant contribution made to the Parliamentary Library by Mr Weir. Mr Weir first joined the library in 1968, taking up the position of Director of Education and Welfare. He was one of the first four appointments to the Legislative Research Service, which is now the Research Branch of the Parliamentary Library. While director he took a leading role in the formation of subject groups within the research service, a model which continues to enable the library to efficiently deliver its services. With the then Parliamentary Librarian, Allan Fleming, he planned the formation of research groups, each with an initial staff of four subject specialists. This development in the late sixties and early seventies significantly expanded the subject breadth and expertise available from the library. As a research service director, Harold Weir was instrumental in establishing the standards for quality, objectivity, impartiality and relevance that were of critical value to the LRS in establishing its standing and reputation amongst senators and members, some of whom were wary of the research service when it was first established.

Mr Weir then left the library to work with Mr Justice Muirhead in planning and setting up the Australian Institute of Criminology and then establishing the social work course at the Churchill campus of the then Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education. In 1970 he returned to the Parliamentary Library as Deputy Parliamentary Librarian. During this time he initiated the Bills Digest Service, which continues to this day to be a highly valued service for senators and members and their staff.

In 1978 Mr Weir succeeded Les Moore as Parliamentary Librarian, immediately taking up the issue of organisational development. He believed that the three departments serving the parliament—the Parliamentary Library, Hansard and Joint House—should be formed into one department. He persuaded the presiding officers and other department heads to jointly commission a firm of consultants, Urwick International, to investigate and report on such a development. The Urwick proposal was not adopted and the parliament waited another 25 years before creating the Department of Parliamentary Services.

Harold Weir’s foresight bore immediate fruit when he established a full-time position devoted to what we now call information technology. For example, he saw the need to preserve the tapes used at the Government Printing Office to produce the printed Hansard, and years later these tapes helped in developing the online Hansard. He also introduced word processors and, during his time, the Law and Government Group gained access to the SCALE legal database of the Attorney-General’s Department and the Statistics Group gained access to CSIRONET.

Harold Weir’s interest in IT is illustrated by his leadership in planning the information systems that were to be used in the new Parliament House. A British firm of consultants, Logica, was engaged to provide a detailed plan, and Harold Weir set up a steering committee of departmental representatives, chaired by his Deputy Parliamentary Librarian. The steering committee was given technical support by a small group of parliamentary staff with IT expertise, led by the Library’s IT specialist.

Harold Weir strengthened the capacity of the research service to provide government information to senators and members in confidence by building close ties between the research specialists and their senior counterparts in government departments. He chaired briefing sessions at which senior government officials described their role to appropriate library staff.

A sudden major health crisis brought Harold Weir’s term as Parliamentary Librarian to a premature end in 1982. His legacy included a stronger and widely respected research service, the continuing commitment to embrace cutting edge information technology, and an awareness of the need to constantly improve the range and quality of the information and research services provided to senators and members. I extend my condolences to the family of Harold Weir.

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