Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of people have indicated they have business for me but, before I go to that, can I make a statement that I hope will unite the House. This week a highly valued and very well respected member of the staff of the Parliamentary Library, Mr Andrew Chin, retires. Many members and senators have benefited from Mr Chin’s advice on a wide range of issues and will recall how helpful he has been and the breadth of his knowledge.

Mr Chin’s path to the Parliamentary Library took him across the sea and required a commitment to education in two nations. He came to Australia from Malaysia in January 1972 to undertake a Graduate Diploma in Librarianship at the Canberra College of Advanced Education, and has stayed in Canberra ever since.

While he was finishing his studies he worked briefly in the National Library until he gained a permanent position in the Parliamentary Library in June 1973. This makes Andrew the longest continuously serving member of the library’s staff, and the longest serving reference librarian.

Andrew’s first role in the Parliamentary Library was as a social policy subject librarian for a year, covering issues such as consumer protection and Aboriginal affairs. When he joined the library there was no email and no fax machine, and members and senators came to the old Parliamentary Library to ask questions, sometimes on their way to the dining room. Andrew has a fabulous nose for information and would ferret out the most tricky information from a network of contacts extending across the world to meet the tightest deadline.

In mid 1974, Andrew became the foreign affairs and defence subject librarian. He has worked in the field of foreign affairs ever since. This grew to include his responsibility for the library’s United Nations deposit collection.

In 1984, Andrew and two other staff members travelled through the South Pacific for a month to examine how Australia could assist parliaments of the region to develop libraries of their own. Andrew went to Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga and Niue. The result of this trip was the establishment of measures to assist parliaments in the South Pacific, including a training program for staff providing library services to parliaments in the region. In addition, Andrew provided these parliamentary libraries with a current awareness service for some years. The Australian Parliamentary Library continues to assist libraries of parliaments in the South Pacific to this day.

In 1995, Andrew’s professionalism, knowledge and skill were recognised by the United States Embassy with an invitation to participate in a month-long visitors program. This included visits to the Library of Congress, the Brookings Institution, and universities, which were involved in the early internet and the world’s first virtual libraries.

In his long and successful career, Andrew has seen many changes in the way the Parliamentary Library provides service to its clients, but no matter how he delivers his services to the library’s clients, Andrew has always been highly professional, courteous and charming. His colleagues in the library will miss him enormously and are preparing to extend their expertise to fill in the gap he will create. Many members and senators will also miss his great detective skills and wonderful briefs. On behalf of all members, I wish Andrew all the best in his future endeavours.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members—Hear, hear!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If I could associate the government with your tribute to Mr Andrew Chin: I am sure that every member of this parliament is well aware from personal experience of the great service of the Parliamentary Library. We all rely on it. We rely on their professionalism. We rely on their assistance. I am aware that Andrew has been a pivotal part of the library for a long period of time. He has seen huge development in that time, including the move from the Old Parliament House to here. I suspect the development of all the new technology in that period has not actually made the job any easier—if anything, it has possibly made it harder as our requests for information from the Parliamentary Library become ones where we wish for the return of information ever more quickly. I also suspect that one of the challenges for Andrew in the Old Parliament House was not so much being asked for information by members of parliament on their way to the dining room; it may have been being asked by members of parliament on their way back from the dining room that actually was the more profound challenge. We all wish him well. It is a very proud record of service to be working in the parliament in any capacity over that length of time. It really does show a very special dedication to the working of the parliament and the working of the Australian democracy. We wish him very well for his future.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I also associate the opposition with the very generous tribute you paid to Andrew and indeed the remarks made by the Acting Prime Minister. None of us would be able to sound as well informed as we hope we do sound without the support of the Parliamentary Library. They have a great challenge assisting all of us and we could not do our work without them. They are indeed the unsung heroes of this place and we applaud Andrew for his many years of great service.