Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note that Mr Andrew Chin has recently retired after 35 years of service at the Parliamentary Library. I first met Andrew during one of the first sitting weeks of the new parliament. Since then, he has assisted me with a number of research questions in an area in which we share a keen interest: foreign affairs.

As someone who came to the Parliamentary Library in 1973, Andrew has seen a number of changes in this place, including six different prime ministers and the historic move from Old Parliament House. Andrew has worked with governments in the South Pacific region in developing their parliamentary libraries. This has included visits to Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga and Niue. As a developed democracy, it is our duty to help strengthen democratic institutions in our region, and I congratulate Andrew on the role he has played in achieving this. Andrew’s responsibility for developing and building the United Nations deposit collection is another area where his work will benefit parliamentarians for many years beyond his retirement.

I would like to record my sincere thanks to Andrew for all the assistance he has provided to me and to my parliamentary colleagues and their staff, past and present. I hope his retirement is peace filled and happy. In noting the outstanding contribution that Andrew Chin has made, I also wish to acknowledge the work of all the staff at the Parliamentary Library. The work of the library staff not only assists us as individual members but unquestionably improves the quality of debate and decisions made in this place.