Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Hansard source

Senators, as you are aware, on 15 September this year, the Clerk of the Senate, Dr Rosemary Laing, gave notice to me that she intends to retire as Clerk on 8 March next year. The Parliamentary Service Act provides for the Clerk to be appointed by the President following consultation with senators. A person may not be appointed as Clerk unless they have extensive knowledge of, and experience in, relevant parliamentary law, procedure and practice.

I consulted with senators on the selection process I proposed to adopt and received support for that process. I was assisted in this process by the Deputy President, Senator Lines; Senator Brandis, as Leader of the Government in the Senate; Senator Gallagher, as the representative of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate; Senator Siewert, as a representative of the Australian Greens and the Australian Greens' longest-serving senator; and Senator Xenophon, as the longest-serving senator on the crossbench.

Following an open, competitive and merit-based selection process, the selection panel unanimously agreed that the current Deputy Clerk, Mr Richard Pye, demonstrated greater merit and should be appointed Clerk of the Senate. Following consultation yesterday—

Honourable senators: Hear, hear!

I am sure the Deputy Clerk is monitoring the chamber very closely, as a diligent Deputy Clerk would! Following consultation yesterday with the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Staffing and Security, I am pleased to now inform the Senate that I have appointed Mr Richard Pye as Clerk of the Senate to take effect on 9 March next year. I congratulate Richard on his appointment as the next Clerk of the Senate and look forward to working with him in his new role. As a matter of interest, he will be the 14th Clerk of the Senate in 115 years.

So as not to conflate the two issues, and to give due credit to Richard Pye's selection as Clerk, I will be making a further announcement regarding the retirement of our current Clerk, Dr Rosemary Laing, later in the week.