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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-08-07 Daily Xml
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Stanley, Dr Coral

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:21): I am very pleased today to have the opportunity to say a few words in honour of the distinct contribution made by Dr Coral Stanley to the parliament and the people of South Australia and her distinguished service first as principal research officer of the parliamentary library, then parliamentary librarian, most recently renamed as Director of the Parliament Research Library, which I think is a significant win to cap off a fine career in the parliamentary library.

It is funny the way that life has a way of turning in a circle—the circle of life. It was 1996 when as a 16 or 17-year-old young man I had enrolled in Australian Politics 1, a course run by Dr Carol Johnson and Jenny Stock and Dr Coral Baines, as Coral Stanley then was. Dr Stanley invited me into her office with a group of eight or nine of my peers on a very regular basis to undertake tutorials in that course, and now I have the opportunity to invite Dr Stanley into my office with eight or nine of my peers to have a chat about what has happened since.

The career of Dr Stanley: after teaching at Adelaide University for nine years, she then came into this building where, as I said, she has undertaken a range of roles and, in particular, most importantly, was appointed as parliamentary librarian in January 2007. In that role, she has had a strong focus on strengthening the research aspect of library activities, to help members identify and interpret information relevant to their concerns. Reflecting these changes, the library was in fact renamed under Dr Stanley's stewardship the Parliament Research Library in 2007.

All of the library research officers have research backgrounds with appropriate qualifications and experience. By way of comparison, there were two general distribution papers produced for members in 2007, whereas so far this year there have already been seven papers published for general distribution. Under Dr Stanley, there has been an emphasis on providing a reliable and immediate service for members. For example, access to library databases through the extranet for members means a member can access a database on their iPad or phone 24/7 and not just when they are logged into their desktop machine during working hours. We have also seen the introduction of television news clips in 2009.

Dr Stanley has respected the heritage of the library and the parliament. Rare books were identified and removed to the vault for secure and safe keeping. Regular displays of heritage materials and objects held by the library, the Goyder Map display and so on have all been undertaken under Dr Stanley's tight regime in the parliamentary library. Dr Stanley has also worked hard to create interest amongst members as to the role of the library and the work it can do to service parliament's needs. She has established the Friends of the Library, which a number of members here are part of and active participants in, and supported related activities, including talks for the friends and other members, the ATSE lunchtime presentations and so forth.

The role of the Parliament Research Library may not be easily understood unless one has had interactions with the parliament. When a minister stands up to speak, they have support and advice from a department, with many experts in the department providing significant resources to them but, for a member of the opposition or indeed the government backbenchers, the support they have is two staff members, one of whom at least is usually focused entirely on constituency matters and maybe the second one as well, but the second one might help with research.

In maintaining an effective representative democracy, the services provided by that small number of librarians, able to undertake research projects for the public good and able to check facts and statistics for members of parliament, ensure that when we present our case on behalf of our constituents, as much as is possible, we get it right and factually correct and then can make deliberations on the matter thereafter. We rely so much on having those matters looked into and researched accurately, and the parliamentary library is invaluable to members who are interested and focused on serving their constituents with the benefit of accurate information.

I found recently an article about Dr Stanley on page 5 of the 24 April 2000 edition of Adelaidean identifying the fantastic work she had done on the MFP. There is a delightful photo, which I will give her a copy of in a moment, and I encourage all members to go and have a look at the paper Dr Stanley wrote. I will not go into it other than to say that, from a sneak peek at the end, the MFP did not turn out to be a great idea. On behalf of the South Australian Parliamentary Liberal Party, and I suspect all members in this house, I wish Dr Stanley all the best, a very healthy, happy next stage in her journey and a very happy retirement with her family. I wish her all the best.

The SPEAKER (15:25): I would like to add my endorsement to the member for Morialta's remarks. Dr Coral Stanley, director of the parliamentary library, will retire on Friday 15 August—the Feast of the Assumption. I thank her and congratulate her on her service to the parliament. Coral started in January 1999 as a research coordinator. Coral came from an academic background and worked on improving the library's research capacity.

Coral has made the library a more welcoming and helpful place. She improved media cataloguing, including television news clips, rare book display cabinets, the adopt-a-rare-book restorations, the King Charles lectern display, the Goyder line display, the women's suffrage electronic display and the Friends of the Library seminars. On behalf of the house, I wish Coral the best in retirement and thank her for what she has done for us.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

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