The clerk of the Queensland parliament Neil Laurie was here for two days to assist with the youth parliament and also speak publicly about the functions of his office.

Mr Laurie attended a Rotarians dinner on Tuesday where he explained he was the permanent office of the house of parliament.

“The parliament is almost like a small department and I’m like the director-general,” Mr Laurie said.

“But my role is more diverse as I give advice to the Speaker and members on all sides on parliamentary practice.”

Mr Laurie said his role was completely impartial.

“I’ve been in the parliament since 1993 and I’ve served eight or nine speakers in that time,” he said.

So what brought the clerk of the parliament to Mount Isa?

“Well, some years ago we used to have a regional sitting of parliament in places like Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton and at some stage the decision was made we wouldn’t be doing that anymore,” he said.

“But one really good benefit from those sittings was we took the opportunity to outreach to the communities beyond the regional cities and spoke to them about parliament.”

Mr Laurie said making people aware of what they did and how people can interact with parliament was a major function of his role.

“We put in place a program where in every sitting of parliament, we’ll try and get around the state as much as possible, get out to the regions and spread the word,” he said.

“This week in Mount Isa, we’ve had officers at local schools doing coaching with schoolkids, I’m talking here tonight and Wednesday is all about the youth parliament.”

Mr Laurie said the whole point of the exercise was to explain what parliament is there for and how people can connect to parliament.

“In 2011 we had a dramatic change to our parliamentary system by the introduction of portfolio committees and all legislation goes to these committees which go out to the regions,” he said.

“This is probably the best way regional people can communicate with parliament.”