He became highly regarded as secretary to the Regulations and Ordinances Committee for many years and cut his teeth on executive accountability to the parliament.
Members of the committee congratulate Mr Evans on his advancement, and look forward to his further progress as an officer of the Senate.’ In the early 1980s, Harry set up what is now the Procedure Office, in response to the emergence of minor parties in the Senate and their needs for procedural advice and legislative drafting support in addition to the requirements of the opposition and the government.
These were incredibly productive years during which Harry was Senate adviser to the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Privilege; was secretary to the two select committees on the conduct of a judge; was the principal critic of the New South Wales Supreme Court decisions in the case of R v Murphy, which provided the immediate catalyst for the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987; was principal instructor in the drafting of the Parliamentary Privileges Bill; revised and redrafted the standing orders to bring them up to date and to delete archaic, unused and contradictory provisions; was secretary to the Select Committee on Legislation Procedures, which provided the blueprint for the system of referral of bills to committees which commenced in 1990; and initiated the Procedural Information Bulletin, which continues to provide authoritative commentary on those interesting and unusual procedures with which the Senate abounds.
As a strong defender of the rights of the Senate, including the controversial power to subpoena witnesses, he raised the ire of governments and prime ministers of all persuasions, in particular Paul Keating and John Howard.
[2] Evans has stated on numerous occasions that he believes the Senate works best when it has a "non-government party majority".
[4] In 2017, the 14th edition of Odgers' Australian Senate Practice was given the subtitle 'as revised by Harry Evans', recognising the "substantial contribution of the Senate's longest serving Clerk, the late Harry Evans".