Making a Written Submission to an Inquiry

The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee welcomes submissions as sources of information and opinion. Such submissions are an important part of its Inquiry process. These notes provide a number of suggestions on how you might prepare and present a submission.

Who may make a submission?

Any person or organisation can make a submission to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. There is no restriction. Individuals, community groups, private organisations, local government and State government representatives - indeed, anyone or any body interested in an Inquiry currently before the Committee can make a submission.

Terms of reference

Before preparing your submission, it is important that you read the Terms of Reference carefully. The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee advertises its Terms of Reference, calls for submissions and identifies a due date for their receipt in the daily press. If an issue is of obvious local concern, advertisements will also be placed in regional and district newspapers. If you do not have a copy of the Terms of Reference, please contact the Committee's office.

Preparing a submission

It is most important that your submission address all or part of the Terms of Reference. You do not have to comment on every aspect of the Terms of Reference. Equally, you do not have to limit yourself to just one aspect. Your submission can contain factual information, opinion or both. You might wish to draw the attention of the Committee to something relevant to the Inquiry. You might choose to emphasise solutions to the matter or issue before the Committee. This is entirely your choice. The only criterion is that whatever you say, however you say it, must address the Terms of Reference. Your position or observations will be welcomed by the Committee subject to that one stipulation: your submission must be relevant.

Submission format

There is no specific method for organising or presenting a submission. Your contribution can take the form of a letter, a short report or commentary or a longer research document. You can include relevant data in appendices or incorporate them in the body of the text. Be sure that the structure, argument and conclusions of your submission are clear.

There are certain technical conventions that the Committee asks you to observe:

• Use A4 paper. This helps with reproduction and distribution of your submission to Committee members.
• Present a typed submission. If this is not possible, a handwritten submission is acceptable; please ensure that your handwriting is legible.
• Sign the submission. If you are signing on behalf of an organisation, please indicate your position in the organisation. If relevant, specify at what level the submission has been authorised: branch, executive, president, sub-committee, national body, etc.
• Electronic file copies of submissions, on floppy disc or email would be appreciated, especially if you intend to present large quantities of statistical data. Please advise the Committee of the operating system and programs used. Email or facsimile submissions are, however, not acceptable as originals.
• Supplementary material. You may wish to support your submission with other forms of material, such as video, photographs and objects. This is acceptable, and can be on a loan or donation basis. Any material borrowed by the Committee will be returned on completion of the Inquiry.

Executive Officer
Public Accounts and Estimates Committee
Parliament House
Spring Street
East Melbourne VIC 3002

Confidentiality

All submissions, unless deemed confidential, are public documents. If an author wishes all or part of it to be treated as confidential, a request should accompany the submission. The Committee will then consider the request for confidentiality and advise the author of its decision. It is the Committee's choice, not the author's, if and when a submission will be made public, and if and when a submission will be printed. Nor can an author publish all or part of a submission without the Committee's authorisation. Subject to the Committee's approval, all submissions are available for public scrutiny.

Parliamentary privilege

Submissions to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee are protected by parliamentary privilege. Submissions are considered to be the same as evidence taken by a Committee in a public hearing. As such, nothing in a submission can give rise to legal action against the author or be subject to proceedings in a court of law.

Public hearings

Under certain circumstances, the Committee might wish to discuss a matter further with the author of a submission. If this occurs, the Committee will contact you and advise you of the date, time and place of the public hearing.