On 27 October 2022, the Senate referred an inquiry into the capacity and capability of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to undertake proportionate investigation and enforcement action arising from reports of alleged misconduct to the Senate Economics References Committee (the Committee) for report by the last sitting day in June 2024.
The terms of reference for the inquiry can be found here.
Submissions
Update: Due to the high level of interest in this inquiry, the committee has received a large number of submissions which all need to be read and discussed prior to making a decision regarding their acceptance. The committee is currently working through this process and will progressively publish submissions over the coming weeks. Once the committee has made decisions about accepting and publishing submissions, formal correspondence will be sent to submitters advising them of the status of their submission. Submitters should not give their submission to anyone or publish it before the committee makes a decision on whether to accept it.
The committee welcomes submissions to this inquiry.
The closing date for the committee receiving submissions is 28 February 2023.
However, it is important to note that the committee is not obliged to accept every document it receives as a submission. The committee has the option to accept a document as correspondence, or not accept it at all depending on its content.
Odgers' Senate Practice clearly indicates:
"…a submission made to a committee becomes a committee document, and it is for the committee to decide whether to receive it as evidence and whether to publish it."
Further information can be found in our procedural documents.
Drafting a submission
To assist your document being received and accepted as a submission to the inquiry, we recommend your comments stay focussed on the terms of reference. More information about making a submission can found here.
Documents that don't address the terms of reference and diverge onto extraneous issues are unlikely to be accepted as submissions. Further guidance on making a submission can be on the Senate’s Making a submission webpages.
Form letters or documents containing repetitive themes
Form letters that are received as part of letter writing campaigns are likely to be received in the following way: a sample of the document may be accepted as a submission and published with a written indication of how many such documents were received.
Similarly, documents received that are not strictly form letters but demonstrate repetitive themes are also highly likely to be acknowledged in the same way: a certain number taken as samples with a written indication of how many such documents were received.
Treatment of correspondence
If your document is received as correspondence, the committee will consider its content and it will inform the committee's consideration of the terms of reference. However, it will not be individually referenced in the final report of the inquiry.
The committee hopes this information will assist you in the drafting of your submission.