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There is no prescribed form for a written submission to a parliamentary
committee. Submissions may be in the form of a letter, a substantial
paper or a short document. Appendices and other supporting documents
may be appended to submissions. Submissions may contain facts, opinions,
arguments and recommendations for action. It would assist the committee
in its deliberations if each submission contained an executive summary.
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The submission may cover all of the points raised in the terms of
reference of the committee's inquiry or a selection of them. The terms
of reference usually provide a good framework for structuring a submission.
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Where possible, submissions should be typed on A4 paper. This helps
reproduction of the submission for examination by committees. Where
typing facilities are not available, handwritten submissions are acceptable.
Every effort should be made to make them legible. Note: please do
not send additional copies of the submission to members of the committee
or other Members of Parliament.
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The Committee Office is able to read all documents created on Apple
Mac and IBM PCs. The preferred format is Microsoft Word 97 or Word 6.0.
Submissions to the Senate Select Committee on a New Tax System may be
sent to the Email address of gstinquiry.sen@aph.gov.au.
or posted to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Select Committee on a New Tax System
Suite SG 64, Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
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The submission should be signed by the author either on his/her own
behalf or on behalf of an organisation. Those signing submissions on
behalf of an organisation should indicate what level the submission
has been authorised (eg. sub-committee, executive committee, president,
chair, state branch, regional group).
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There may be submissions which an author would prefer not be made
public. In this case the author may request that the submission (or
part of it) remain confidential. This should be clearly indicated in
the submission. If it is desired that only part of the submission remain
confidential, that part should be submitted separately if possible.
The committee will then consider the request for confidentiality.
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The protection and requirements of the Parliamentary Privileges Act
1987 are drawn to your attention. Briefly, for the purpose of a Senate
committee inquiry, unless otherwise decided, a written submission may
be deemed by the committee to be the giving of evidence. Its presentation
to the committee and the committee's publication and circulation of
it attracts the protection of parliamentary privilege. Thus, no action
of any kind may be taken against a person for making a submission and
no submission may be used in courts or tribunals to question the truth,
motives or credibility of any person.
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Once a committee receives a submission it must not be published or
disclosed to any other person in that form without the committee's authorisation.
If its publication is not authorised not only is it not protected by
parliamentary privilege but publication may also be in contempt of Parliament.
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A committee may not accept a submission that is not relevant to the
committee's inquiry. The committee will inform you if it decides not
to accept your submission.
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Authors of submissions are sometimes asked to give oral evidence before
a committee at a public hearing. Such questioning allows the committee
to examine particular issues in greater detail, and the author has an
opportunity to amplify points made, or provide additional information.
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Further information concerning the preparation of submissions to the
Senate Select Committee on a New Tax System, is available on Phone (02)
6277 3134, Fax: (02) 6277 3122
