At the dissolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives on 9 May 2016 for a general election on 2 July 2016, the parliamentary committees of the 44th Parliament ceased to exist. Therefore inquiries that were not completed have lapsed and submissions cannot be received. However, information about the inquiries is still available on this website.

On 11 October 2016, the Senate agreed not to re-refer this inquiry in the 45th Parliament.

On 24 November 2015, the Senate referred an inquiry into the development of bauxite resources near Aurukun in Cape York to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by 31 March 2016.

At a meeting held on 3 December 2015, the committee decided to extend the submissions closing date from 5 February to 15 February 2016.   

Submissions closed on 15 February 2016. 

On 24 March 2016, the Committee was granted an extension to report by 10 June 2016.