CONDUCT OF THE INQUIRY
On 31 August 1995, the Senate referred this matter to the Senate Economics
References Committee for inquiry and report. The matter was readopted
on 9 May 1996 after the commencement of the new Parliament. For the three
month period from 1 June until 30 August 1996, work on this inquiry was
held in abeyance while another inquiry was completed.
The Terms of Reference were advertised in national newspapers in mid-October
1995 and submissions called for by mid-December 1995. The Committee received
40 submissions from a range of individuals and organisations (Appendix
I). Most submissions came from community organisations (11), individuals
(10) and government departments or agencies (9). Submissions also came
from peak industry groups (4), individual garment companies (4) and from
unions (2). The Committee also received one petition, signed by 522 people.
In an effort to reach migrant outworkers, the Committee advertised in
relevant community newspapers in 10 languages (Arabic, Mandarin, Korean,
Laotian, Philipino, Vietnamese, Khmer, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish)
and on SBS radio (in the same languages plus Cantonese). In addition,
the Committee established a dedicated 1800 telephone line with a translator
service for receipt of oral submissions. A total of 18 phone calls were
received on this line.
The Committee held public hearings in Sydney, Melbourne (twice), Adelaide
and Canberra (Appendix II). Oral contributions were taken from 33 witnesses
or groups of witnesses (Appendix III), and 919 pages of evidence were
taken. The Committee visited a number of garment manufacturing companies
and seven outworker homes in Sydney and Melbourne (Appendix II).