On 6 December 2023 the Senate referred an inquiry into access to Australian Parliament House by lobbyists and the adequacy of current transparency arrangements relating to the lobbyist register to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Reference Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2024.
Submissions closing date: 9 February 2024
On 30 April 2024, the committee tabled a progress report requesting to extend the reporting date until 7 May 2024.
Terms of Reference for the inquiry are available at Terms of Reference - Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)
How to prepare a personal submission:
- Address the submission to the Committee and cover some or all of the terms of reference.
- Be concise.
- Outline the issues and how they can be addressed, without naming people.
- The Committee may not accept submissions that fail to comply with the above criteria.
- Clearly identify in the header, filename and subject line whether you are requesting to make:
– a public submission published with your name on the internet; or
– a confidential submission, kept confidential by the Committee. While committees are respectful of such requests, they do have the power to refuse to accept or to publish submissions following consultation with the submitter.
The Committee's role
- The Committee is not able to investigate or resolve individual disputes.
- The Committee's powers allow it to report to Parliament with recommendations for changes to legislation, regulation and government policy.
- The Committee welcomes individual stories that may identify issues and recommendations.
Parliamentary privilege
Submissions to the inquiry become committee documents upon receipt and are made public only after a decision by the Committee. You should not release your submission to anyone until the Committee advises you that it has been accepted and published. Submissions are protected by parliamentary privilege once they are accepted by the Committee, their unauthorised release before this is not.
For further information see
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/How_to_make_a_submission