On 22 August 2024, the Senate appointed a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances), to inquire into the extent, regulation and management of PFAS, and present its final report by 5 August 2025.
Submissions closing date: 19 December 2024.
The committee intends to hold public hearings in early 2025.
The committee secretariat can also help with any inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3247 or by email to PFAS.sen@aph.gov.au.
Preparing a submission
The committee welcomes submissions from individuals about their experiences with and views on the extent, regulation and management of PFAS. In preparing a submission, the following guidance may be helpful:
• Address the submission to the committee and cover some or all of the terms of reference.
• Try to be concise, generally five pages or less.
• Outline the issues and how they can be addressed, without necessarily naming people (if submissions contain potential adverse reflections on individuals or organisations, the committee may be required to provide them with an opportunity to respond).
Submissions may be provided as a written document, audio or video file which can include, art, song and/or dance.
The committee may not accept or publish material that is not relevant to the inquiry's terms of reference, or which reflects adversely on others. The committee may also not accept personal or business documents or correspondence which might be attached to a submission.
Types of submissions
During an inquiry, committees prefer to make submissions public by publishing them on the inquiry webpage, with personal information like email addresses and phone numbers removed.
However, there are several ways committees can consider documents. When you provide your submission to the committee, please clarify whether you are requesting that your submission be:
• a public submission published with your name on the internet; or
• a name withheld submission published without your name on the internet; or
• a confidential submission, kept confidential by the committee. Please note that while committees are respectful of such requests, they do have the power to refuse to accept as confidential, or to publish submissions following consultation with the submitter.
If asking for name withheld or confidentiality, please provide brief reasons for this.
Treatment of documents
All documents sent to the inquiry become committee documents on receipt, and are only made public following a decision of the committee.
In some circumstances, committees receive a large volume of correspondence. The committee may choose to take the issues raised into consideration, but not publish as submissions all the correspondence it receives.
If the committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential committee document and is protected by parliamentary privilege. You must not release your submission without the committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by parliamentary privilege.
The processing of submissions is not an automatic process, and it may take up to several weeks before the committee can consider your submission. You will be advised by the secretariat once the committee has done so.