On the 22 December 2021, the Minister for Communications, Hon Paul Fletcher MP asked the Committee to inquire into and report on Australia’s regional newspapers. The terms of reference for the inquiry can be found on the terms of reference webpage.

The Committee has developed an online survey seeking the views from Australians’ living in regional, rural or remote areas about how they access local news. The survey is open until 11 February 2022 and takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

Anyone can make a submission to the inquiry which addresses some or all of the terms of reference, by using the My Parliament system or email to communications.reps@aph.gov.au. Submissions do not have a set format, but should be prepared solely for the inquiry and should not be published prior to being accepted by the Committee. Further information about making submissions can be found on the making a submission to a committee inquiry webpage.

Submissions are requested by Friday, 28 January 2022.

The stages of an inquiry are: