On 27 March 2018, the Senate referred an inquiry into the role of Commonwealth, state and territory Governments in addressing the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders, emergency service workers and volunteers to the Education and Employment References Committee for inquiry and report by 5 December 2018.
On 18 October 2018, the Senate granted an extension of time to report until the second sitting Wednesday in February 2019. On 29 November 2018 the Senate agreed to an amended extension of time to report until 14 February 2019.
While the committee has requested that submissions to the inquiry be received by 20 June 2018, it will continue to consider and accept submissions after this date. As a large number of submissions may be received for this inquiry, including many of a sensitive and personal nature, there may be a delay between your submission being received and it being considered and approved for publication by the committee. This process may take a number of weeks. Thank you for your patience in this matter.
If you are interested in contributing to the committee's inquiry, you may find it helpful to look at the guide for preparing a submission. It includes suggestions on what to include in a submission, a check list, and information about what happens to your submission once it has been received by the committee.
You can ask the committee to keep your submission confidential. Confidential submissions are only read by members of the committee and the secretariat and are not published online. Please include the word confidential clearly on the front of your submission to request this.
The committee emphasises that it is not in a position to provide advice on individual circumstances. The committee's focus is on the broad issues raised in the terms of reference.
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