Have your say in an inquiry
When Parliament looks into an issue, it asks the public to send in written submissions. A submission is your experience, put to the committee in writing, so they have to weigh it. Here is how an inquiry works, and how to write a submission that counts.
A committee of members of Parliament looks closely at one issue, calls for submissions, then reports back with findings the government has to respond to.
Your submission goes on the public record, it shapes what the committee finds, and it reaches them when a social media comment never will. Ordinary people, not just experts, are exactly who they want to hear from.
Start with the terms of reference
Every inquiry sets out a short list of questions it is there to answer. These are its terms of reference, and they are the committee's exact words. Everything you write has to speak to one of them.
What is happening, and to whom. The impact the inquiry wants to understand.
Why it is happening. The causes, or the decisions behind it.
What could be done. The changes the committee should consider.
Every inquiry words its terms differently, and some have more than three. The three above are only the shape they tend to take. Read the real ones on the inquiry's own page and use them as your headings.
Seven steps to a strong submission
You do not need to be a writer. You need to be specific.
- Pick your term, or terms
Read the inquiry's terms of reference and choose the one or two that fit your experience. Ignore the rest. Use them as your headings.
- Say who you are
One or two lines: your connection to the issue, how long, and what is at stake for you. This establishes you as a real, first-hand witness.
- Stick to dated facts
For each point, say what happened, to whom, when, and how much. A dated, first-hand fact is evidence. A feeling is not.
- Put numbers in, and check them
Where you can, put a figure on it. Check every dollar figure against your own records, or your accountant, before you lodge. One wrong number can discredit the whole submission.
- Attack the decision, not the person
Do not write that anyone is a liar or corrupt. Use the documentary version: what was not done, what was not consulted, what does not match what was said. It keeps you safe, and it lands harder.
- End with one recommendation
Finish with a single, specific fix the committee could actually recommend. Something the government could say yes to, without having to admit it got everything wrong, is worth far more than something that corners them.
- Keep it inside the lines
Before you lodge, check every point still maps to a term of reference. Cut anything that does not, however true it is. Anything off-topic gets set aside as general feedback.
Opinion is set aside. Evidence is weighed.
The one thing that gets a submission set aside is opinion in place of fact.
"This decision is a disgrace and the minister should be ashamed."
A general complaint is read once, then filed away. Naming a person can also expose you.What happened. To whom. When. How much.
Specific, dated, first-hand. This is what the committee weighs.What a strong submission looks like
The finished shape. The bracketed spots are where your own detail goes.
You bring it. We carry it into Parliament.
If something about a decision is not adding up, a figure, a date, a process, tell the office. Even when no inquiry is open, it may be a question we can put to the minister on the record.
This is a plain-English guide from the electorate office. The committee's own inquiry page is the authority on its terms of reference, its process, and its closing date. Always confirm dollar figures against your own records before you lodge.