Every year, Australian parliaments hold hundreds of inquiries on everything from health policy and environmental protection to the government is using consultants, the use of AI or how well the election was run.

Politicians want to hear from you, but not everyone realises how easy it is to make a submission.

Some who make submissions are called as witnesses to give spoken evidence in front of the committee. That can be intimidating for those who have never done it before.

This special, one-off Policy School is a guide on how to make an effective submission and give evidence before a committee, based on the Australia Institute’s experience participating in dozens of parliamentary inquiries.

You can find the webinar slides here: Policy School – How to make a parliamentary submission and appear at an inquiry.

SPEAKERS:

Bill Browne — Director, Democracy & Accountability Program, The Australia Institute

Bill Browne is Director of the Democracy & Accountability Program.His diverse areas of interest include the use of opinion polling, forecasting to predict policy outcomes, truth in political advertising reforms, digital technology and the role of the states and the Senate in Australian democracy. Prior to coming to the Australia Institute, he worked as an environmental, social, governance (ESG) analyst.

Dr Alice Grundy — Research Manager, The Australia Institute

Dr Alice Grundy is an editor, researcher and teacher, with over 15 years’ experience working in book publishing, and a Visiting Fellow at ANU. She has worked for the public service and has taught at the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Melbourne and Australian National University. She completed a PhD on editing and publishing history at ANU, the first half of which became Editing Fiction: Three case studies from postwar Australia, published by Cambridge University Press.

Who should attend:

The Australia Institute’s Policy School is for anyone interested in how public policy is researched and developed, as well as how to advocate for policy change.
It is designed for policy makers, campaigners, NGOs, academics, and public servants.