Australia
A little question and its outcome:
The question:
Sent: Friday, 29 October 2010 11:40 AM
To: Community Affairs, Committee (SEN)
Subject: A question about who can submit to an Inquiry
Dear Madam/Sir,
Who is able to make a submission to "The Social and Economic Impact of Rural Wind Farms"? Do you have to be an Australian citizen?
I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience.
regards
b.m. j.
From: Community Affairs, Committee (SEN)
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 2:25 PM
To: b.m.j
Subject: RE: A question about who can submit to an Inquiry
Dear M.J.
Thank you for your inquiry about submissions to the reference on ‘The Social and Economic Impact of Rural Wind Farms’.
The committee would be happy to receive submissions from overseas.
However, please note, that while all submissions to Senate inquiries become Committee documents upon receipt, and are protected by parliamentary privilege, this protection may extend only to Australia. You should therefore be aware of the limitation of this protection. For example, if it is possible that a submission could give rise to legal action in another country, the committee cannot afford protection. If this was to be of concern to an international submitter they should seek local legal advice.
More information about parliamentary privilege is available from the Senate fact sheet titled How to make a submission to a Senate Committee inquiry at http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/wit_sub/bro_one.htm.
Please contact me again if you have any concerns.
Regards
Tim Kendall
Dr Timothy Kendall
Standing Committee on Community Affairs
Australian Senate
Parliament of Australia
After this little correspondence an enormous number of submissions were sent to Committee on Community Affairs during the next weeks. There were so many submissions that the Senate extended the closing date.
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The Social and Economic Impact of Rural Wind Farms
Information about the Inquiry
On 27 October 2010 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Community Affairs Committee for inquiry and report.
The Leader of the Family First Party (Senator Fielding), pursuant to notice of motion not objected to as a formal motion, moved business of the Senate notice of motion no. 1- That the following matter be referred to the Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2011:
The social and economic impacts of rural wind farms, and in particular:
(a) Any adverse health effects for people living in close proximity to wind farms;
(b) Concerns over the excessive noise and vibrations emitted by wind farms, which are in close proximity to people's homes;
(c) The impact of rural wind farms on property values, employment opportunities and farm income;
(d) The interface between Commonwealth, state and local planning laws as they pertain
to wind farms; and
(e) Any other relevant matters.
Please be advised that the committee has sought advice from the Clerk of the Senate on the matter of parliamentary privilege for potential submitters and witnesses that have signed confidentiality agreements with windfarm operators. This advice can be found here.
Submissions should be received by 10 February 2011. The reporting date is 30 April 2011.
The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! JavaScript muss aktiviert werden, damit sie angezeigt werden kann. as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.
Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3515 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5829 or by email to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! JavaScript muss aktiviert werden, damit sie angezeigt werden kann. .
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.
Once 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. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
link: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/clac_ctte/impact_rural_wind_farms/info.htm
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Inquiry into The Social and Economic Impact of Rural Wind Farms
What happened after the deadline for submissions?
Next step were public hearings:
(http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/impact_rural_wind_farms/hearings/index.htm)
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over 1000 submissions are published right now!
The Committee was overwhelmed. Until today, not all submissions are processed. The rest will be published as soon as possible.
The submissions are stored as pdf-files. A click on the pdf link opens the submission of the specific person or group.
(http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/impact_rural_wind_farms/submissions.htm)
