Making submissions

The Monitor welcomes submissions from groups, organisations, agencies and individuals to current reviews. Submissions are important to the work of the Monitor, and ensure reviews include input from many different perspectives. Please note that submissions can only be accepted in relation to a current review; please refer to the Current reviews page of this website for information about which legislation is currently under review.

Making a submission:

Anyone interested in making a submission to a current inquiry is invited do so. The preferred option is to send written submissions via email to INSLM@inslm.gov.au, however you can also post a submission to:

Mr Jake Blight
Independent National Security Legislation Monitor
3-5 National Cct, BARTON ACT 2600

Electronic submissions should not exceed 6MB. Word or pdf files are preferred.

Format of submissions:

There is no set format for submissions. A submission can be as short or as long as desired. It can contain facts, opinions, arguments or recommendations for amendments to legislation to address identified problems or concerns. Supporting documentation may also be attached or provided with submissions.

Where the Monitor has published an Issues Paper as part of the review it is generally helpful if submissions have regard to the Issues Paper. However, this does not mean that you cannot raise matters that are not addressed in the Issues Paper, so long as they still relate to the legislation being reviewed.

Attribution and contact details:

Please include your name (and that of your organisation, if applicable) in your submission, together with your preferred contact details including a daytime telephone number.

We recommend that you provide these details in a covering letter or email accompanying your submission and provide the submission in a separate document.

We will redact email addresses, phone numbers and signatures (but not names) included in submissions when we post them on our website. This is to reduce the risk of this information being ‘scraped’ from the internet and used for unauthorised purposes such as fraudulent emails, phone calls or other transactions. If you would prefer that we not redact this information from the published version of your submission, please let us know.

Confidential submissions:

The Monitor can accept submissions made in confidence. Confidential submissions may include sensitive information such as personal experiences where there is a wish to retain privacy.

If you wish to make a confidential submission or for part of your submission to be confidential, please say so clearly in your submission or cover note, and please explain why you would like for your submission or that part of your submission to be confidential. In the absence of a request for confidentiality, submissions will be treated as public.

Government agencies are encouraged to make unclassified submissions which can be made public. However, there will be occasion where classified information will be relevant to a Monitor’s review and agencies should contact the INSLM Office to make arrangements for the transmission of classified information.

Accessibility:

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires information published on government websites to comply with accessibility standards which ensure that online information and services are accessible to everyone.

The correct, clear marking of material means that people who use assistive technologies like screen readers can read information published online. If the information is not marked up according to these guidelines, it can become unstructured and misinterpreted.

To improve accessibility submissions should adhere to the following requirements:

all text uses appropriate styles (for example, Heading 1 style for top-level headings, Heading 2 style for sub-headings and so forth)
photographs or images have alternative text added to their properties
graphs and tables have a descriptive caption detailing what the graph or table contains.

Publication of submissions:

As a general rule, submissions will be published on the relevant inquiry submissions page on this website.

If a submission contains adverse comments about another person (for example, accusations of unlawful or improper behaviour), the Monitor retains discretion to provide the other person with an opportunity to reply or respond to these comments. This applies to both public and confidential submissions.

The Monitor will not publish any submission that:

contains information of a type listed in s29 (3) of the INSLM Act (including material which may prejudice security or law enforcement)
fails to protect your personal privacy or that of others by including personal information about yourself or others
makes defamatory or libellous comments
abuses, harasses or threatens others
vilifies others, incites, induces or aids violence, discrimination, harassment, victimisation or hatred towards others
uses obscene or offensive language
infringes the intellectual property rights of others
promotes commercial interests, or
does not address issues relevant to the review

The INSLM Office endeavours to ensure that any material published to its website meets the above criteria. If you identify any content that you believe is offensive or may not be in line with these criteria, please contact the INSLM Office immediately via email at inslm.inslm.gov.au and, if appropriate, we will remove it.