Appendix A: Inquiry process

Adoption of the inquiry

The inquiry was referred to the Committee by the Hon Peter Garrett AM MP, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, and Senator the Hon Penny Wong, the Minister for Climate Change and Water, on 20 March 2008.

Conduct of inquiry

The inquiry was advertised in the national press[1] and on the Committee’s website. Invitations to lodge submissions were sent to over 150 individuals and organisations with a possible interest in the matter, including State Premiers and Chief Ministers. The Committee received 107 submissions, 21 supplementary submissions and 180 exhibits.[2] Details are at Appendices B and D to this report.

The Committee held 28 public hearings, from July 2008 to August 2009, in Canberra, the Central Coast of New South Wales, Darwin, Adelaide, Hobart, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Broome. The dates and locations of these public hearings, including details of witnesses who appeared before the Committee, are at Appendix C.

The Committee also undertook nine site inspections to coastal areas vulnerable to climate change and environmental impacts, including the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland; the Central Coast, New South Wales; Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory; Port Adelaide and Salisbury, South Australia; Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon Ramsar site, Hobart; Cottesloe, Mandurah and Busselton, Western Australia; the Gold Coast and Moreton Bay, Queensland; Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne; and James Price Point, Western Australia.[3] Case studies on some of these site inspections are included in the report.

Submissions to the inquiry, transcripts of evidence taken at public hearings and an electronic copy of the report are available from the Committee’s website at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ccwea/coastalzone/index.htm.