Australian governments ask for public comment on many proposals before they decide. This guide explains how to find an open consultation, read the paper, write a submission and what happens afterwards. It focuses on the Commonwealth and adds notes on state hubs where official pages exist.
What is a government consultation?
A consultation is a request for views on a proposal, run by the department or agency developing it. The papers take different forms: discussion or consultation papers, exposure drafts of legislation and draft rules. The Office of Impact Analysis (OIA), which supports Commonwealth policy makers, expects them to “consult in a genuine and timely way” with the people affected.
Treasury's papers show the pattern. A 2024 Treasury paper on merger notification thresholds said Treasury would use the feedback to inform its advice to government, and it put questions throughout the paper to guide responses.
How is a consultation different from a parliamentary inquiry?
A consultation is run by the executive. A department or agency collects views and uses them to advise its minister and the government. A parliamentary committee inquiry is run by a group of senators or members. According to the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO), a committee can receive written submissions, take evidence from witnesses and prepare a report of findings and recommendations that is tabled in Parliament.
Committees set their own rules for lodging and publishing submissions. The Parliament of Australia explains them for House of Representatives committees (opens in a new tab) and for Senate and joint committees (opens in a new tab). Check the inquiry's own page for its terms of reference, which state its purpose, and its closing date.
Where do you find open consultations?
Commonwealth departments publish consultations on their own sites, so you may need to check several. Treasury's consultations page (opens in a new tab) lists open and closed consultations with opening and closing dates, and it shows a count of days left for open ones. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing runs a consultation hub (opens in a new tab) with open, forthcoming and closed consultations.
Responsibilities also move between departments. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources hub (opens in a new tab) says its emissions reduction and energy consultations are now on the climate change, energy, environment and water department's consultation centre. If a consultation isn't where you expect, check where the policy area now sits.
State governments run their own hubs. New South Wales lists consultations by topic and location on its Have your say (opens in a new tab) page, and you open each one to see its details. Queensland's Have your say (opens in a new tab) page separates open consultations from recently closed ones and shows closing dates. Victoria hosts consultations on Engage Victoria (opens in a new tab). The New South Wales and Queensland landing pages don't say how submissions are published, so read the notice on each consultation.
How long do you have to respond?
The closing date on the consultation page is the deadline that counts. The OIA's guidance note on best practice consultation says 30 to 60 days is usually appropriate, depending on the significance of the proposal, with 30 days the minimum. It says longer periods may be needed around holidays and where a large organisation needs a board to agree its response.
That note is dated July 2023. The OIA's pages say a new Impact Analysis Framework took effect on 1 July 2026 and that references in the note to the previous framework are no longer current. Treat the 30 to 60 day range as guidance, not a promise about any particular consultation.
How do you read a consultation paper?
Start with what is proposed and what has already been decided. The OIA's guidance says agencies should state which aspects are finalised and not open to change, so you can focus on what is still open.
Then find the questions. Many papers set out questions and say you can answer some or all of them, as Treasury's 2024 paper did. Note how to lodge, the closing date and the notice about publication and confidentiality.
If the paper is an exposure draft of a bill, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet's guide to the legislation process says consultation may include public views on the bill's impacts or readability, as well as consultation with peak bodies and regulators on implementation.
How should you structure a submission?
Follow the agency's instructions first. The Productivity Commission says a submission can range from a short letter to a long, detailed document. The points below come from agency guidance, plus two suggestions of our own, which are marked.
- Answer the questions you can. Treasury's 2024 paper invited answers to some or all of its questions, or comment on the issues more broadly. (Our suggestion: say which question each part of your submission answers.)
- Back your points with evidence. The Productivity Commission asks for supporting evidence such as data and documents where you can provide it.
- Stay within the proposal's scope. The Productivity Commission says it may decline to publish material that is clearly outside the scope of an inquiry.
- Cite or link to other people's material instead of attaching it. The Productivity Commission asks people not to include material they don't own, such as newspaper articles or photos.
- Send an accessible file. Treasury preferred electronic lodgement and asked for email responses in Word or RTF format for accessibility reasons. The Productivity Commission prefers Word (.docx), accepts PDFs made from text-based documents, and asks you to remove tracked changes, comments and hidden text.
- Leave out personal details you don't need to include. The Productivity Commission removes home and email addresses, signatures and phone numbers before it publishes a submission.
- (Our suggestion: say in the first paragraph who you are and who you speak for, and state what you want the agency to do and why.)
Can your submission be confidential?
Some agencies publish submissions by default. Treasury's 2024 consultation paper said all information in formal submissions, including names and addresses, would be made public on its website unless the respondent asked for all or part to remain confidential. It added that automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails did not count, and that confidential parts should be marked as such in a separate attachment.
The same paper warned that legal requirements, such as those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, may affect the confidentiality of a submission. The Productivity Commission asks for confidential material in a separate attachment marked as in confidence, with reasons, and it may ask for a non-confidential summary. It accepts anonymous or pseudonymous submissions but says it may give them less weight.
The OIA's guidance says agencies should accommodate people who want their contributions kept confidential. Wording differs between agencies, so read each consultation's notice before you lodge.
What happens after a consultation closes?
The OIA says agencies should show stakeholders how their input was considered, and should respond to feedback even when they don't adopt it. Some hubs publish outcomes. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's hub says decisions are published under its closed consultations, and it has a section summarising what was asked, what people said and what was done. For regulatory proposals, the OIA's page on changes over time says that under the 2026 framework, Dashboard and Detailed impact analyses continue to be published after final policy announcements.
If the proposal becomes a bill, there may be a second chance to comment. Either house can refer a bill to a parliamentary committee, which may take written submissions (see how a bill becomes law in Australia (opens in a new tab)). If it becomes a legislative instrument, the Legislation Act 2003 requires the rule-maker to be satisfied that any consultation it considers appropriate and reasonably practicable has been undertaken, and the instrument's explanatory statement must describe the consultation or explain why there was none. Parliament can still disallow the instrument (see what is a disallowable legislative instrument (opens in a new tab)).
Following consultations across several agencies takes time. We Policy Advisor (opens in a new tab) is an Australian policy and regulatory monitoring service from We. Communications. It collects consultations, among other items, from official and stakeholder sources and links each item to its official source.
Some points are based on content from the Federal Register of Legislation at 20 October 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government legislation please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the consultation page and the official sources listed below before you act.
Questions
How long do I have to make a submission?
The closing date on the consultation page is the deadline. The Office of Impact Analysis's 2023 guidance says 30 to 60 days is usually appropriate, with 30 days the minimum, but check the date for each consultation.
Will my submission be made public?
It may be. Treasury's 2024 consultation paper said formal submissions would be published, including names and addresses, unless the respondent asked for all or part to remain confidential. Each agency sets its own notice, so read it before you lodge.
How do I keep part of a submission confidential?
Follow the agency's instructions. Treasury and the Productivity Commission both ask for confidential material in a separate attachment marked as confidential. The Productivity Commission also asks for reasons and may ask for a non-confidential summary. Freedom of information law may still apply.
Do I have to answer every question in the paper?
No. Treasury's 2024 paper invited respondents to answer some or all of its questions, or to comment on the issues more broadly. Check each paper's instructions.
Is a consultation the same as a parliamentary inquiry?
No. A consultation is run by a department or agency. An inquiry is run by a parliamentary committee, which can take evidence from witnesses and reports to Parliament. Each has its own rules for submissions.
Sources
- Best practice consultation (guidance note, July 2023) (opens in a new tab), Office of Impact Analysis, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Australian Government Impact Analysis Framework: new framework page (opens in a new tab), Office of Impact Analysis, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Framework key changes over time (opens in a new tab), Office of Impact Analysis, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Consultations (opens in a new tab), The Treasury. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Merger Notification Thresholds (consultation paper, 30 August 2024) (opens in a new tab), The Treasury. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- How to make a submission (opens in a new tab), Productivity Commission. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Consultation Hub (opens in a new tab), Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Consultation hub (opens in a new tab), Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Have your say (opens in a new tab), NSW Government. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Have your say (opens in a new tab), Queensland Government. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Engage Victoria (opens in a new tab), Victorian Government. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Parliamentary committees (opens in a new tab), Parliamentary Education Office. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Guide to the legislation process (opens in a new tab), Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
- Legislation Act 2003 (Compilation No. 39, 24 February 2019), sections 15J and 17 (opens in a new tab), Federal Register of Legislation, Office of Parliamentary Counsel. Read on 20 Oct 2026.
AI-generated summaries. Verify against the official source. Not legal advice.