- Introduce yourself or your group, acknowledge the opportunity to make a submission and note any relevant work you or your group has done.
- Outline your key concerns and focus your discussion on these. It is not necessary to address the whole proposal - choose the parts that are most relevant to you.
- If possible, make recommendations. Make strong clear statements, e.g., ‘the proposal should be amended to include a requirement that…’
- Use evidence or case studies or stories to support your arguments and recommendations. Give specific examples that draw on your knowledge and experience. If you can, collect other stories that support your argument from others in the community. You can also draw on the work of others, for example scientific publications, government documents, or the work of other organisations.
- Don’t forget to set out the aspects of the proposal that you think are good. There may be other stakeholders who want to get rid of things you think are positive, so it is important to point out what you support.
- Always give details about how you arrived at your assertions. For example, instead of saying: 'The golf course proposal is outrageous. It will pollute the river.' You could consider saying something like: 'Irrigating the lawns of the 50-hectare golf course, together with using fertiliser and herbicides, is likely to result in changes to the water table, nutrient pollution, and an adverse impact on the red gum forest next to the land where the golf course is proposed'.
- We have a link to a very worthwhile guideline for writing a submission, please follow this Writing Submissions, Letters or Petitions