A paper by IPEN members Stephen Fujiwara, Jessie Halligan and Kara McKee from the Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, has been published in the Australasian Parliamentary Review.
The article investigates the challenges faced by New South Wales Legislative Council committees undertaking inquiries with significant public interest.
It examines the logistical hurdles associated with receiving, reviewing and considering thousands of submissions, managing heightened public and media expectations, and the strain placed on small secretariat teams with limited resources.
To illustrate these challenges, Fujiwara, Halligan and McKee review three case studies: the inquiries into the provisions of the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021, and the inquiry into birth trauma.
The article also outlines resource constraints, strategies for enhancing efficiency and some potential solutions, along with recommendations for process improvements to handle high interest inquiries more effectively.
‘Going Viral: Managing Inquiries with Thousands of Submissions and Substantial Public Interest’ by Stephen Fujiwara, Jessie Halligan and Kara McKee was published in the Australasian Parliamentary Review, Volume 40, Issue 1 in May 2025.
The article can be found here via open access.
Stephen, Jessie and Kara also discussed their experiences of managing parliamentary inquiries with thousands of submissions and substantial public interest at an IPEN seminar on 22 May 2025.
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Article published: 27 June 2025