Questioning

• Referral—the   Legislative Assembly can ask a committee to look into an issue, or a   committee can itself nominate to undertake an inquiry.
• Terms   of reference—sets out the scope of an inquiry and help the committee to   stay focused on the issues that it is investigating. They also assist groups   and individuals that wish to make a submission, or to appear before a   committee at a public hearing, as part of the inquiry process.

• All committee inquiries have ‘terms of reference’ which set out what the committee wishes to learn   more about as part of the inquiry and what questions the committee wishes to   answer.
• Students   to discuss either in groups or as a class how they think that the   topics/subjects that they learn about each day are decided and what   reasons there might be for deciding that certain topics or subjects are   worthy areas of learning.
• Students   should be able to identify that the teacher or school curriculum will   sometimes decide what they will learn more about, while other times students   themselves will come up with ideas that they wish to explore. Learning   topics are generally related to areas of knowledge that are useful to our   participation in the community.
• Teacher to outline that the committee inquiry process is very   similar. A committee can be given a topic/subject by the Assembly to learn   more about (where, for instance, the Assembly considers that a topic is   important to the community) or a committee can decide on its own to undertake   an inquiry (called a self-referred inquiry) where the members of the   committee considers that it is important or useful. When a committee learns more   about a topic/subject, it is able to give better advice to the Assembly about   that topic/subject and help the Assembly do its job in making decisions.

Researching

• Publicity—the   committee will advertise the inquiry to ask for community input.
• Submissions—Made   by individuals, community organisations, peak bodies, special interest   groups, representatives from government directorates, and academics and other   subject matter experts.
• Research—committee   will look at government policy, legislation, reports and sometimes conduct   site inspections for the inquiry issue.
• Public   Hearings—once submissions have been received a committee may hold one or   more public hearings to gather further evidence. People who appear before a   committee are called witnesses, although not everyone who makes a submission   appears as a witness. To get further information the Committee members ask   questions of the witnesses.

• All committee inquiries have to gather information   on the topic to help answer the   ‘terms of reference’ through the writing of a report and to help them make   recommendations to the government that will improve the operation or outcomes   for the topic.
• Students   to discuss either in groups or as a class where they think that the information on the subject can be found and what delivery methods the information may come in.
• Students   should be able to identify that there can be a range of sources of   information, both primary and secondary, such as books, journals, newspapers,   video or other multimedia and in person through interview.
• Teacher to outline that like students committees use similar   sources of information to research the subject of the inquiry. Each inquiry also   calls for submissions which are received from a range of people, including   the government, subject experts, community organisations and individuals. The   committee will hear evidence from witnesses who appear before them to answer   questions in public hearings.

Analysing

• Private meetings—Committees meet to discuss how   they are going to answer the inquiry question. They will determine dates for   public inquiries and identify people they wish to invite to question based on   submissions received. They may also do site visits at relevant locations to   look at the issue, including talking to people who use or work at the site.

• All committees have private meetings to talk about information they have received and decide   which people or groups they would like to question further through the public   meeting process. After collecting information they will also analyse it to write   a report based on what they have found that includes recommendations to the government.
• Students   to discuss either in groups or as a class the information they have found,   will it answer the question or will they need to find further information sources   to help answer the inquiry.
• Students   should be able to identify that information obtained forms the basis for formulating the final   answer to the inquiry question.
• Teacher to outline that like students, committees analyse the information   they have, including submissions they receive from the community. Committees will ask some of people who made submissions to appear before   the committee at a public hearing. These people are called witnesses and   members of the committee will ask them questions about the inquiry topic to   gather further/more in depth evidence for the committees consideration.

Evaluating and reflecting

• Private meetings—the committee will reflect on   all the information they have received and write a draft report, often known   as a ‘chair’s draft’, which includes findings and recommendations, is   prepared by the committee secretary in consultation with the chair. Once the   chair has approved the draft report, it is circulated to other members, who   may also suggest amendments.

• Committee members meet to evaluate and reflect on the information they have   received throughout the inquiry process. This information will be used to   decide what recommendations they will make to the government with the aim of improving   the operation or outcomes for the inquiry topic.
• Students   to complete their answer to the inquiry question. Students will need to   evaluate and reflect on the information gathered to provide an answer and/or   conclusion to the inquiry question Students use their conclusions to answer   the inquiry question in the format required, such as report, speech, poster,   etc.
• Students   should be able to identify that they   need to complete the inquiry by providing an answer to the question in the   desired format.
• Teacher   to outline that in the same way that students are required to hand in   completed work answering the inquiry question to the teacher, committees are   required to write a report which is presented to the Assembly.

Communicating

• Report—Committees   table their final reports in the Assembly. The Assembly and the government   will consider the findings and recommendations contained in a report,   however, a committee has no power to enforce its recommendations
• Response—the   government has four months to respond to the report. The government response   is also tabled in the Assembly.

• Committee members must agree on the report and its   recommendations before presenting it to the   Assembly in the form of a written report. The government must respond to the   report within a four month period.
• Students   to present their report to the teacher/class depending on the required   end product which could be written work, a speech, oral presentation or video.
• Students   should be able to identify that teacher   and/or class feedback on their work is like the committee receiving a   government response.
• Teacher   to outline that like students, committees have to present their report to the   Assembly once it is completed. The committee will make a number of   recommendations for the government to consider to improve the issue being   considered. The government will look at each   recommendation and present a response for the committee which states if they   agree with, disagree with or will take note of each recommendation.