Royal Commission into Victoria's Bushfires

The Premier John Brumby today announced the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into

Victoria’s bushfires and two commissioners to support chair Justice Bernard Teague in his work.

Terms of Reference

6 February, 2009

Call for submissions

• All submissions will be treated as public documents unless agreed otherwise by the Royal Commission. This means that in all but exceptional cases, submissions will be published on the Royal Commission’s web site. They may also be cited in reports or materials published by the Royal Commission.
• The name and town or suburb of each submitter will be identified as part of every published submission. Other contact details will be removed before publishing.
• Should you wish to make a confidential submission, you are requested to contact the Royal Commission in advance of lodging your submission at enquiries@royalcommision.vic.gov.au or on 1800 243 650 to notify us of your request.
• Anonymous submissions will not be accepted.
• The Royal Commission will not publish submissions if it believes that the submission material is or could be defamatory.

Leave to appear

Any person or organisation seeking leave to formally appear before the Royal Commission must lodge written notice of that intention by 4.00pm, Thursday 9 April 2009. The notice should comprise a brief outline of no more than three pages identifying the term or terms of reference in which the person or organisation claims an interest, explaining the nature of that interest and giving reasons why they should be given leave to appear before the Royal Commission.

Requests for leave to appear will be considered at the Royal Commission’s preliminary hearing at Court 3.3, County Court, 250 William Street, Melbourne on 20 April 2009.

The Commission will provide directions for the future conduct of its hearings at the preliminary hearing.