Discard anonymous objections

August 27, 2026

Where objections to various projects come from should not matter. Australians from all over the country consider climate change issues that affect us all when they object to fossil fuel projects, from exploration to mining, initiating damage in places as disparate as the North West Shelf, the Beetaloo Basin, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Otway Basin, for example.

However, no anonymous objections should be accepted. Who’s to say one person has not sent a dozen anonymous objections? Anonymous objections become even more suspect if the hearings those objections trigger are cancelled due to lack of interest.

On occasion, a person might have good cause to remain anonymous to the general public. But they should never be anonymous to those running hearings. As an example, people making submissions to or appearing as witnesses at the current JSCEM enquiry are very well protected where revealing their identity to all and sundry could put them in danger. But their first approach has to be a request for anonymity accompanied by their personal details. This should be the process for all government and government instrumentality enquiries. Blanket anonymity simply doesn’t pass the “in good faith” test.