20.07.2010
1.14 On 15 November 2001, the Inquiry released its first community consultation paper—the 441-page Issues Paper on the Protection of Human Genetic Information (IP 26). The primary role of IP 26 was to provide sufficient background material to promote informed community discussion and debate about these new and important issues.[18] To this end, IP 26 posed 68 questions (many of them multi-part questions), to highlight the matters under consideration and to provide a focus for comment and submissions to the Inquiry.
1.15 Nearly 3000 hard copies of IP 26 were distributed within Australia and overseas. The document may be downloaded without charge from the ALRC’s website at <www.alrc.gov.au>, and is available in hard copy upon request. Surveys of the ALRC website indicate that IP 26 has been one of the ALRC’s most heavily downloaded documents, confirming the very high level of interest in this Inquiry.
[18] An executive summary of IP 26 was posted on the ALRC’s website, and a short brochure was prepared to provide basic information about major issues, and the means of obtaining further material or participating in the Inquiry. The Inquiry also experimented with a give-away postcard promotion announcing the establishment of the Inquiry and providing contact details for further information.