Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have the opportunity tonight, as Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Petitions, to say a few words about the work of the committee and the way in which petitions are now being handled. Petitioning has a long history. In the English context, it can be traced back to the 13th century, but there is evidence of citizens sending pleas to their governments in other contexts including the Roman and Egyptian empires. The system we know today has its roots in two resolutions of the English House of Commons in 1669 asserting that it is the ‘inherent right of every commoner of England’ to present a petition to the House and for the House to consider the petition. The right to petition was eventually included in the English Bill of Rights in 1689. That same right exists today for any Australian to directly raise with the parliament a matter of concern to them.

The system of petitioning has evolved over the years. It is interesting to reflect on the sorts of concerns that cause people to petition. The first petition presented to the House of Representatives called for each sitting of the House to be opened with a prayer. Other petitions called for extension of the franchise to women, reform of legal tender, regulation of liquor sales and many petitions concerned about the possible use of post offices for the promotion of lotteries—to quote one petition, ‘to insure that the post office shall not be prostituted into the drudge of gambling’. 

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