Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In June 2014 I made a statement as Chair of the Petitions Committee updating the House on the petitions received in the 44th Parliament up to that point. Today I will provide the House with another update on the activities of the Petitions Committee so far this in this parliament.

Australians remain very active petitioners. So far in the 44th Parliament, the committee has considered more than 192 petitions. Of these, 173 were found to meet the requirements and were presented to the House. In my capacity as chair of the Petitions Committee, I presented 109 of these petitions, while the remaining 64 were presented by members on behalf of their constituents. In total, these petitions contain more than 1.5 million signatures.

Regrettably, since September 2013, 15 petitions have been found not to meet the requirements and were thus unable to be presented in the House as petitions. It is always concerning when a petition is deemed noncompliant with the standing order requirements. The committee continues to work to help prospective petitioners by engaging in a program of public outreach—to help make as many Australians as possible aware of their right to petition the House and how to conduct such a petition.

This parliament, the committee has been active on social media through the House’s Facebook and Twitter pages, with regular posts highlighting the rules for petitions and the role of the committee. A part of this role is providing assistance to potential petitioners before they commence gathering signatures. By publicising this role, it is hoped that more potential petitioners will avail themselves of the assistance available, thus increasing their chances of meeting the requirements and gaining access to the benefits that petitioning the House can bring.

Another part of the public outreach by the committee is holding public hearings with petitioners to receive feedback on their experiences of petitioning the House. In conjunction with these hearings, the committee sometimes visits schools to discuss the petitions process with students and teachers. In two of my recent statements to the House, I discussed both a school visit and a public hearing, and the value of these activities.

I would like to conclude my statement today by focusing on the rate of ministerial responses. As I have said recently, one of the real strengths of the current approach to petitions is the proportion of petitions which receive ministerial responses. Before the changes implemented in 2008, very few petitions received responses. Since these changes, nearly every petition receives a response.

This trend has continued in the 44th Parliament, with approximately 90 per cent of petitions having received a response. As I have mentioned previously, the committee has recently undertaken an audit of petitions with outstanding responses and has written to ministers who have so far been unable to provide responses to petitions referred to them. In this way, the committee hopes that every petition presented in the House will receive a response.

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