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

Mr Speaker, today I will take the opportunity to give the House a refresher on its rules applying to petitioning—and the practical and quite logical reasons why these rules exist.

During most months the committee will receive completed petitions which do not meet one or more of the House's standing order requirements. These petitions have been prepared with consideration of the subject matter and sometimes many hours of work devoted to the collection of signatures. However, as these petitions have not been prepared to consider the House's petitioning requirements they are unable to be presented in the House.

These petitioners are obviously very disappointed to learn that their petition has not met the House's rules—and on occasion, petitioners have remarked that the rules are pedantic. To the casual observer, these comments may ring true. But the reality is that the rules governing petitioning—which were agreed to following an inquiry process by the Procedure Committee in 2007—exist for very good reasons.

The Procedure Committee concluded that the rules governing petitioning must be fair and relevant—and these principals underpin the current petitioning standing orders. The petitioning rules help to ensure the authenticity of petitions and to protect those who sign them. They are not a new concept to the House—the current rules are surprisingly similar to those used early last century—and in similar parliamentary systems.

I will now outline the main petitioning requirements and the reasons behind them. Petitions to the House must contain the following content. First, they must be addressed to the House and the House only. Standing order 204 requires petitions to be addressed to the House of Representatives. A petition is a one-off document, prepared for the attention of the House's elected representatives. After a petition is tabled, it becomes a House record and therefore cannot be tabled elsewhere—for example, in the Senate. Nor can it be forwarded elsewhere—to, say, the Prime Minister.

Second, the petition must refer to a matter on which the House has the power to act. If the House does not have the authority over the matter raised in a petition, it cannot respond. A petition to the House on a matter falling under local or state governments cannot be dealt with by the House because the federal government does not have the power under the Constitution to take action.

The petition must also clearly state the reasons for petitioning. This not only clarifies the request for action and ensures a thorough response to the matter but also ensures resources are not wasted on frivolous or vexatious petitions.

The petition must contain a specific request for action to be undertaken by the House. Standing order 204 stipulates that the petition must contain a request for action by the House. This cannot merely be a statement, as in 'The time has come.' Nor can it be an aspiration, like 'All Australia's children should be happy.' And it cannot be a threat of petitioner action.

The petition must also meet the following rules. The terms of the petition which are the reasons for the petition and the request must not exceed 250 words. This is to ensure that the matter is able to be concisely conveyed to the House and to provide a standardised approach so that no petition is favoured over another. The terms must be legibly written on the first page of the petition, followed by the full name, address and original handwritten signature of the principal petitioner. Standing order 204 ensures that the principal petitioner is authentic and can be contacted about action on the petition. The language used must be moderate in nature and the terms cannot request something that is illegal or promote illegal acts. The specific request which appears on the first page of the petition must appear as identically worded on subsequent pages, followed by original, handwritten signatures. The rationale for this is that people signing petitions are actually signing to the cause identified, rather than on a blank page which could be used for any number of other petition requests or other invalid purposes. A person should only be bound by a petition which they understand and have actually signed for themselves. A petition must not be amended after signature collection. This is to ensure that the original intent of the petition was not subsequently changed after signatories signed their support. Petitioners cannot retrospectively change words or make additions either by pasting or penning attachments. This rule keeps the process authentic, as does the requirement that a petition must be in English or accompanied by a certified translation. A member of the House of Representatives, per standing order 205(c), is unable to be a principal petitioner. And they cannot sign a petition, either. This ensures that the spirit of petitioning is maintained—that petitioning is undertaken by citizens to their elected representatives. It also maintains the independence of members, who may be asked to assist petitioners with the requirements of petitioning or to deliver a petition to the Petitions Committee.

The petitioning rules have been formulated carefully and thoughtfully, and are designed to protect everyone who participates in the House's petitioning system.