Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason so few petitions are being presented today is due to the parliamentary cycle and its effect on when petitions are certified and ready for presentation. There are currently 99 e-petitions open for collecting signatures which are scheduled to be presented when the House sits in October, along with any paper petitions that the committee certifies in that time.

The 43 ministerial responses to petitions in this presentation, however, are a tangible demonstration of the increasingly high level of engagement with the petitioning process at all levels.

Historically, petitions were infrequently responded to by ministers. This meant that petitioners were often not advised of the government's position on concerns that the petitions raised, and that petitioners seldom had a sense of recourse.

In 2007, a number of changes to the petitioning process were implemented following recommendations from a review by the Standing Committee on Procedure. One of these was the establishment of a Standing Committee on Petitions to, in part, facilitate a way in which ministers could respond to petitions, and be encouraged to do so.

The result has been an overwhelming increase in the number of responses received. So far this year, the committee has received 313 responses, which is about 72 per cent of petitions referred, and many more are expected. In 2007, only around half of one per cent of petitions were responded to.

While the responses do not necessarily state that the minister will take action on the petitioner's request, they do provide an explanation of the government's perspective on issues raised, which is provided directly to the petitioner and made publicly available.

I would like to thank ministers and their departmental staff for their continued efforts in providing these thorough responses in a timely manner and I look forward to further updating the House on the work of the committee.