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

I present the 18th report of the Petitions Committee for the 46th Parliament, comprising 53 petitions and four ministerial responses to petitions previously presented.

The House petitioning system has a new record: an e-petition regarding news media, recently closed, that collected the largest amount of signatures on an e-petition since they were introduced at the commencement of the 45th Parliament.

501,876 signatures were collected on this e-petition. This means that over half a million people, on this petition alone, have exercised their rights as citizens and residents of Australia, engaging directly with the parliament—a great result for democracy.

Members may also be interested in some other record-holding petitions. The largest amount of signatures ever recorded on a petition was presented in 2014 with just over 1.2 million, for a petition concerning community pharmacies.

The second-largest petition ever, presented in 2000 and concerning taxation and beer prices, was also on paper and collected over 792,000 signatures.

These figures demonstrate the consistent popularity of petitioning as a way for people to have their say on matters that concern them. As a committee we are pleased to be able to continue facilitating this important right of all Australians.

Thank you, and I look forward to further updating the House on the work of the committee.