Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last few weeks the Petitions Committee has conducted an audit of overdue ministerial responses to petitions. As you know, once a petition is presented in the House, the committee may refer it to the minister responsible for the administration of the matters raised in the petition. Under the standing orders, a minister is then expected to provide a written response to the petition within 90 days. While most petitions are responded to within this time frame, certain obstacles may cause a delay, including petitions where responsibility could sit with more than one minister.

The secretariat has been working with ministers' offices to arrange for overdue responses to be provided as soon as possible. On behalf of the committee, I'd like to express our appreciation at their positive and cooperative response, and I look forward to presenting a bumper crop of ministerial responses on the next sitting Monday.

On a related note, the committee is continuing to consider whether a petition should have a minimum number of signatures before it is referred to a minister for a response. Following the public survey hosted on the parliament's website in August, the committee wrote to all members seeking their views on the matter. The committee will consider feedback received at our meeting this week. Of course, any changes made to the petitions process will be reported to the House and clearly explained to the public on the website.

I thank the House.