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

Topics among this week's batch of petitions include migration matters, aspects of the conflict in the Middle East, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The committee continues to work to inform potential petitioners about the requirements for petitions. As members know, the committee must rule out of order any petition requests that don't adhere to the standing orders.

I've spoken before about the use of moderate language, and that people must only sign a petition once. Today I'd like to remind Australians thinking of starting a petition that it must contain a request. This should be expressed clearly, to make it easy for others to understand. In addition, each petition must give a reason for the request.

The request must refer to a matter on which the House can act. That means a petition is usually about something for which the federal government is responsible, and not about something that is the responsibility of a state or territory government or a local council. For example, a petition relating to rubbish collection in someone's town or city is a local council matter, and many aspects of public transport are matters for state or territory governments.

The committee can see that some people put a great deal of thought into proposing a petition, but it just needs to be directed to the jurisdiction responsible for the specific matter of concern.

I look forward to updating the House further on the work of the Petitions Committee.