Parliament of Australia: House of Representatives: Petitioning the House of Representatives

Petitioning the House of Representatives

Note: This page contains links to PDF files for more information see Accessing files.

An introduction to Petitions

A petition is basically a request for action. The right to petition Federal Parliament has been one of the rights of citizens since federation, and it is the only way an individual can directly place grievances before the Parliament. Petitions may be received by the House on public or individual grievances provided that they relate to matters on which the House has the power to act. The House receives hundreds of petitions each year on a variety of matters.

In February 2008 the House of Representatives changed its petitioning process to make it more effective. These changes included the establishment of a Standing Committee on Petitions which has been tasked with receiving and processing petitions on behalf of the House. The Petitions Committee is able to inquire into and report on any matter relating to petitions and the petitioning system.

Preparing a petition

Care must be taken in the preparation of petitions as the House has certain rules about their form and content. Before preparing your petition, we encourage you to read the relevant Infosheet. A sample petition (PDF - 153 kb) will also assist you to ensure that your petition is able to be presented to the House.

Until these changed documents are uploaded to this page, people wishing to petition the House of Representatives should be aware of changed requirements, as set out below. The full requirements for petitions are set out in Standing Orders 204-209. Any queries can also be directed to the Petitions Committee via contact details below.

Please note that at present petitions cannot be submitted electronically.

Principal petitioner model

In order to improve the ability of the House to respond to petitions, the rules for petitions now require that there is a principal petitioner (even where a group of people sponsor a petition). This person, who initiates, sponsors or organises a petition, must provide their full contact details on the first page of the petition. This will enable the Petitions Committee to contact him or her regarding any response or follow-up to the petition.

Contact details are for the use of the Petitions Committee and they will not be published. It is not possible for a Member of the House of Representatives to be a principal petitioner or indeed to sign a petition.

Other requirements

Notes on form and content

Under the new arrangements, a petition must:

be addressed to the House of Representatives;
refer to a matter on which the House has the power to act;
state the reasons for petitioning the House; and
contain a request for action by the House.

The following rules on form and content also apply:

The terms, which consist of the reason(s) for petitioning the House and a request for action by the House, must not contain any alterations and must not exceed 250 words. The terms must be placed at the top of the first page of the petition and the request of the petition must be at the top of every subsequent page.
The terms of the petition must not be illegal or promote illegal acts. The language used must be moderate.
The petition must be in English or be accompanied by a translation certified to be correct. The person certifying the translation must place his or her name and address on the translation.
No letters, affidavits or other documents should be attached to the petition. Any such attachments will be removed before presentation to the House.

Notes on signatures

Every petition must contain the signature and full name and address of a principal petitioner on the first page of the petition. For all other signatures:

Each signature must be made by the person signing in his or her own handwriting. Only a petitioner incapable of signing may ask another person to sign on his or her behalf.
Signatures must not be copied, pasted or transferred on to the petition or placed on a blank page or on the reverse of a sheet containing the terms of the petition.

Principal petitioners are encouraged to contact the Petitions Committee prior to the distribution of petitions for signature to ensure that the form of the petition is correct and that it will be able to be accepted by the Committee on behalf of the House. The email address is: petitions.committee.reps@aph.gov.au. The Committee secretariat can also be contacted on: 02 6277 2152

Submitting a petition

Petitions should be mailed to the Petitions Committee for submission to the House. The mailing address is:

House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions
PO Box 6021
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Petitions can also be sent to a member of Parliament and they may choose to present it personally or forward it to the Committee for action.

Action on petitions

The Petitions Committee is tasked to receive and process petitions on behalf of the House. The Committee will also recommend action to be taken on the petition. This may be to advise that the petition has been tabled in the House.

In some cases the Committee may choose to seek further information on the subject of a petition, through meetings with the principal petitioner and other relevant individuals and groups.

The Committee may choose to forward the petition to the relevant Minister. If this is the case, there is an expectation that Ministers will respond to a petition within 90 days. Details of ministerial responses will be tabled in Hansard and will be available on the Petition Committee's web site.