| House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions

Footnotes

Chapter 1 Introduction

[1]       Wright, BC, ed, House of Representatives Practice, 6^th Edition, 2013, p. 628.

[2]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure, Making a difference: petitioning the House of Representatives, 2007, p. 1.

[3]       Standing Order 2 defines a petition as ‘a formal request to the House to take action that is within its power to take’, House of Representatives Standing and Sessional Orders, 20 October 2010. A petition can only be tabled in one house, but petitions on the same matter may be prepared and presented separately, in each chamber. Interestingly, no petitions were presented in the Senate between 1901 and 1968—refer to Papers on Parliament, No. 59, Is it futile to petition the Australian Senate, Paula Waring, April 2013, available at: <http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Research_and_Education/pops/~/link.aspx?_id=589D8A3C163043E6B5FCE93ACE9E92A1&_z=z>,  viewed 5 June 2013.

[4]       For example the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office is a body through which Australian citizens may direct personal concerns or complaints about their dealings with Australian Government agencies.

[5]       House of Representatives Practice, 6^th Edition, Appendix 20, pp. 856-858 (Years 1901-2007).

[6]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions, The work of the first petitions Committee: 2008-2010, Appendix E, p. 45.

[7]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions, The work of the first petitions Committee: 2008-2010, Appendix E, p. 45.

[8]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure, Making a difference: petitioning the House of Representatives, 2007.

[9]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure, Making a difference: petitioning the House of Representatives, 2007, p. 7.

[10]     House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure, Making a difference: petitioning the House of Representatives, 2007, pp. xi-xii, 15-19.

[11]     Media release by the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP, Leader of the House, 11 January 2008.

[12]     Note the former Standing Orders are contained in Appendix A to this report.

[13]     These arrangements were later amended by a sessional order introduced in June 2008 which enabled petitions to be presented by the Chair of the Petitions Committee in a dedicated regular timeslot on Monday evenings; or by a Member during the times provided.

[14]     The House resolved on 8 February 2012 to change the name of the Main Committee to the Federation Chamber, with effect from 27 February 2012.

[15]     Later, by the Petitions Committee Chair during the petitions timeslot.

[16]     Presented on 21 June 2010, and available online at: <http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=petitions/committeework/index.htm>, viewed 5 June 2013.

[17]     Refer Votes and Proceedings, No. 8, 25 October 2010, p. 118.

[18]     These have changed little since the end of the 42^nd Parliament and will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 3.

Chapter 2 Role and operations of the Standing Committee on Petitions

[1]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions, The work of the first Petitions Committee: 2008-2010, June 2010.

[2]       For example, there is no point making a request of the House about a matter that falls within State legislation—as the House can take no action.

[3]       The Committee Chair regularly advises witnesses at round table meetings and the House that this is beyond the role of the Committee.

[4]       House of Representatives, Standing and Sessional Orders as at 20 October 2010, SO 206 (b), p. 84.

[5]       This will be discussed later in this Chapter under Public hearing activities with petitioners and public servants, at 2.49, page 12.

[6]       House of Representatives Practice, 6^th Edition, pp. 634-635.

[7]       HR Debates (26.11.2012) 13 079.

[8]       For example, petitions for and against same sex marriage—HR Debates (21.2.2011) 539; 542 and 544—and for and against an additional pharmacy in the Glen Gala Shopping Centre, Victoria—HR Debates (4.7.2011) 7 248 and 7 250.

[9]       For example, it can’t be a State or Local Government matter or asking for intervention in an action that a private organisation or individual can legally undertake.

[10]     This is in the case of physical incapacity to sign, not to overcome inconvenience.

[11]     House of Representatives, Standing and Sessional Orders as at 20 October 2010, Standing Orders 204–205, pp. 83-84.

[12]     House of Representatives, Standing and Sessional Orders as at 20 October 2010, Standing Order 34 (Order of Business), pp. 26-27. Note that in the 42^nd Parliament the Chair’s presentation timeslot was established on 24 June 2008 via Sessional Order 207 to enable these presentations on Mondays at 8.30 pm‑8.40 pm. This replaced the Standing Orders of 13 February 2008 which provided for the Speaker’s presentation of in-order petitions.

[13]     House of Representatives, Standing and Sessional Orders as at 20 October 2010, Standing Order 209 (a) and (b), p. 85.

[14]     Chair, HR Debates (20.8.2012) 9 039.

[15]     Statistics provided by the Chamber Research Office. Note the number of documents tabled is counted for statistical purposes; in practice these 38 response letters provided responses to 44 petitions.

[16]     Chair, HR Debates (26.11.2012) 13 079.

[17]     78 actual responses to petitions (between 1 July 2012 to 17 June 2013) to 101 petitions presented in the same period.

[18]     For example, the petitioning in 2010 for public funding of a drug to treat the medical condition of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria—which was included in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on 1 January 2011, two months after a  ministerial response was received which merely provided details of the Government’s processes to assess the requested drug. It is unclear, however, whether the petition itself, other public awareness campaigns or merely the plight of the petitioners led to this result.

[19]     HR Debates (20.03.2013) 2 776.

[20]     Chair, HR Debates (18.03.2013) 2 275.

[21]     House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure, Making a difference: petitioning the House of Representatives, 2007, p. 31. The Committee’s web page is available at: <http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=petitions/index.htm>, viewed 11 June 2013.

[22]     The Committee’s webpage is at: <http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=petitions/index.htm> and general information on preparation of petitions is available at <http://www.aph.gov.au/house/work/petitions.htm>, viewed 11 June 2013.

 

[23]     Chair HR Debates (23.05.2011) 3 980.

[24]     Note that 11 petitions were received in the 43^rd parliament between 27 October 2010 and 24 November 2010; thus 34 petitions were out-of-order in the full 2010 year.

[25]     Figures provided by the Chamber Research Office, Department of the House of Representatives.

[26]     Twenty-two of these were assessed in a single meeting.

[27]     Committee private meeting statistics. The number of petitions assessed as complying in any given year is unlikely to equate to the number of petitions presented in the same period.

[28]     For example, the 2011 year featured many small petitions opposing the live export of animals. These petitions were prepared and received soon after the airing of a documentary television program on the subject matter; most of which did not meet the standing order requirements.

[29]     Statistics to 5 June 2013.

[30]     For example, the Get-Up! Website (<http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns>) and more recently, the Go-Petitions site (<http://www.gopetition.com/>) and Change.Org sites (<http://www.change.org/petition>), none of which follow any parliamentary jurisdictional guidelines.

[31]     This was one of the changes in Standing Order 34, Order of Business. In the 42^nd Parliament, Sessional Order 207 and Standing Order 34 provided for a timeslot on Monday evenings between 8.30 pm and 8.40 pm—this commenced on 24 June 2008 and continued to 20 October 2010. 

[32]     Announcements to 24 June 2013.

[33]     HR Debates (22.08.2011) 8 706. On 22 August 2011 Mr R Broadbent MP spoke following the Chair.

[34]     Refer to Appendix B for the full list of public round table hearings held in the 43^rd Parliament.

[35]     House Standing Committee on Petitions, Transcript, 31 August 2012.

[36]     Refer to Appendix C, the total number of petitions received per annum approximates the total numbers tabled, plus those petitions found out-of-order. There will be variations between the number so petitions assessed as compliant and the number of petitions tabled in any given year—mainly due to sittings recesses intervening between a meeting at the end of a calendar year and the next presentation opportunity in the new year.

[37]     Chair, HR Debates, (20.08.2012) 9 039.

Chapter 3 Effectiveness of the Committee’s formal framework

[1]       There was also a machinery change. The Standing Orders were subsequently amended on 8 February 2012 for the establishment of the Federation Chamber (which replaced the Main Committee) on 27 February 2012. At this point all references in the Standing Orders to the ‘Main Committee’ were replaced with the ‘Federation Chamber’.

[2]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions, The work of the first Petitions Committee: 2008—2010, Chapter 3, pp. 19-25. (Provides a full examination of Standing Orders 204-209). Also refer to Appendix A for details of former Standing and Sessional Orders.

[3]       The text of the current provisions is at Appendix A of this report. The former Standing and Sessional Orders of the 42^nd Parliament, and their revisions in that Parliament are also detailed at Appendix A.

[4]       Chair, HR Debates, (23.05.2011) 3 980.

[5]       The Standing Orders were subsequently amended on 8 February 2012 for the establishment of the Federation Chamber (which replaced the Main Committee) on 27 February 2012. At this point all references in the Standing Orders to the ‘Main Committee’ were replaced with the ‘Federation Chamber’.

[6]       Chapter 1, p. 3.

[7]       Refer to Appendix C, an increase from 7 presentations in the 42^nd Parliament to 27 in the 43^rd. Note that Members are reliant on receiving the call to present a petition during 90 second statements.

[8]       Refer Appendix C. In the 43^rd Parliament constituency statement presentations fell by 12.

[9]       The word ‘internet’ was removed from the text on 20 October 2010.

[10]     Mr Shelton, Transcript, 2 December 2011, p. 25.

[11]     Dr Collison, Transcript, 25 May 2011, p. 6.

[12]     For example, Ms Bird, Transcript, 12 April 2013, p. 13.

[13]     Mrs Tops, Transcript, 2 December 2011, p. 7.

[14]     Mr Frew, Transcript, 11 April 2013, p. 9.

[15]     Mr Forde, Transcript, 12 April 2013, p. 19.

[16]     Mr Cormack, Transcript, 30 August 2012, p. 22.

[17]     Ms Hall, Transcript, 31 August 2012, p. 6.

[18]     Mr Frew, Transcript, 11 April 2013, pp. 1-2.

[19]     Mrs Sturrock, Transcript, 1 December 2011, p. 16.

[20]     Ms Hugo, Transcript, 30 August 2012, p. 5.

[21]     Mr Valvasori, Transcript, 1 December 2011, p. 11.

[22]     For example, Mr Valvasori, Transcript, 1 December 2011, p. 13.

[23]     Mrs Sturrock, Transcript, 1 December 2011, p. 20.

[24]     Mrs Sturrock, Transcript, 1 December 2011, p. 15.

[25]     Mr Shelton, Transcript, 2 December 2011, p. 25.

[26]     Mr Forde, Transcript, 12 April 2012, p. 20.

[27]     For example, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Queensland and Tasmania all have electronic petitioning systems, administered in-house (that is, petitions are submitted to the jurisdiction’s electronic petitioning system and electronic ‘signatures’ added to the parliamentary sites).

[28]     House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure, Making a difference: Petitioning the House of Representatives, 2007.

[29]     House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions, Electronic petitioning to the House of Representatives, November 2009. See pages 13-15 and 57 for a detailed discussion of the arrangements in the Queensland Parliament and evidence by the Clerk, Mr Neil Laurie.

[30]     Queensland Parliament <http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/forms-and-guidelines>, viewed 12 June 2013.

[31]     To 17 June 2013, at the time of report writing. Refer to Appendix C for statistics.

[32]     A total of 434 petitions received in the 42^nd Parliament; 571 in the 43^rd Parliament.

[33]     A petition to prevent child sexual exploitation in overseas countries, presented by the Member for Melbourne on 23 March 2011. HR Debates (23.03.2011) 3 020.

[34]     See the House of Commons Procedure Committee report, Debates on Government e-Petitions in Westminster Hall, Sixth Report of Session 2012-13, HC 1094, April 2013 and information on the Backbench Business Committee processes at: <http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/backbench-business-committee/e-petitions-/>, viewed 16 June 2013.

 

Appendix A: 43rd Parliament relevant Standing Orders

[1]       House of Representatives, Standing and Sessional Orders as at 10 October 2012.

[2]       Formerly a Sessional Order in the 42^nd Parliament with later amendments to the times available to Members to present petitions.

[3]       In the 42^nd Parliament the Chair’s presentation timeslot was scheduled at 8.30pm—8.40pm in the Chamber.

[4]       Formerly a Sessional Order in the 42^nd Parliament with no substantive change to text.

[5]       House of Representatives, Standing and Sessional Orders as at 20 October 2012, and the history of amendments are available online at: <http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Standing_Orders>, viewed 13 June 2013.

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