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

Standing Committee on Petitions home page

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. Hundreds of petitions are received by the House every year on a variety of matters.

The House of Representatives has a Standing Committee on Petitions which receives and processes petitions on behalf of the House. The Petitions Committee is able to inquire into and report on matters relating to petitions following their tabling in the House, and the petitioning system in general.

Read previous petitions

You can read petitions previously presented to the House, along with responses from Ministers, here.

Preparing a petition

Care must be taken in the preparation of petitions as the House has rules about their form and content. Before preparing a petition, we encourage you to read the relevant Infosheet, to consult the petitions checklist below and to use the sample petition (PDF - 204 kb) provided to assist you in drafting your petition.

The Petitions Committee also encourages petitioners to submit their draft petition to the Committee Secretariat to check that the petition conforms with Standing Orders before you begin to collect signatures.

Please note that while the Committee has recommended the introduction of an electronic petitioning system, such a system is not yet available.

Petitions checklist and sample petition

Please be aware that a petition must:

be addressed to the “Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives”
describe who it represents (for example, ‘concerned citizens’)
use a maximum of 250 words (please note, this includes the address of the petition to the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives)
first explain the issue the petition concerns (‘reasons’), and second make a request of the House to take a specified course of action (‘request for action’)
contain an action that falls within the legislative or administrative power of the House (some matters are the responsibility of State or Territory Governments, or local authorities or private entities)
be written in language which is moderate in nature
not promote illegal acts
if written in a language other than English, be accompanied by a certified translation, including contact details of the translator
have a front page which provides the terms of the petition (reasons and a request for action and addressed to the House of Representatives) along with the address, contact details and original signature of the Principal Petitioner (that is, the person who is responsible for the Petition. (Please note, the Principal Petitioner’s contact details will not be published on the committee’s webpage.))
consist only of original, hand written signatures (photocopies, faxes or electronic signatures are not accepted)
contain all signatures on the same side of single sided pages, which contain at least the request for action detailed in the petition; and
not contain attachments or supporting documentation. These will be returned to the Principal Petitioner.

Petitioners are encouraged to:

send a copy of the text of the proposed petition to the Secretariat for feedback before signatures are collected (Please note, this is not compulsory, only encouraged to aid petitioners in preparing petitions that conform with the Standing Orders.)

The Secretariat can be contacted at:

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

Phone: 61 2 6277 2152
Fax: 61 2 6277 4627
email: petitions.committee.reps@aph.gov.au

use the sample petition provided to draft their petition.

Action on petitions

After the Petitions Committee receives a petition, it will assess whether it comples with Standing Orders (PDF 167 kb). Petitions found to be in order will then be presented to the House of Representatives and included on the Committee's website. The Committee may also refer presented petitions to the relevant Minister for a response. When the Minister has responded, the Committee will consider the response, then, after presentation in the House, forward the response to the Principal Petitioner and include it on its website.

If the Committee finds a petition does not comply with the standing orders, it will be returned to the Principal Petitioner.

Submitting a petition

Petitions should be submitted by post. The Committee's address is:

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