Parliament of Australia:House:Committees:Procedure:Making a difference : Petitioning the House of Representatives

Appendix E Standing order comparisons

Table 1 Comparison of the House of Representatives’ petition lodgement requirements with those of other Australian state and territory parliaments*

Requirements under House standing orders	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	NT	ACT
Lodging a petition
To be lodged by Member only	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Members’ responsibilities
Member must write own name and that of electorate	Sign	Sign	ü	Sign	ü	ü	ü	Sign
Member must count and record number of signatories			ü	ü	ü	ü		ü
Member must certify petition complies with standing orders	ü	ü	ü		ü	ü	ü	ü
Presenting a petition
Member may lodge petitions with Clerk before presentation	ü	ü	ü		ü	ü	ü	ü
Member may present petitions during Members’ statements		ü		ü**		ü**
Members may present a petition referring to a motion or order of the day when that motion or standing order is moved or called on								ü
Compliance with standing orders
Clerk or Deputy Clerk certifies compliance	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Announcement of petitions and responses
Clerk announces petitions and any ministerial responses	ü	ü	ü		ü			ü

Source Standing orders of each jurisdiction

Notes * State upper houses not included ** Members present petitions

Table 2 Comparison of the House of Representatives’ petition preparation requirements with those of other Australian state and territory parliaments*

Requirements under House standing orders	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	NT	ACT
Contents of a petition
Must be addressed to the House		ü	ü	ü				ü
State the facts and contain a request to take one or more specified actions	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Preparing a petition
Must be on paper and be legible	ü	ü	ü**	ü	ü	ü**	ü	ü
Must be in English or be accompanied by a translation certified to be correct	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Must not contain any alterations	ü		ü				ü	ü
Must not have any letters, affidavits or other documents attached to it	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	ü	ü
Language must be respectful, courteous and moderate	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Must not contain irrelevant statements	ü						ü	ü
Must not contain any indication that it has been sponsored or distributed by a Member					ü	ü		ü
A petition from a corporation must be made under its common seal	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü
Rules about signatures
Must contain the signature and address of a least one person on each page	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Each signature must be made by the person signing in his or her own handwriting and written on a page bearing the terms of the petition	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	ü	ü
Provisions for petitioners not able to sign	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	ü	ü
Signatures must not be copied, pasted or transferred	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü

Source Standing orders of each jurisdiction

Notes * State upper houses not included ** Can also be electronic