Petition the Australian House of Representatives
Do you have a problem that you want the Australian federal government to fix? Do you want your voice to be heard? Consider petitioning the House of Representatives, which will hear and respond to you. However, there are a number of requirements that you need to satisfy for your petition to be heard and addressed, so read closely.
Steps
- Come up with the subject matter of your petition. This must be something, big or small, that the federal government can fix. This could be a change in federal law or a new federal law. If what you want is an issue for a state or local government, your petition will not be accepted by the House.
- Nominate a principal petitioner. This person (which could be you) is the person who was most involved in writing and organizing the petition. For a paper petition, this person's name, contact details and signature must be displayed on the front page. For an e-petition, that person's name and contact details must be included.
- In rare cases, the principal petitioner is a corporation instead of a person. In that case, include the corporation's name, seal and contact details.
- Write your petition. The petition may be no more than 250 words long, and must be a clear statement of something you want the federal government to take action on. Previous petitions can be found on the Australian Parliament House website. No supporting documents such as images and newspaper clippings can be included.
- Moderate the language of your petition. Petitioners may be angry at one particular party or policy but you must take care never to insult the House or anyone else. If you do, your message will not get across effectively, and this is grounds for rejection of your petition.
- Address your petition to the Speaker and the House of Representatives. You do not need to complete this step with e-petitions, which are automatic. However, if you wish to petition the House on paper, you must address it to the House and no other bodies or people. If you wish to raise an issue with your local member or one parliamentarian, consider writing a letter instead of submitting a petition.
- Collect signatures for your petition. You can submit your petition with just your own signature, but this would be less effective. Having your petition backed by a large number of people shows the government that they need to listen, and that many people care about the topic. There are a number of ways one could go about getting signatures, which differ between e-petitions and paper petitions.
- Campaign online. If you want others to sign your petition, the internet is invaluable at drawing attention to whatever your issue is.
- Tell all your friends about the petition. They can sign the petition too, increasing its value.
- Bring your petition to protests. For example, if you wish to send a petition protesting the treatment of refugees, people at a protest on that issue may wish to sign that petition. Protests can have thousands of people so these are a great way of getting like-minded people to support you. You can pass around your paper petition or give the details of your e-petition.
- Write to a newspaper or other medium about your petition. If people read or hear about your petition from the media, you could have an explosion of people that want to make your petition a success.
- Send your petition. When you feel like you have enough signatures, send your petition to the parliament. In an e-petition, this is as easy as the press of a button, but you must send paper petitions by mail. Remember to check and double check the text and format of the petition before sending it.
- Wait for a response. Before the 42nd parliament, petitions were rarely responded to, but now all petitions should be responded to by the relevant minister. Once a petition is received, the clerks are supposed to refer it to the relevant member in charge of your petition's subject matter. They should then respond within 90 days. Maybe you've drawn their attention to something really important!
