Petitions

Background
The right of petitioning Parliament is a long-established fundamental right of every citizen. It allows any individual or group of individuals to place a grievance directly before the Parliament. It is the only direct means of communication between the people and the Parliament.

By definition, a petition is basically a request for action. For example, petitions may ask the House to introduce legislation, to repeal or change existing legislation, or to take action for a certain purpose or for the benefit of particular persons. A petition from an individual citizen may seek the redress of a personal grievance, for example, or the correction of an administrative error.

The subject of a petition must be a matter on which the House has the power to act - that is, it must be a State matter and one involving legislation or government administration.

Although a petition only needs to have one signature to be accepted, it will obviously appear more representative of public feeling if it is signed by as many people as possible.

A petition can only be presented to the House by a Member of the House. This can be any Member, including a Minister. It is the practice of the House that the President does not present petitions; another Member presents the petition on behalf of the President.

After a petition has been announced in the House, its presentation is recorded in the official minutes of the House. The full text of the petition is printed in the Hansard for that day.

Guidelines for drafting a Petition
The Standing Orders and practices of the Legislative Council provide a number of rules which are designed to ensure the authenticity of petitions and provide protection to the petitioner and the House. Persons preparing a petition should follow the format suggested, and familiarise themselves with the rules and practices summarised below before taking steps to collect signatures. This will avoid the possibility of a petition being ruled out of order and not presented to the Legislative Council.

General rules

The petition must be written, typewritten, printed or lithographed, without erasures or insertions between words or the lines of text. A petition written in pencil will not be received.
The petition must be addressed to the President and Members of the Legislative Council.
The petition must be in English.
The language of the petition must be respectful, decorous and temperate.
The petition must state facts which the petitioners wish to bring to the notice of the House.
The subject of a petition must be a matter on which the House has the power to act, that is, it must be a State matter and one involving legislation or government administration.
Petitions from a corporation must be under their common seal.
Letters, affidavits or documents must not be attached to the petition except for a Private Bill.
Reference must not be made to any debate in either House of Parliament.
Petitions should not reflect on the character or conduct of Parliament or Members of Parliament, the Queen or members of the Royal Family, the Governor, the Courts or any other tribunal and members of the judiciary.
The petition must contain a request that the House take, or refrain from taking, a particular action.
The petition must not request either directly or indirectly for a grant of public money.

Signatures

Signatures must be written on a page containing the petition.
Additional sheets with signatures and addresses must have the subject matter of the petition.
The petition must be signed by the parties with their names, except in case of incapacity when a mark is sufficient, and include a full address.
Signatures must not be photocopied, pasted or otherwise attached to the petition.

Submitting a petition

A petition can only be presented to the House by a Member of the House. Members are not obliged to present a petition to the House but generally they take the view that they should present any petition forwarded to them regardless of any disagreement they may have with its content. Petitioners should find a member who is prepared to present their petition to the House.
Members are required to ensure that a petition is in the proper form before being presented to the House.
Before presentation, a Member must sign his or her name on the top of the first page of the petition.
It is the practice for Members to refer petitions to the Legislative Council Procedure Office before the House sits. Procedure Office staff will ensure that the petition is acceptable for presentation and will prepare a form of words to be used by the Member when presenting the petition to the House.
Petitions must be presented before the House proceeds to the consideration of Orders of the Day. Petitions are dealt with after the tabling of papers. Leave of the House is required to present a petition at any other time during proceedings.
After a petition has been announced in the House, its presentation is recorded in the official minutes of the House. The full text of the petition is printed in the Hansard for that day.
A copy of each petition received by the House is referred by the Clerk to the appropriate Minister for consideration.

Form of a petition

Petitions guide in Microsoft Word format
See "Petitioning the Legislative Council - A Practical Guide" under Publications produced by the NSW Legislative Council.

Last modified 26/02/2008 11:13:02 : Update this page