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House of Representatives                                Ch 17                                                 p 616

Presentation

Only a Member may lodge a petition for presentation to the House but a Member cannot lodge a petition from himself or herself. ¹ However, a Member may sign a petition to be lodged by another Member. While it is traditional for Members to lodge for presentation any petition which is forwarded to them, they are not bound to do so. ² The fact that a Member lodges a petition for presentation does not mean that he or she necessarily agrees with its content. It is the practice of the House that the Speaker does not lodge petitions for presentation. If a petition submitted to the Speaker is in order, another Member is asked to present it. Ministers frequently lodge petitions for presentation.

Prior to 1988 the presentation of petitions was the first item in the ordinary order of business at each sitting. Petitions were presented by Members themselves until 1972, when the system changed to presentation by means of an announcement by the Clerk. ³ Since 1988 petitions have been announced by the Clerk once a week, on the private Members’ business day. Current standing orders provide for the announcement of petitions by the Clerk after Question Time on each sitting Monday. ⁴

Procedures in effect since 2001 have provided opportunities for Members to present petitions themselves during the periods for Members’ statements in the House (S.O. 43) or in the Main Committee (S.O. 193). ⁵

A Member may also present a petition which refers to a motion or order of the day when that motion or order of the day is moved or called on for the first time. ⁶

Before presenting a petition a Member is required to count the signatories and write at the beginning of the petition his or her name and electoral division and the number of signatories. ⁷ The Clerk or the Deputy Clerk must check that each petition lodged for presentation complies with the standing orders, and if the petition complies, certify the compliance on the petition. ⁸ This certification must be obtained by a Member before he or she presents a petition during a period for Members’ statements or presents a petition referring to a motion or order of the day. ⁹ When a petition is found to be not in order, it is returned to the Member concerned with an explanation as to why it is not in order.

A petition to be announced by the Clerk must be lodged with the Clerk (in practice the Table Office) by 12 noon on the Friday before the Monday on which it is proposed that it be presented. ¹⁰ Petitions lodged outside a normal sitting week or during a prorogation are kept for presentation at the next sitting.

On Mondays, when the Speaker calls for petitions, the Clerk announces the petitions lodged for presentation, indicating in the case of each petition the Member who lodged it, not by name but by electoral division, the identity of the petitioners, the number of petitioners and the subject matter of the petition. Petitioners are usually identified simply as certain citizens of Australia, certain residents of a State, certain electors of an electoral division or occasionally certain members of a particular group. If petitions in the same terms are lodged by more than one Member, they are grouped together for the purposes of the announcement. A petition has been presented by two Members. ¹¹ The Clerk also announces any ministerial responses to petitions previously presented. The full terms of the petitions and responses are printed in Hansard. ¹² The announcement of petitions has been interrupted when disciplinary action had to be taken against a Member. ¹³

Discussion on the subject matter of a petition at the time of presentation is allowed only when a petition is presented during Members’ statements, or when a petition which refers to a motion or order of the day is presented at the time the notice or order of the day is moved or called on. ¹⁴ In other situations, for discussion to take place leave must be granted or standing orders suspended. ¹⁵

Following criticism of the lack of follow-up procedures for the consideration of petitions, the matter was considered by the Standing Orders Committee in 1972 ¹⁶ and the standing orders subsequently amended to provide for copies of petitions to be referred to Ministers. After a petition is presented to the House, the Clerk must refer a copy of the petition to the Minister responsible for the administration of the matter raised in the petition. ¹⁷ If more than one Minister is responsible, the petition is referred to the Minister having the greater responsibility. Since 1992 standing orders have provided that a Minister may respond to a petition by lodging a written response with the Clerk. ¹⁸ The Clerk announces any responses to petitions previously presented at the end of the petitions announcement. ¹⁹ As noted by the Procedure Committee in 1999, few such responses have been provided. ²⁰

Each petition presented is received by the House, unless a motion that it not be received is moved immediately and agreed to. ²¹ As petitions which do not conform with standing orders are not presented to the House (that is, as petitions ²² ), it is unlikely that a motion that a petition be not received would be moved on procedural grounds. ²³ The only other motion relating to a petition that may be moved is a motion on notice that the petition be referred to a particular committee. ²⁴

Formerly the motion ‘That the petition be printed’ was possible, although uncommon. Two cases are of special interest because of their relevance to the question of the effectiveness of petitions. In 1963 a Member presented a petition from the Aboriginal people of Yirrkala praying that the House, inter alia, appoint a committee to hear their views before permitting the excision of any land from the Aboriginal Reserve in Arnhem Land. The Member indicated his intention to submit a notice of motion in connection with the petition and moved that the petition be printed. The motion for printing was agreed to. ²⁵ The Member’s subsequent motion for the appointment of a select committee was also agreed to. ²⁶ In 1970 a similar sequence of events followed the presentation of a petition praying that the export of all kangaroo products be banned. The House subsequently agreed to a motion, which had been foreshadowed by the Member presenting the petition, appointing the Select Committee on Wildlife Conservation to examine, inter alia, the issues raised in the petition. ²⁷

Although such action is in practice unlikely, a ll petitions, as documents presented to the House, are referred to the Publications Committee, which may recommend that a petition be made a Parliamentary Paper. In 1909 the House agreed to a motion, moved by leave, that a petition be printed (that is, as a Parliamentary Paper), even though the then Printing Committee had considered it and had not recommended its printing. ²⁸

General Purpose Standing Committees are empowered to inquire into and report on any petition referred by either the House or a Minister. ²⁹ In 1999 the Procedure Committee recommended that all petitions be automatically referred to the relevant general purpose standing committee for any inquiry the committee may wish to make. ³⁰

S.O. 207.

H.R. Deb. (19.9.47) 94.

Standing Orders Committee, Report , PP 20 (1972) 8-11; VP 1970-72/1012-13; H.R. Deb. (18.4.72) 1703-43.

S.O.s 34, 209(a).

S.O. 209(b).

S.O. 209(c).

S.O. 208(a).

S.O. 210.

S.O. 208(b). A petition not certified has been presented by leave —VP 1998-2001/2634.

S.O. 209(a).

H.R. Deb. (16.2.2004) 24782.

S.O. 213(d).

VP 2002-04/1241-2.

S.O. 213(a).

H.R. Deb. (30.8.79) 830-4.

VP 1970-72/1012-13; H.R. Deb. (18.4.72) 1703-41; PP 20 (1972) 4, 8-11.

S.O. 212(a).

S.O. 212(b).

S.O. 211(b).

Standing Committee on Procedure, It’s your House: Community involvement in the procedures and practices of the House of Representatives and its committees . PP 363 (1999) 16-17. The committee reported 18 responses to that time. The next response was received in 2003. VP 2002-2004/1313, H.R. Deb. (24.11.2003) 22498-9.

S.O. 213(b).

Some petitions which have been technically out of order (or in order but received late) have been presented as documents by the Leader of the House, e.g. VP 1996-98/531-2. Out of order petitions have also been described by a Member in the House, H.R. Deb. (25.5.89) 2943; and presented by leave (as a document) during the grievance debate, VP 1996-98/162. Such documents are not formally announced in the House or recorded in House records as petitions received, and standing orders providing for referral to a Minister or a committee do not apply.

The House has rarely debated the question that a petition be received; VP 1907-08/91.

S.O. 213(c). VP 1980-83/102, 294; VP 1987-89/1119-23.

VP 1962-63/531; H.R. Deb. (28.8.63) 561. (One of the ‘bark petitions’ referred to at p. 615 .)

VP 1962-63/549; H.R. Deb. (12.9.63) 927-39. See also Select Committee on Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, Report , PP 311 (1963).

VP 1970-72/133, 147-8; and see Select Committee on Wildlife Conservation, Conservation and commercial exploitation of kangaroos, Interim report , PP 219 (1971).

VP 1909/39; H.R. Deb. (8.7.09) 983; H.R. Deb. (9.7.09) 1058-61.

S.O. 215(b).

Standing Committee on Procedure, It’s your House: Community involvement in the procedures and practices of the House of Representatives and its committees . PP 363 (1999) 17-18.