Mr ALBANESE (Leader of the House) (6:52 PM) —I move:

I rise to speak to standing order 34, figure 2, and standing orders 207 and 209. These amendments to standing orders are a continuation of the government’s reforms aimed at making parliament more accountable and more accessible. In establishing the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions upon coming to government, we signalled that we no longer wanted only lip-service paid to the concerns of Australians. We wanted a process to deal with petitions that allowed the ideas and concerns contained within them to be heard and to receive a response. These changes continue that process. They allot time in the parliament so that the newly established petitions committee can report and present petitions to the House. The petitions committee will now be able to report and present petitions to the House for 10 minutes from 8.30 pm on a Monday night. They also formalise the role the committee will play in reporting to the House on responses to petitions received from ministers. The changes do not remove the ability of members to present petitions.

I am pleased to report to the House that this year 44 petitions have been presented, and so far nine of them have received ministerial responses. I can indicate to the House that that figure is now at least 10 because I signed a response just prior to this debate being held. This is compared with the more than 900 which were received in the entire term of the last parliament, of which only two received responses.

The proposed changes are being adopted on a trial basis only and will be reviewed at the end of 2008. They are consistent with a more responsive parliament, they are consistent with a more modern parliament and I commend the changes to the House.

Question agreed to.