Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, an important part of the role of the Petitions Committee is conducting community engagement by holding public hearings with petitioners and occasionally visiting schools to discuss petitioning with students. In my statement today I will discuss a recent school visit by the Petitions Committee.

On 29 April, the Petitions Committee visited Hornsby Girls High School, in Sydney’s northern suburbs. While we were there, the committee conducted a public hearing exercise with Miss Olivia Kong and Miss Avanti Gomes, both year 11 students of Hornsby Girls High. Olivia had organised a petition to the House on the subject of tertiary education reforms and Avanti helped to gather signatures. The committee also invited students from the school to observe this hearing and to watch a parliamentary committee in action. As a result, two classes of year 11 legal studies students observed the committee’s discussion with Olivia and Avanti.

The hearing exercise was very successful. Both Olivia and Avanti displayed a very keen insight into the benefits of petitioning the House and the value that the House derives from receiving petitions. Their passion for the subject of their petition demonstrated a deep concern for their future and for the future of their country.

It was very pleasing to see these two young Australians so committed to making a difference, drawing the attention of the House to the issues that are important to them and the signatories to their petition. I have no doubt that these girls and others like them represent the future leaders of this country.

During our discussion with Olivia and Avanti, they both provided some valuable feedback on the House’s processes for dealing with petitions. Aside from Olivia’s pleasure at receiving physical mail from the committee updating her on the progress of her petition—increasingly less common in this digital age—she made some interesting points about the House’s processes. For example, Olivia noted that the committee’s web page contains much useful information on preparing petitions, and that her inquiries to the committee secretariat were answered very quickly.

Olivia’s experiences here are important. They emphasise the value of visiting the committee’s web page and contacting the committee secretariat before petitioners start to gather signatures on a petition. By taking these steps, petitioners can help to ensure that their petitions will meet the House’s requirements and that their petition will be referred to a minister for response. As I have in previous statements, I would once again like to encourage anyone considering petitioning the House to contact the committee secretariat early in the preparation of their petition, as the feedback provided by the secretariat can be very useful in helping them to meet the House’s requirements for petitions.

Olivia and Avanti also mentioned that they were happy with the fact their petition received a response from the minister, in their case the Minister for Education. While ministers are often not able to grant the requests made in petitions, the response is an important part of the petitioning process. In the case of Olivia and Avanti, it gave them a clear statement of government policy on the issue of tertiary education reform, a statement which they can now use to engage in a discussion about the nature of these reforms with their fellow students.

After the public hearing exercise, the committee had a one-hour discussion with the students who attended. Again, the committee was impressed by the passion and engagement of these students. The discussion covered a wide range of issues, including young Australians’ engagement with the House, education policy, the representation of women in politics, and the nature and responsibilities of Australian citizenship. Many of the students spoke with confidence and passion, on matters that were clearly very important to them.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students and staff at Hornsby Girls High School for hosting our visit to their beautiful school. In particular, I would like to thank Olivia and Avanti for their work in conducting their petition, and in speaking to the committee about their experiences. I would also like to thank the school principal, Dr Justin Briggs, for his efforts in arranging our visit and for the kind hospitality he organised. Finally, I would like to thank all of the students who attended our visit to their school. Not only did they make us feel very welcome; they also— (Time expired)