Julia Irwin (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I advised the House in September that I would be visiting the Scottish parliament, among other places, to witness firsthand the way that petitions are dealt with and what the new Standing Committee on Petitions may learn from other parliaments. I have had many fascinating experiences in recent weeks, and I look forward to reporting my observations of Scotland, the UK and the United States in due course. In the time available to me tonight, however, I would like to advise all members of an exciting development in the history of petitions in this place.

As I have advised the House on earlier occasions, the Petitions Committee has been making good use of its ability to look into matters relating to petitions. So far we have held two public hearings in Canberra, where government departments have been invited to inform the committee about responses and reactions to petitions presented from around Australia on widely varying themes. We have also spoken to a young petitioner, Mr Chris Inglis, about his petition on child soldiers. The committee has also noted on previous occasions the vastly improved rate of ministerial responses to petitions. I am now pleased to announce the next step in ensuring that Australians’ voices are heard.

Next week the committee will visit Melbourne to meet with petitioners from all over Victoria. We will meet in Fitzroy Town Hall and hear from many members of local communities who have sent petitions to the House of Representatives. We hope that in future we will be able to announce dates for other states and territories as the committee continues to make sure that petitioners have access to the House of Representatives. While in Victoria we will speak with petitioners on issues as diverse as the social impacts of khat, disability funding for schools and income support for asylum seekers. We look forward to meeting with students of a local high school who prepared a petition relating to Indigenous Australians. We will also be inviting members of the community to make statements to the committee about their petitions.

Members of the committee continue to be aware of the importance of petitions in the democratic process and are enthusiastic about meeting directly with petitioners, first in Melbourne and eventually all around Australia. I and committee members look forward to keeping the House advised of progress in these and other areas.

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