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

Mr Deputy Speaker, last week in my statement to the House I focused on a public hearing that the Standing Committee on Petitions had held on the Central Coast in March when we had an opportunity to speak to principal petitioners, teachers, and also to school children.

This evening I want to focus on another aspect of the committee’s work. This was exemplified at a public hearing held by the committee last week in parliament house. As members would know, the committee may examine matters relating to petitions and, in addition to the process of obtaining written responses from relevant ministers, the committee from time to time follows up on petitions and responses with expert witnesses.

The Petitions Committee was very pleased last week to receive evidence from senior staff—and they were very senior staff—of three Departments: Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy; Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government; and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The evidence that they gave in response to the committee’s questions—which will be published on the committee’s webpage—brought us up to date on some of the many issues that have been raised in petitions and which the committee has referred to ministers for a response.

The committee is grateful for the level of support that is being provided in terms of the representatives of departments who appeared before us. They were senior staff, well-prepared and helpful to the committee as it followed up on issues raised by petitioners. In some cases they had good news about the issues raised in petitions; in other cases the news was simply an update that might not have been what petitioners sought.

It would be wonderful if there were always solutions to the problems raised in petitions but we know that is never to happen. What the hearing brought home to me and my colleagues on the committee was the growing effectiveness of the committee in examining issues that are raised in petitions and ensuring that at least government expertise is made available in a very transparent way to provide information and advice on these issues. I think I can speak for my colleagues—and I am sure the member for Gippsland, who will follow me this evening, agrees—when I say that we are proud of the work that is being done to address various concerns that Australian people bring to their parliament for information and assistance.