Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I'm presenting ministerial responses to petitions only. Due to the timing of the petitions cycle, there are, right now, no petitions ready for presentation. There are, however, 76 petitions currently open for signature on the parliament's website, and these will be presented to the House in the coming weeks.

I'd also like to note that the Petitions Committee's electronic survey on the parliament's website has now closed. The survey was open for the month of August and sought feedback on an important part of the petitions process—the referral of petitions to ministers for written response. In particular, the survey asked respondents whether a petition should have a minimum number of signatures before it's referred to a minister for response and, if so, how many signatures a petition should have before referral.

This survey is part of the committee's ongoing work to ensure that the procedures for the processing of petitions continue to meet the needs and expectations of those engaged in the petitions system. This is particularly important given the steady increase in the number of petitions received by the House since the introduction of electronic petitioning in 2016.

I'm pleased to report that more than 15,000 people participated in the survey, which is an excellent result. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who took the time to share their views with us. The committee will carefully consider the results of the survey. I look forward to reporting our deliberations to the House.