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| Standing Committee on Petitions | |
| Legislature: | 47th Parliament of Australia |
| Coa Pic: | Coat of Arms of Australia.svg |
| House Type: | Standing Committee |
| Body: | Australian House of Representatives |
| Leader1 Type: | Chair |
| Leader1: | Susan Templeman |
| Party1: | Labor |
| Election1: | 2 August 2022 |
| Leader2 Type: | Deputy Chair |
| Leader2: | Ross Vasta |
| Party2: | Liberal National |
| Election2: | 2 August 2022 |
| Members: | 8 |
| Political Groups1: | |
| Meeting Place: | Parliament House Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia |
The Standing Committee on Petitions is a committee of the Australian House of Representatives responsible for the processing of petitions addressed to the House of Representatives.[1] The committee is governed by Standing Order 220 and consists of eight members, five government members and three non-government members. The chair is appointed by the Prime Minister and the deputy chair by the Leader of the Opposition under Standing Order 232.[2]
The Procedure Committee undertook a study tour of other parliaments in 2006, resulting in a report which, among other things noted the potential value in the establishment of a Petitions Committee modelled on the Public Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament.[3] This was followed by a further report of the Procedure Committee in September 2007 formally recommending the creation of a Petitions Committee.[4] in 2008 the Rudd Government amended standing orders establishing a Standing Committee on Petitions for the first time.[5]
In the 47th parliament (July 2022 – present), the membership of the committee is the following:[6]
| Member | Party | Electorate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chair | Labor | Division of Macquarie, Queensland | |||
| Deputy Chair | Liberal National | Division of Bonner, Queensland | |||
| Nationals | Division of Nicholls, Victoria | ||||
| Labor | Division of Cunningham, New South Wales | ||||
| Labor | Division of Bendigo, Victoria | ||||
| Garth Hamilton | Liberal National | Division of Groom, Queensland | |||
| Labor | Division of Pearce, Western Australia | ||||
| Labor | Division of Paterson, New South Wales | ||||
In the 46th parliament (July 2019 – April 2022), the membership of the committee was as follows:
| Parliament | Reference date | Report title | Tabled date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42nd | 4 June 2008 | Electronic petitioning to the House of Representatives [7] | 16 November 2009 | |
| 12 February 2008 | The work of the first Petitions Committee: 2008-2010[8] | 21 June 2010 | ||
| 43rd | 25 October 2010 | The work of the Petitions Committee: 2010-2013 - An established part of the democratic process[9] | 24 June 2013 | |
| 44th | 4 December 2013 | The work of the Petitions Committee: 2013-2016 [10] | 5 May 2016 | |
| 45th | 24 May 2017 | Making voices heard: Inquiry into the e-petitioning system of the House of Representatives Petitions Committee[11] | 29 May 2018[12] [13] | |
| 15 August 2018 | Your voice can change our future: Inquiry into the future of petitioning in the House | 21 February 2019 | ||
| 46th | 9 December 2020 | Report on the inquiry into aspects of petitioning security and accessibility | 24 June 2021 | |
| 47th | No current inquiries | |||
| Parliament | Chair | Term | Deputy | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 42nd | Julia Irwin | – [14] | Russell Broadbent[15] | |||||
| 2 | 43rd | John Murphy | – [16] | Dennis Jensen | |||||
| 3 | 44th | Dennis Jensen | – [17] | Justine Elliot[18] | |||||
| 4 | 45th | Ross Vasta | – [19] | ||||||
| 5 | Lucy Wicks | – | |||||||
| 6 | 46th | Llew O'Brien | – [20] | ||||||
| 7 | Ken O'Dowd | – [21] | |||||||
| 8 | 47th | Susan Templeman | – Incumbent[22] | Ross Vasta | |||||