1.1
Petitioning has been described as ‘the oldest of all parliamentary forms’ and is ‘the only direct means by which an individual or group can ask the Parliament to take action’.
1.2
The House of Representatives (the House) should therefore provide an open and accessible petitioning process that allows people to readily exercise their right to petition.
1.3
To better facilitate this process, the Standing Committee on Petitions (the Committee) was established in the 42nd Parliament to ‘receive and process petitions and to inquire into and report on any possible action to be taken in response to them’.
1.4
In 2007, the House Standing Committee on Procedure recommended the introduction of an e-petitioning system to align with the expectations of petitioners and the societal shift toward online communication.
1.5
The e-petitions system was subsequently developed in 2016 as a joint project between the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) and the Department of the House of Representatives, in accordance with the specifications of the Committee.
1.6
The design of the system was intended to be, as much as possible, ‘no more prohibitive than creating or signing a paper petition’ and was created in the spirit of maintaining openness and accessibility for all Australians.
1.7
Since the launch of the e-petitioning system, a number of upgrades have been made to improve accessibility for users and to enhance system security. These upgrades include:
2018
improved usability of the administrative portal for the committee secretariat and provide performance enhancements to the public website;
a unique web page and URL for each approved petition and the facility to easily share details of the petition through various social media platforms; and
2021
improved user experience on the website and for mobile device users, including a more intuitive interface, improved search capability and more links to pages;
increased conformity with international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to make web content more accessible to people with disability (for example, greater use of symbols, images and plain English text); and
updated technology and the underlying software application to improve site performance, security and maintainability.
1.8
The Committee continues to balance its responsibilities to provide an open and accessible petitioning system with one that also provides the security required to uphold the integrity of the petitioning process. This inquiry is part of the Committee’s ongoing role in maintaining the balance between security and accessibility.
Background to the inquiry
1.9
On 9 December 2020 the Committee resolved to inquire into and report on aspects of the House of Representatives’ petitioning system relating to security and accessibility.
1.10
The terms of reference to the inquiry are found on page xi of this report.
1.11
Thirteen submissions were made to the inquiry. A list of submissions is provided at Appendix A.