The Standing Committee on Petitions is established under Standing Order 220 by the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia.

The role of the Standing Committee on Petitions is to receive and process petitions, and to inquire into and report to the House on any matter relating to petitions and the petitions system.

The Committee does not make recommendations on, or implement, any actions requested in petitions.

If a petition is deemed to have met relevant Standing Order requirements by the Committee, it will be presented to the House and referred to the relevant Government Minister for response.

The Petitions Committee checks whether each petition received meets the relevant rules for form and content. These rules are set out in the House Standing Orders. The Committee does not:

• Make corrections or changes to the spelling, grammar or content of a petition.
• Check the accuracy of any statements or assertions made in a petition.
• Decide whether it agrees or disagrees with the content of a petition.

All petitions that meet requirements are presented to the House, in the terms provided to the Committee. The full terms of all petitions are published in Hansard and on the Petitions List.

If you would like to start a petition, it is strongly recommended that you either contact the petitions enquiry line on 02 6277 2152 or send a draft of your petition via email for advice, before collecting signatures.