Petitions

A petition is basically a request for action. The right to petition Federal Parliament has been one of the rights of citizens since federation, and it is the only way an individual can directly place grievances before the Parliament.

Senate Petitions

The presentation of a petition to the Senate is a proceeding in Parliament and is protected by parliamentary privilege. The publication of a petition before presentation is not similarly protected. (See Chapter 2, Australian Senate Practice, Parliamentary Privilege, Circulation of petitions.)

House of Representatives petitions

A petition to the House of Representatives (the House) is a request for action on something that the House is responsible for.

The House Standing Committee on Petitions receives and processes petitions on behalf of the House.

Petitions to the House must follow the rules and can be presented by a Member of Parliament or the Committee Chair.

Learn more about petitioning the House

Related Resources and Links

Senate

House of Representatives

What is a Petition?

Individuals and organisations may seek to have petitions presented to the Parliament. A petition expresses a point of view, usually on matters of public policy, and contains a request for action, or in some cases, not to take action. The right to petition Parliament has been one of the rights of citizens since Federation.

Each house of the Parliament has its own rules that documents must follow in order to be accepted as petitions.

December 2021

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
28	29	30	1 Both	2 Other	3 Other	4
5 Other	6 Other	7 Other	8 Other	9 Other	10 Other	11
12	13	14 Senate	15 Other	16 Senate	17	18
19	20 Other	21 Other	22 Other	23	24	25
26 Public holiday	27 Public holiday	28	29 Both	30 Senate	31	1

Senate
House of Representatives
Both
Public Holiday
Other

Date	Title
28/11/21	Senate sitting
28/11/21	House of Representatives sitting
28/11/21	Inquiry Submission Closing FITS Act 2018
28/11/21	Inquiry Submission Closing TEO Act 2019
29/11/21	Senate Committee Estimates Hearing
29/11/21	Inquiry Report Tabling Disability Support Pensio
29/11/21	Inquiry Report Tabling General Aviation
29/11/21	Senate 2/3 cutoff
29/11/21	Inquiry Report Tabling Overseas Service Bill
29/11/21	Inquiry Report Tabling Faunal extinction 2019
29/11/21	Inquiry Report Tabling Job Security
30/11/21	Senate sitting
30/11/21	House of Representatives sittings
01/12/21	Inquiry Submission Closing Job Security
01/12/21	Inquiry Submission Closing Missing murdered women
01/12/21	Inquiry Report Tabling Administration of the UCF
01/12/21	Inquiry Report Tabling AUSTRAC
01/12/21	Inquiry Report Tabling Save the Koala
01/12/21	Joint Committee Public Hearing
01/12/21	House Committee Public Hearing
02/12/21	House Committee Public Hearing
02/12/21	Joint Committee Public Hearing
02/12/21	Joint Committee Public Hearing
03/12/21	Joint Committee Public Hearing
05/12/21	Senate Committee Public Hearing
05/12/21	Senate Committee Public Hearing
05/12/21	Senate Committee Public Hearing

Parliamentary sitting calendar

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