Parliament moves to accept online petitions

James Riley
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 16:54

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Petitioners to the Federal Parliament should soon be able to lodge their signatories online after a committee recommended the House of Representatives accept electronic petitions for the first time.

The House of Representatives Petitions Committee says the parliament should establish an electronic management system and a web site to publish petitions, and that Standing Orders be changed to allow the acceptance of electronic petitions.

If accepted by the House, the changes would come into effect when the next Parliament is formed after the next election.

Grass roots lobby group GetUp! hailed the plan, saying online tools were "fuelling a re-engagement" with the democratic process. GetUp! has this year collected more than 100,000 signatures for petitions relating to both climate change and internet filtering.

"Parliament has a responsibility to keep its practices apace with new technologies and the changing nature of how citizens interact with each other and with their elected representatives," GetUp! Executive director Simon Sheikh said.

"It's crucial that Parliament keeps up with changes in society, so I’d welcome this proposal - our democracy will be much stronger for it."

The Committee Chair Julia Irwin said that, under the reforms recommended by the Committee, both paper and electronic petitions would be received, and would be treated the same way as far as possible.

"The Committee had received evidence that the House should accept electronic petitions due to the widespread adoption of electronic communications," she said. "If it did not, the House of Representatives could be at risk of falling out-of-step with the community."

Differences remain, however, over the kind of information that should be provided in electronic petitions. While the committee wants recommends that signatories to petitions be required to provide an address and postcode in addition to name and signature, GetUp! is not so sure.

GetUp! says the initiative will only work if Australians were only required to provide their name as it appears on the electoral role, their email address and post code – rather than their full postal address.