[LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style?

[Eric Scheid]

On 12/1/08 2:11 PM, "Roger Clarke" <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:

> "The new Petitions Committee, consisting of 10 members of Parliament
> (six Government and four Opposition members [so much for the Senate
> cross-benches]), will receive and consider petitions lodged and
> report on appropriate action", [Leader of the House] Mr Albanese said.
> 
> Of some interest to link, however:  "The committee will also consider
> moving to electronic petitions, as the [British] Government has
> done", he said.

more on this ...

Petitions to receive greater attention
Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent | January 12, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23040476-5013871,00.html

KEVIN Rudd is to require parliament to formally consider and report on
petitions lodged by citizens, ending more than a century in which petitions
simply gathered dust on parliamentary shelves. Labor will appoint a
10-person House of Representatives committee to review petitions and propose
government action to address the issues they raise.

More than one million Australians signed more than 900 petitions to
parliament during the Howard government's final three-year term. But in
almost all cases, the petitions were simply tabled and seldom raised again.

Labor's Leader of the House of Representatives Anthony Albanese conceded
yesterday that since Federation in 1901, petitions had simply "gathered dust
in the bowels of parliament".

"The creation of the petitions committee is an important reform which
strengthens the democratic rights of citizens and ensures that parliament is
listening and responding appropriately," Mr Albanese said. Yesterday's
announcement is expected to be the first of a range of changes to
parliamentary practice under the Rudd Government.

...

Mr Albanese said the petitions committee, which will include six government
members and four non-government members, would give millions of Australians
who organised or signed petitions confidence their voices would be heard.

Although the Howard government received 900 petitions between 2004 and last
year, it had responded to only two, Mr Albanese said. "The Rudd Labor
Government is committed to boosting parliamentary democracy and scrutiny,"
he said. "Almost 15,000 Australians petitioned the previous government in
2007 for a commonwealth dental scheme -- which the Rudd Labor Government
pledged to introduce during the election."

In another change, petitions will no longer need to be formally sponsored by
an MP, as Mr Albanese insisted citizens had a basic right to petition
parliament. And he said the new committee would also investigate whether
parliament should accept electronic submissions, which are allowed in the
British parliament.

...