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Publications > Youth voices > Aotearoa Youth Voices toolkit > Action guide 10
Action guide 10: Petition parliament - signature power
If you feel really strongly about an issue and you think the government needs to act on an issue, one option is a “petition to parliament”. A petition is usually signed by a lot of people and asks the Government to do something, eg carry out an investigation or change a law.
You’ve probably seen heaps of general petitions around. Examples might be:
- the local bike store with a petition on its counter to get the local council to put bike lanes on the roads
- a stall on the footpath with someone collecting signatures for an environmental campaign
- petitions that are circulated by email or on the internet.
What is a “petition to parliament”?
Most petitions to parliament are about issues that people feel really
strongly about. Petitions tend to be “the last thing” that people do to
get their message to government.
Before you start a petition you should have already contacted
government departments or the Ombudsmen. The Ombudsmen’s job is to look
into complaints against New Zealand central, regional and local
government organisations or agencies. For more info, check out:
www.ombudsmen.govt.nz.
A petition to parliament is a request (usually signed by a group of people) that may try to:
- get the Government to change a law so that it works better
- ask the Government to change the way it is dealing with an national issue
- ask for more examination and thought about an issue (ie call for an inquiry).
Petitions do work
Petitions go way back in our own history and all over the world. One of
the most famous petitions in Australia was written on tree bark by the
Aboriginal peoples of Yirrkala in 1963.
In the United States of America, there were about 3,000 different petitions to the Government to end slavery from 1770 to 1860.
In 1893 petitions were used to ask the New Zealand government to give
women the vote. Over one-third of New Zealand’s women signed the
petitions and New Zealand became the first country in the world to give
women the vote!
In 1963 there was a massive petition asking the Government to start talks on getting this area of the world nuclear free.
Check out recent petitions to parliament on the New Zealand Parliament website.
What can I petition parliament about?
Organising a petition is a huge task, so you need to make sure that you
have done everything else possible to get your message to parliament
and the decision makers before you launch into doing it.
Doing a petition is a BIG thing, ask yourself - is this an issue that:
- I strongly believe the government needs to do something about?
- I know that other people also feel strongly about?
Remember!
- The more people who sign the petition the better and more powerful it is.
- Anyone of any age can write a petition to parliament.
How do I write the petition?
Parliament is really strict about the way that petitions are set out so
you need to make sure your petition covers all the points below,
otherwise it will get sent back to you!
Make sure you:
- Start the petition with the name, address and phone
number of the “Principal Petitioner”. This is the person who started or
organised the petition. This person also becomes the contact person for
the petition in case the select committee who deals with the petition
has any questions.
- Explain the action that you want parliament to do.
You don’t need to write a novel – keep your request simple and clear.
It’s really important that you have this same statement on every page
of the petition where people sign as well.
- Include space for people to write their name and
sign. People are not required to include their address but this can be
helpful if you want to contact people later on.
- Address the petition to the House of
Representatives (Parliament) but present it to a Member of Parliament
(MP)! You can’t just send a petition straight in to parliament, it
needs to be presented to parliament by an MP.
The easiest way to do this is to ask your local MP to do this. An MP
doesn’t have to agree with the petition to present it, but they also
don’t have to present a petition if they don’t want to.
Check out the Action guide 6: Writing to politicians (see link on sidebar).
What happens next?
Your petition goes to the select committee that deals with the issue raised in the petition.
Check out Action Guide 8: Write a submission to parliament (see link on sidebar) for more info on what select committees are all about.
The select committee looks at the action requested in the petition and
then works out what the next step should be. They might decide to get
more info about the issue raised from the Principal Petitioner, as well
as government departments and other interested groups.
After all that, they write a report with suggestions about what should happen next.
Sometimes select committees say that nothing more should be done with
the petition and its request. That doesn’t mean your petition was a
waste of time. Petitions are about getting important messages heard in
parliament and you have achieved that!
If the select committee recommends actions, this then goes to the
Government. The Government then has 90 days to decide what it will do
about the suggestions and ideas of the select committee. The final
government report is then printed and is made available to the public.
More info …
Copyright Ministry of Youth Development 2006
This action guide is one of a series of guides in the Ministry of Youth Development's
Aotearoa Youth Voices tool kit.
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