Hipkins ChrisSTANDING ORDERSSessionalHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I move That the following sessional order be adopted:ePetitions(1)Despite Standing Orders 364 and 365 and subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) a petition may be started signed and presented either in hard copy or in electronic form.(2)The Clerk will accept a petition in electronic form only if it is hosted on the Parliament website and meets the requirements of that website.(3)Standing Orders 361 to 371 apply to petitions in electronic form except that the application of those Standing Orders is modified to the extent necessary to enable the hosting of petitions on the Parliament website.Petitions have been a feature of the New Zealand parliamentary democracy since our Parliament was established in the 1850s and they have been part of the Westminster system almost from its origin. Petitions allow citizens individually and in groups to draw Parliament's attention to matters of concern to them and to ask the House to take action. All petitions are guaranteed consideration—[Interruption] SPEAKER: Order! There are far too many members talking and wandering around.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: All petitions are guaranteed action by being referred to select committees and they are an important link between the Parliament and the people. In recent years Parliament's rules about petitions have become out of date as technology has changed. There is an increasing desire amongst members of the public to be able to have ePetitions. At the moment the Parliament relies effectively on a workaround which is that ePetitions are presented to the House as a petition of one person asking that the House take note on behalf of that one person of a petition signed by many other people. The unfortunate reality about that system is that the wording of the original ePetition often doesn't ask the House to take a particular course of action.What this process that we're now putting in place will do is it will enable the Clerk to approve the wording of the petition in the first place. In approving the wording of the petition it will ensure that it is clear what course of action the House of Representatives is being asked to follow. By making that clear in the petition the petition will give better consideration and it will allow the Government to be clearer on how it will respond to the Parliament's report on the hearing of the petition.So this is ultimately bringing the New Zealand Parliament in line with best practice and similar practices in other places around the world. Where it has been trialled in other places or implemented in other places around the world it has often resulted in an increased number of petitions but it has also often brought to the attention of the Parliament or the legislature—depending on where in the world it is—issues that often might not have been forefront of mind for the members of the legislature but that are clearly front of mind for a significant number of citizens. So it will undoubtedly enhance our democratic process.When presented electronic petitions will proceed through the same select committee process as any other petition does. I want to make it clear on this side of the House that the expectation that the Government members have agreed is that petitioners will be given the opportunity to be heard at select committee where they have put forward a serious and credible petition. I think that the ability to ensure that we do get serious and credible petitions through this process will be enhanced by having the Office of the Clerk working with the petitioner to make sure the wording of the petition is right in the first place.If we then get a significant number of people signing that petition I think that is something that the select committees should consider when they're deciding how much time to devote to the petition. Clearly a petition that is from a smaller number of people might not get as much time—although I think it should get some time—as a petition that is signed by a large number of people.It's a pretty fundamental right that citizens have to petition their Parliament and I think it is well and truly time that we brought our procedures around that into the 21st century and allow that to be done electronically and online.