What do petitions do?

Many years ago I had heard the Herman's Hermits song, “There's a kind of hush”. This morning, sitting looking through the Change.org petitions site I started singing that song in my head, but with different words.

Herman's Hermits wrote about love, but, for me, this song had become a desperate song for people who this government had walked over. I changed a couple of words.

There's a kind of hush all over the world tonight
All over the world you can hear the sounds of people [in pain]
You know what I mean

So many articles I had read from internet newspapers – real papers.

Like Sunshine Coast Daily which wrote about how the Centrelink beneficiaries have been billed for debts they don't even owe (4 Jan).

Like The Advocate which wrote about what a person could do if they had received a letter saying they owed what they didn't even know about (5 Jan).

Like New Matilda which wrote about how the Centrelink “Robo-link” debacle was getting worse (6 Jan).

Like the Newcastle Herald which wrote a warning from the CSPU about how the Centrelink debt is heaping misery on the welfare beneficiaries (10 Jan).

Like Independent Australia who wrote about how the Centrelink debacle shows a “symptom of Turnbull Government's war on welfare” (10 Jan). 

Like the Conversation which looked at Centrelink's data-matching problem.

Like News Mail which wrote about how the Centrelink debacle was very similar to the Census debacle (14 Jan). David Kirkpatrick's article was repeated in the Northern Star, the Gympie Times, the Queensland Times.

Like Sydney Morning Herald who wrote about what the government is planning to do next through Centrelink (16 Jan).

The use of the internet to follow what the government is doing to Centrelink beneficiaries is useless. Personally, I have NetGear from Telstra. Every single day I get onto the internet but every single day I'm cut off. I go offline, watch the message, and eventually it lets me back on. This is Turnbull's NBN. This is pathetic now for any Centrelink beneficiary who needs to get into MyGov to find out what's happening to them. This is pathetic for anyone who has internet problems.

When I finally can get online I follow the Facebook pages where I've joined to see how they feel about this debacle – like the Labor Coalition or Philips's and Friends' Political Analysis & Satire or GetUp!

GetUp! has a petition for us to “fight the unfair debt recovery”, but only needs 50,000 names. Except that the PM had already turned down a petition of more than 200,000 signatures which wanted him to keep working on the Labor NBN. If he could get rid of petitions then he will do it any single day he ever receives a petition. Don't you know that?? Who in this government would listen to that petition? 500,000 signatures might be better. (Oh, and the way we suffer with the internet right now is Turnbull's problem – he should have accepted that petition 3 years ago...)  

Enough is Enough set up a petition asking for 75,000 signatures (presently 57,117) with back-up titled “Ombudsman Investigate Centrelink Debt Recovery”, 9 Jan.

Politicians behave as if the Centrelink beneficiaries aren't there for them – they spend taxpayer funds when they don't care. Graeme Andrews of Mandurah started his petition about the expenditure by politicians, titled “Stop MPs wasting taxpayers money on personal expenses”, set the petition for 150,000 signatures. So far they're up to 78,482. 

Michelle Pedersen of Banksia Beach wrote her petition about stopping payments for non-currently serving politicians: “Stop ALL entitlements, payments, allowances, including travel allowances for politicians who are no longer currently serving the Australian public.” She wanted 300,000 signatures, currently 208,881. She has now lodged this petition on the APH site (Petition number EN0096) and advised that she had “been told the format is incorrect”. Well done, Ms Pedersen – unfortunately no-one should use change.org for a parliament petition! There are only 11 people have signed that one so far...

So if we really wish for a petition to be given to – and accepted by – the PM, what do we do? I looked through the Parliamentary House of Representatives Petitions or Senators website. I found this page with information you could look through. This page says “The subject of a petition must be a matter on which the House has the power to act, that is, it must be a Federal (nationally controlled) rather than a State or Local matter and one involving legislation or government administration.” This is very important information for how a petition can be submitted and who can sign it. 

 

E-petitions can be done, and the person who “signs” it must provide their name and address. There is another page where you can find a petition which is already lodged within APH which you can sign (if it's still open). You must sign.

I have asked everyone who reads this to read everything about this. I have asked you to sign a petition – change.org if you believe in that, or at the Parliament website if you know about it. Please, please don't just flick the page. This page is what YOU need to read. This page is what YOU can follow. This page is what you have to share to get other people in this country to show how angry and frustrated they are of this present government.

Please.... sign.