How to present a valid petition to Council

In order to present a valid petition to Council for consideration it must meet the requirements of Section 57 of the Local Government Act , this includes;

• A petition is to be addressed to ‘The Mayor and Councillors of the Break O’Day Council’ and must contain a clear and concise statement of the subject matter and the action requested of Council.
• The petition may be lodged by presenting it to the General Manager or a Councillor. The wording of a petition must be temperate, respectful and factual, and the action proposed must be within Council’s legal capacity to achieve.
• The petitioners may wish to also provide the background or reason for the petition, and this may be done in successive paragraphs. Where this is provided on a separate page, it must be clearly marked as an addition to the petition.
• The names and addresses of the petitioners are to be printed on the petition and each person shall sign beside their name and address.
• Each signatory page must contain the same statement of subject matter and action requested, as on the face of the petition.
• Every signed page of a petition presented to Council shall be an original and not a photocopy, and each signature shall be placed directly onto the petition page and not be pasted or otherwise transferred.
• a statement specifying the number of signatories; and
• at the end of the petition –
  • in the case of a paper petition, the full name, address and signature of the person lodging the petition; and
  • in the case of an electronic petition, the full name and address of the person lodging the petition and a statement by that person certifying that the statement of the subject matter and the action requested, as set out at the beginning of the petition, has not been changed.

The petition must have enough signatures to equal 5% of the population or 1000 signatures whichever is less. These must be elector signatures, which are ratepayers or residents in the area. The signatures will be crosschecked with the electoral roll.

You can find Petition Guidelines and example form here.