Petition Planning

The notes below come from the Petitions section on the main NZ Parliament website. 

Our present thinking is that we will use a specialised online tool to do this. For example this service shows some historical petitions relating to STV voting. It might be suitable to use for this project. 

Guide to completing your coversheet

Name of petitioner — Only one name is allowed on a petition. The exception is the name of a person followed by their organisation; for example, “Hēmi Smith on behalf of Save the Kiwis”. If the petition is on behalf of an organisation, we will need information to verify the organisation’s status and to confirm that it has agreed to the contact person making the petition on its behalf. A letter or an email from the organisation is a good way of providing this information.

Contact details — We prefer an email address. The phone number is also useful. Physical address is optional.

Number of other signatories — Only complete this field if you’ve collected physical signatures on paper sheets. Enter the number of people who signed the paper signature sheets. Don’t include people who have signed an online version of the petition.

Petition title — The title has a limit of 80 characters including spaces. 

Request — The petition request must begin with the words “That the House of Representatives”. The rest of the request is limited to 300 characters including spaces.  

Reason — The reason is optional. It is limited to 500 characters including spaces. Its purpose is to explain your rationale to people who might be thinking about signing your petition. Note that, after your petition is presented to the  House, you will be invited to make a written submission to the Petitions Committee. You can explain your reasons more fully in your written submission.  

Any statements of fact in petitions must be able to be authenticated. Often, this means the fact is confirmed on a credible website. 

The petition request and reason must be repeated at the top of each paper signature sheet. This is to show that people knew what they were signing.  

• Name of member of Parliament — please print the MP’s name.  

• Signatures — Both signature fields must be signed before the petition is presented: the petitioner (near the top of the coversheet) and the MP (at the bottom).  

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at petitions@parliament.govt.nz or phone us on 04 817 8080.