E-Petition

The Petition of electors of the Division of Kurwongbah draws to the attention of the House their concern that legislative processes in Queensland do not accord sufficient respect to the people's judgement as compared with the judgement of elected representatives.

Laws are often passed to which the majority of citizens would not consent if given the opportunity to vote upon them directly.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to put forward a referendum to enshrine the right of citizens to veto recent
parliamentary legislation or government / local government regulations along the following lines.

The veto will be initiated via a petition followed by a referendum if the petition reaches the requisite number of net-positive signatures (opposition being in the form of a counter-petition to retain the original legislation). Once the designated number of signatures is reached, the legislation / by-law shall be held to have been defeated or repealed until the outcome of the referendum is known.

The net number of pro-veto signatures required should initially be set at 1000 times the majority it received in the parliamentary / Council vote and then may be adjusted over time / usage of the procedure, based on the outcome of subsequent referenda.

Your petitioners consider that the initial ratio of one representative vote being equated to 1000 citizens votes provides the right balance between respect for the expertise and judgement of representatives, while also acknowledging that citizens themselves ought to have their considered judgements given due recognition.