Guidelines for petitions
Some key things to remember when presenting a petition or attending a Council meeting.
Preparing a petition
A petition is a formal written request to Council by a group of people appealing for a particular matter to be dealt with. The wording of this request is called the ‘Prayer’ of the petition. A petition presented to Council must include the prayer at the top of every page of the petition. The prayer should consist of the following words:
“We the undersigned hereby petition Bayside City Council…" followed by your request.
To be valid, a petition must:
- be written (other than pencil)
- contain the request (prayer) of the petition on each page
- be signed by at least fifteen (15) people
- include the clearly legible name and address of each signatory
- not contain false or misleading content.
Online petitions
To be valid, an online or electronic petition must:
- contain the request (prayer) of the petition
- include the name, residential address (suburb and postcode as a minimum) of all electronic signatories
- be submitted via Bayside Council’s online petition template
- be signed by at least fifty (50) electronic signatories
- not contain false or misleading content.
Once submitted, the petition will be scrutinised by a Council officer to ensure it meets all requirements, before being presented to the next Ordinary Meeting of Council.
To assist Council in processing your petition, please ensure a Lead Petitioner is nominated as the contact person. An acknowledgement notice will be issued to the Lead Petitioner to confirm receipt of the petition, the final count of valid signatures, and details of when the petition will be presented to Council.
The links below provide additional information about petitions, a sample petition, and a petition cover sheet that we encourage you to place at the front of your petition when submitting.
Joint letters
A letter received with signatures on it and without the format of the petition is considered a joint letter. The joint letter will be forwarded to the appropriate officer for action and be dealt with as general correspondence.