50,000 signatures?

[entheofarm]

This is the response I recieved regarding the idea of submitting a petition to the Council of civil liberties.

 

 

 

"That's a very interesting idea. I see two immediate problems, firstly that you would

need a lot more than a thousand signatures to make an impact (eg 50,000), and secondly

a lot of people would be reluctant to sign for fear of police follow-up.

 

Current QCCL policy is for legalisation of possession for all the currently illegal

substances, plants, pills and powders. In 1993 we made extended submissions for the

legalisation of cannabis, as per below.

 

I would have thought Getup (http://www.getup.org.au/)would be the best way to go about

getting a really big petition. Also their petitions only show names and email

addresses.

 

Two other organisations interested in drug law reform are the Australian Parliamentary

Group for Drug Law Reform and the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation. I have

attached their latest newsletter.

 

Yours sincerely"

 

http://www.qccl.org.au/documents/Sub_JER_4..._Queensland.pdf

 

http://www.qccl.org.au/documents/Sub_PA_1N..._Queensland.pdf

 

General feedback on the idea please?

[kiloppo]

wow. well shit give me the link and i'll sign it. It's not impossible to get 50,000 signatures, you'd just have to spread the word through a news site or something.

 

the documents linked were very well constructed. a good read.

[grace]

This is the response I recieved regarding the idea of submitting a petition to the Council of civil liberties.

 

"That's a very interesting idea. I see two immediate problems, firstly that you would

need a lot more than a thousand signatures to make an impact (eg 50,000), and secondly

a lot of people would be reluctant to sign for fear of police follow-up.

 

General feedback on the idea please?

 

Great idea entheofarm ...

 

The Rudd government recently established a Standing Committee on Petitions

 

Julia Irwin is the Chair of the Australian Parliament Standing Committee on Petitions

 

I heard that Ms Irwin is very helpful

 

The direct link for contact details for Julia Irwin is: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/petitions/members.htm

 

The Qld Parliament also have an e - petition

 

Details below ...

 

best of luck guys

 

PM if you need any help

 

 

Australian Parliament - Standing Committee on Petitions

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/petitions/index.htm

 

House of Representatives

Standing Committee on Petitions

The Standing Committee on Petitions was established for the 42nd Parliament under Standing Order 220.

 

The Committee receives and processes petitions, and inquires into and reports to the House on any matter relating to petitions and the petitions system. Information on how to go about petitioning the House of Representatives is available at the petitions page.

 

The Committee Secretariat can be contacted at:

 

Committee Secretary

Standing Committee on Petitions

PO Box 6021

House of Representatives

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

AUSTRALIA

 

Phone: 61 2 6277 2152

Fax: 61 2 6277 4627

email: petitions.committee.reps@aph.gov.au

 

 

Queensland Parliament Petitions

 

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/

 

Petitioning is one of the traditional forms by which citizens can make requests direct to Parliament. A Petition is a formal request signed by at least one person and placed before the Parliament with the object of persuading the Parliament to take some particular action. For example, a petition may request the alteration of the general law or the re-consideration of some administrative decision.

Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly provide for two types of petitions:

 

E-Petitions; and

Paper Petitions

E-Petitions

 

From this web site you can locate an E-Petition, find out information about its status and, if it is a current E-Petition, join the E-Petition. The web site also provides information to assist you with starting an E-Petition, including an Information Brochure E-Petition Request Form and Members of Parliament contact details.

Please note: To view the documents above, you require the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't have this Reader, you can download it from the Adobe web site by clicking on the button below:

 

Paper Petitions

 

The Paper Petitions process is essentially the same petitions process that has been operating in Queensland for over 140 years. It involves a Paper Petition being circulated in the community for signatures and then lodged by a Member

[entheofarm]

okay so I think the e petition would be best option?

 

Any idea on the exact wording? Making sure we don't allow any technical phrasing to be a cause for the petition to be rejected.

 

My understanding is once the petetion is filed with the council of civil liberties they will support it with all thier legal resources?

 

50,000 people demanding the government face facts and start acting honestly! fuck shaking the tree, chop it down and smoke it

 

 

 

MRS IRWIN: To move – That this House

(1) notes the abuse of illegal substances is deeply implicated in Australia’s most intractable and costly social problems. These extend well beyond direct health and crime costs to issues like child protection, school drop out, suicide, mental illness, homelessness and poverty;

(2) notes that the full cost of illicit substance abuse to the Australian economy has not been accurately assessed;

(3) notes that the cost effectiveness of strategies devised to deal with abuse of illicit substances has not been accurately assessed in Australia;

(4) notes that the efficacy of supply reduction strategies as compared to the efficacy of other measures in reducing the harms of illicit drug abuse has not been accurately assessed in Australia; and

(5) calls on the Government to initiate an inquiry by the Productivity Commission into the cost of illicit drug abuse in Australia and the cost effectiveness of strategies to address illicit drug abuse and that in accordance with the Productivity Commission Act 1998, the Commission may also make recommendations in the report on any matters relevant to the matter referred. (Notice given 11 March 2008. Notice will be removed from the Notice Paper unless called on on any of the next 7 sitting Mondays after 26 May 2008.) Dr Washer has seconded the motion.

Dr Washer has seconded this motion and when this motion is debated in Parliament he will speak about the real financial, economic and social costs of illicit drug use in Australia.

Edited September 2, 2008 by entheofarm

[Guest niall]

What's the goal of the petition? A petition doesn't really achieve much, I'm thinking your effort would be better spent elsewhere - like educating MPs, working with WDC on Greens policy, form a lobbying organisation, work from within the Liberal and Labor parties to improve their policies, start an NGO non-profit to advise Government on cannabis and medical cannabis issues (with consulting fees for helping parties with their policies), consulting with and representation of patients and medical professionals wrt medical cannabis, forming patient information networks, starting a public education org and campaign, short films and public awareness (street theatre? :-)).

 

Hell just smoking a joint would achieve more than a petition imho :-)

[linbaba]

a petition would be a great idea and would let governments and the media know that there is significant public support for this issue. Maybe even have each participant note their vocation to demonstrate we are productive members of society and likely to vote. Whether or not this is actually the case I'm not sure, but would be a good bit of information to find out.

[bufo marinus]

I think a petition is a great way to see how much support there really is out there. I'd sign it. 50000 signatures would be one of the few ways to 'educate an MP' talking sense to them is a waste of time, they're only after votes anyway

Why can't the petition be included in any submissions to The Greens?

[entheofarm]

Niall, the council for civil liberties do not take on individual cases, a petition would give them cause to take legal action against the states and the commonwealth. If you read through the attachments you will see all the info has already been placed in front of the politicians but none have acted. Arm the ACCL with 50,000 signatures and let them loose.

[entheofarm]

Unfortunately the House of Representatives does not accept electronic

petitions at this time. However, at the beginning of this year, standing

orders (or 'rules of the House') were amended and arrangements for

petitions were changed. The Standing Committee on Petitions was also

established, to ensure that all petitions which comply with the rules

are able to be presented in the House, considered by the Committee and

responded to. More information on the work of the Committee, and the

requirements for a petition to be 'in order', is available from

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/work/petitions.htm and

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/petitions/index.htm

 

Should you wish to prepare a petition, I strongly recommend that you get

in touch with us prior to collecting signatures, so that you can be

assured of the petition being able to be presented to the House. Please

let me know if you are unable to access either of the websites above; I

will be happy to post paper copies of relevant documents to you.

 

I hope this information is of assistance. Please contact me should you

have any further queries with regard to petitioning the House of

Representatives.

 

Regards

 

Julia Morris

Inquiry Secretary

House Standing Committee on Petitions

Suite R1.43

House of Representatives

Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Ph +61 2 6277 2152

Fax +61 2 6277 4627

Email petitions.committee.reps@aph.gov.au

 

 

My head hurts already!

[Kali Mist]

••

••

 

The ONLY ways to make these procrastinating manipulative bastards really get the point are:

 

• Public Information Campaigns eg: statistics as per usage in OZ/USA compared to HOLLAND/EU etc where less kids use.

(Politicians HATE the stats that prove that prohibitition DOES NOT WORK & Education DOES reduce kids drug usage)

(They also HATE their own & other studies that showed that cannabis usage was not related to traffic Accidents)

( & Don't Forget that Prohibition Supports Crime... )

 

• REPEATED & VERY PUBLIC MASS NON-VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE / MarcheS

(NOT in Nimbin where it can be ignored, as usual).

(These events MUST be openly & secretly filmed by multiple cameras to

prevent & expose Police Provocation attempts & other abuses of power,

which should be expected...)

 

• MASS letter writings to ALL politicians / Major Media - Keep them tied-up in endless mail - BURY them in it.

(sorry trees, but in the long run hemp or other papers *must* replace paper from trees)

 

• Very Public Botcotts of Companies that DONATE to Liberal / Labor Parties. Hit them where it hurts ($$$).

 

• DIRT: Target Politicians in Major Parties, exposing their secret affairs & crooked/shifty doings, if they provoke it.

 

• PUBLIC APPLESEEDING ie: COUNTLESS infestations in Public Places - Constant, Never-Ending Outbreaks - OZ-WIDE.

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Edited September 3, 2008 by Kali Mist