Petitions & deputations

A petition to the council must meet the requirements set out in the City of Unley Code of Practice for Meeting Procedures, which incorporates the Local Government (Procedures at Meetings) Regulations 2013.  These require that a petition must:

• be legibly written or typed or printed; and 
• clearly set out the request or submission of the petitioners; and 
• include the name and address of each person who signed or endorsed the petition; and
• be addressed to the council and delivered to the principal office of the council.

The following guidelines will assist you in this process.

Step 1

Prepare your petition using Council’s petition template and distribute it to the community.

Ensure that you describe the specific request you are making of Council at Part 4 of the template, and that this is repeated at the top of each page of signatures you collect. 

Step 2

Provide a covering letter with the petition detailing the name, address and contact details of the Head Petitioner(s) to whom we can address correspondence.

Other requirements include:

• The petition should be in the English language (or be accompanied by a translation and certified as such by a host petitioner).
• The petition must be signed personally by every petitioner unless a Power of Attorney exists.
• Photocopies or signatures pasted on to the petition are unacceptable.
• Corporations must be signed under Seal.
• No letters or affidavits or other document(s) can be attached.
• The wording should not be disrespectful to the Council or of individuals and generally should be temperate in tone.
• The original copy of each page of the petition must be provided to Council.

Step 3

Submit the petition to Council by lodging with the CEO at the Council’s Civic Centre Offices, 181 Unley Road, Unley, SA 5061 no later than 5 clear days before a Council meeting.

Once the petition is received by the CEO, Administration will arrange for it to be tabled at the beginning of the next ordinary Council meeting (or Council Section 41 Committee if more appropriate) with a short report indicating the number of signatures and a suggested course of action.

Receipt of the petition will be acknowledged to the Head Petitioner who will be advised of the date and time of the meeting it will be presented to.

In certain circumstances, the CEO may convey the document informally to Elected Members so they are aware of its existence before the Council or Committee meeting.

Members of the public are welcome to attend all Council and Section 41 Committee meetings but cannot participate in the debate at these meetings.

There is no provision for the lodging of petitions as such under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016. The opportunity to comment on an application is limited to those matters that are subject to public notification, with any representation needing to be received during the specified period.  All representations need to be lodged on the PlanSA portal during the notification period.