Individuals and groups can express concern about an issue and ask Council to take action by organising a petition or joint letter.
Download our petition template(DOCX, 35KB)
Petitions and joint letters must be no more than 200 words in length. Please submit your petition or joint letter no later than 12 noon on the day prior to the scheduled Council meeting.
Petitions
A petition is a document signed by at least 12 people of separate addresses. It sets out the matter or issue on which the signatories seek a solution.
The petition statement must read ‘we, the undersigned, residents and ratepayers of the City of Whittlesea, request the Council to…” before outlining the matter. The statement should be followed by full names, addresses and signatures of each person involved with the petition. See below for the rules about signatures.
Joint letters
A joint letter is a letter signed by no less than three people of separate addresses. It sets out the matter or issue on which the signatories seek a solution. The joint letter must contain the full names, addresses and signatures of allof each person involved with the letter. See below for the rules about signatures.
Your petition or joint letter to Council must be:
- addressed to the Chair of Council or the Panel of Administrators of the City of Whittlesea
- one stand-alone joint letter or petition from each person or entity
- no more than 200 words in length
- submitted by 12 noon on the day prior to the scheduled Council meeting
- in a form approved or permitted by Council
- unrelated to matters outside the duties, functions or powers of Council
- signed by the persons whose names are appended to it by their names or marks, and except in cases or incapacity or sickness, by no one else and the address of every petitioner/signatory must be clearly stated
It the petition or joint letter is in electronic or online format, it must contain the name and email address of each petitioner or signatory to qualify as the address of the signatory.
Your petition or joint letter to Council must not:
- be defamatory
- deal with a subject matter previously answered
- be directed or aimed at embarrassing a Councillor or member of Council staff
- relate to personnel matters
- relate to personal hardship of any resident or ratepayer
- relate to industrial or contractual matters
- relate to legal advice, proposed developments or matters affecting the security of Council property
- relate to any other matter which Council considers would prejudice Council or any other person
If a petition or joint letter relates to an operational matter, the Chief Executive Officer will address it through our service operations or complaint handling program.
All the signatures on a petition or joint letter must:
- list the person’s full name, address and signature in their writing, unless the individual is unable to sign due to incapacity or sickness
- be clearly stated
- in the case of electronic petitions, contain the name and email address of each signatory
- be numbered in sequence
- appear on a page that bears the text of the whole petition or request.
Petitions and joint letters should be in writing and in English unless this unreasonably prevents or hinders you from participating.
If you would like assistance to draft a petition or joint letter, a member of our governance administration department would be happy to help you. To organise this assistance, please call us on 03 9217 2170.
If the head petitioner or lead signatory does not speak English, we offer various language services to assist. This includes the Victorian Interpreting and Translating Service (VITS) and LanguageLinks.
If the head petitioner or lead signatory has a hearing or speech impairment they may use the National Relay Service.
Street trees are an important asset throughout the City of Whittlesea, providing a range of benefits to our community. Our Street Tree Management Plan outlines how we choose, plant, maintain and protect street trees across our municipality.
If you are concerned about a street tree or nature strip tree, we encourage you to contact us or read more about how we maintain our street trees, and in what instances a tree would require removal.
You can submit your petition or joint letter by post or email.
By mail:
Chief Executive Officer
City of Whittlesea
Locked Bag 1
Bundoora MDC 3083
By email: civic.administration@whittlesea.vic.gov.au
For more information about submitting a petition or joint letter, call 03 9217 2170.
Download our petition template(DOCX, 35KB)
If the petition or joint letter meets the requirements, it will be processed and tabled at the next scheduled Council meeting where possible. For this to happen, the petition or joint letter must be submitted by 12 noon the day prior to the scheduled Council meeting in accordance with the Governance Rules. This provides us with sufficient time to undertake any necessary research or investigations.
We will notify the head petitioner that we have received the petition or joint letter and advise when it will be tabled at a Council meeting.
Council’s Governance Rules were updated at its scheduled Council meeting on 19 September 2023. The Chief Executive Officer will nominate a member of Council staff to read at the meeting, the submission in accordance with Rule 48 of the Governance rules.
You can also view the relevant Council Meeting via live stream on our YouTube Channel.
Learn more about Council meetings