Senator FIERRAVANTI-WELLS (New South Wales) (11:55): I seek leave to make a short statement. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Griff ): Leave is granted for one minute. Senator FIERRAVANTI-WELLS: On 2 July I launched a petition calling for a religious freedom act to protect freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of people who, through emails, calls and lots of original petitions in the mail, have responded and supported my initiative. On this, the anniversary of the canonisation of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop, I lodge 10,000 signatures as the first tranche of my petition. I encourage all Australians to continue to disseminate and return the petitions to my electorate office in Wollongong. In coming weeks, I will present and table the many thousands more petitions that my office continues to receive and process on behalf of Australians. The PRESIDENT: Is anyone else presenting a petition? I was told there might be a second petition. We can come back to it by leave, if necessary. Senator Siewert: There is one, but it's a non-conforming petition. We can come back to it later. The PRESIDENT: We'll come back it later, by leave of the Senate.