Politicians should be forced to debate issues raised by voter petitions to help resolve the disconnect between voters and the political system, says Independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon.

Speaking ahead of The Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney on Wednesday, Senator Xenophon said rules should be changed so that when a petition passed a certain threshold, such as one million signatures, it would be debated in parliament.

"Historically, at the moment if you put in a petition to parliament, no matter how many signatures, it just withers, it doesn't mean anything. You table it and politicians are not required to do anything," he said.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon wants rules changed to allow petitions to be debated in parliament. Alex Ellinghausen

"I believe this would provide a very significant circuit-breaker. It would actually give a greater degree of connection between citizens and the parliament. They don't have to go through their MP. I think it would empower people who feel they are not being listened to and give them a real say."

Senator Xenophon – who will take the rule changes to a Senate committee before attempting to have them legislated – said the idea of petitions being debated in parliament was not new. In the "Glorious Revolution" in the United Kingdom in the 17th century, the House of Commons was forced to debate petitions raised by citizens. In the UK today petitions with more than 10,000 signatures get a response from government, and those with more than 100,000 are considered for debate.