Pirate Party Australia is pleased to announce that it will contest the Western Australian Senate Election on 5 April, 2014, and has completed preselection of its candidates. Western Australian members of the Pirate Party voted to field Fletcher Boyd and Michelle Allen, in that order.

“2014 is the year Western Australia can take a stand,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for Pirate Party Australia. “This election offers our state the opportunity to say ‘no’ to the human rights violations being committed in our name. To say ‘no’ to reactionary legislation designed to placate, and not to solve. To vote instead for policies based on scientific evidence, dedication to transparency, and protection of human rights.”

“Pirate Party Australia offers Western Australians a chance to take this stand. As a candidate I will uphold the Pirate Party’s beliefs in equality and freedom, beliefs the majority of our politicians do not seem to share.”

The Pirate Party’s policies cover a broad range of issues. Apart from the Party’s core policies of intellectual property reform, protection of personal privacy, increased governmental transparency, and opposition to censorship, the Party has developed policies on asylum seekers and refugees, energy, the environment, welfare, taxation and foreign affairs[1]. Pirate Party Australia supports a fibre-to-the-premises broadband network[2] and the introduction of an Australian Bill of Rights[3].

The Party is yet to decide its preference allocations, but will be using the same democratic process it pioneered at the Federal Election in September 2013[4]. In accordance with this process, all members from Western Australia will vote to determine the order in which the Pirate Party’s preference are to be distributed. This will include any preference swapping arrangements proposed by other parties.

In order to raise funds to contest this election, including the $2,000 nomination deposits required for each candidate, the Pirate Party has turned to crowdfunding for its election campaign. More than $7,000 of the $10,000 target has been met in just over a week[5].

The Pirate Party was registered in Australia in January 2013, and contested its first Federal Election last September. Running in four states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania), the Party achieved 0.31% of the total national vote, its strongest result being 0.58% in Tasmania. In the by-election for former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Seat of Griffith, a result of 1.51% placed the Pirate Party fourth out of eleven, ahead of more prominent parties including Katter’s Australian Party and Family First.

Globally, Pirate Parties have been elected to all levels of government, including numerous local government positions, state and national parliaments, and occupies two seats in the European Parliament. Pirate Party Australia’s result in the Griffith By-Election is the strongest of any Pirate Party outside Europe.

[1] https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform
[2] https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform#Support_for_fibre-to-the-premises_infrastructure_projects
[3] https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform#Bill_of_Rights
[4] https://pirateparty.org.au/2013/08/19/pirate-party-preferences-announced/
[5] http://www.pozible.com/pirateswa2014