Minutes/National Council/2013-01-02

Agenda

 * Ratify minutes of last meeting
 * PPAU stance on gender discrimination and UDHR (Sam)
 * State coordinator election by-law motion (Mozart)
 * Possible inclusion of a statement/clause indicating that the by-law does not intend to override determinations for procedure to elect a co-ordinator by the state/territory members, if they form alternative arrangements and the NC is so advised and endorses such procedure.
 * Membership responsibilities and rights (Brendan)
 * Publishing Meeting Minutes to Discussion Mailing list - Discuss (David)
 * Reddit - suggestion from mailing lists (David)
 * Document publication (Brendan)
 * FOI (Brendan)

Attendance

 * Brendan Molloy
 * David Campbell
 * Glen Takkenberg
 * Mozart Olbycht-Palmer
 * Rodney Serkowski
 * Sam Kearns
 * Simon Frew

Start: 19:59 02/01/2013 AEDT

Finish: 02/01/20132 AEDT

Ratify minutes of last meeting

 * Previous NC meetings minutes unavailable due to a server outage. Minutes will be re-created from meeting logs and presented at next NC meeting for approval.

PPAU stance on gender discrimination and UDHR

 * There is currently no explicitly stated support in our party platform for gender equality and the condemnation of sexual discrimination.
 * Options include:
 * Consitutional ammendment to explicitly state PPAU supports equality;
 * Creation of an Accessibility & Anti-Discrimination Work Group (with a wider scope to make recommendations on accessibility, inclusivity, transparency and the creation of a safe environment);
 * Anti-discrimination charter;
 * Standing orders for congress, internal code of conduct.

Discussion of state coordinator election by-laws

 * See By-Laws section below

Membership responsibilities and rights

 * Clarification to members that meetings can be held at any time. Inform the NC so announcements can be sent out to the memberbase.

Publishing minutes to discussion mailing lists

 * May be more useful to have dedicated lists for the distribution of minutes (nc.minutes, general.minutes).
 * Minutes to be published at the conclusion of each meeting.

Reddit suggestions from the mailing lists

 * Similar problem with forums - not enough resources to keep an eye on the many different social media outlets.
 * Forums have been tried on PPAU's public website but have fallen into disrepair and lack of willing moderators. People have also taken comments by random members of public as party policy.
 * This is an accessibility issue.
 * If members want to run a locally hosted instance of reddit that is limited to PPAU members only, the NC may endorse it. This will be a stop-gap measure until Polly is ready for production.

Document publication

 * A centralised location with important documents is needed.

FOI Review

 * http://brendan.so/2013/01/02/more-exciting-adventures-in-the-world-of-freedom-of-information/
 * AGD has missed deadlines for several FOIs as the officer in charge is on leave.

Motions

 * Motion: Adoption of by-law 2013-01 as worded.
 * 7 ayes.
 * Motion passes.

By-law 2013-01
State and Territory Coordinators

1. State and Territory Coordinators will be appointed by election through a vote by those members enrolled to vote in that state or territory at the National Congress, for a term not exceeding twelve (12) months. Their term shall begin at the National Congress at which they are elected and end at the next National Congress.

2. Those members that nominate themselves, or are nominated, must consent in writing to their nomination.

3. State and Territory Coordinators shall be considered an Officer for the purposes of Article 8.1.3 of the Party Constitution.

4. In the event a State or Territory Coordinator is unable or unwilling to perform their duties, the National Council may declare the position vacant and appoint an interim replacement by a two-thirds majority vote of the National Council. The next National Congress will then elect a member to fill that position.

5. The method of voting will be that used to elect the National Council and Dispute Resolution Committee, as per the Party Constitution.

6. The role of State or Territory Coordinator will cease in those states and territories who have a formally formed state or territory party as per the requirements of the National Council, unless the National Council determines that such a position should remain.

7. The responsibilities of State and Territory Coordinators shall be defined by National Council resolution.

Action Items

 * Mozart to recover minutes and clean up the wiki during this week.
 * Sam:
 * Initiate a draft anti-discrimination policy with the PDC;
 * Draft a public statement that PPAU abhors sexual discrimination;
 * Check the internal code of conduct.
 * David to take more active role in managing the things to be done and informing the membership. NC will be informed of plans at the next meeting.
 * Brendan to clarify the position on meetings during the next announcement e-mail.
 * Creation of two mailing lists for the publishing of minutes.
 * Prepare a communications direction statement to be presented next NC meeting