Minutes/National Council/2013-12-18

Agenda

 * Previous meeting's minutes — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2013-11-20 and https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2013-12-04
 * Preselection by-law amendment and returning officers (Brendan)
 * Preselection for Griffith and WA (Brendan)
 * Stripe for payments (Brendan)
 * Inquiries (not enquiries) process (Brendan)
 * Appoint Acting Secretary/Deputy Secretary (Brendan)
 * Returns update (Ben)
 * Banking update (Mark)
 * Congress 2014 (Mozart)
 * Party history (Brendan)

Attendance

 * Simon Frew (Chair)
 * Brendan Molloy
 * Ben McGinnes (Hasimir)
 * Mark Gibbons
 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer
 * Daniel Judge
 * David Campbell
 * Glen Takkenberg (taco)

Apologies

 * Melanie Thomas

Ratification of previous meeting's minutes

 * https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2013-11-20
 * https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2013-12-04
 * See motions

Preselection by-law amendment

 * Simple amendment to create a "Returning Officer" for preselections.
 * Gives greater flexibility to appoint different officers for different preselection meetings
 * With the level of regionalisation we're going for, it's a good idea
 * The bigger difference is defining the expectations
 * Creates greater flexibility for the form of applications for preselection.
 * More flexibility, less burden on the National Council
 * See motions

Preselection for Griffith and WA

 * There is a pending by-election for the Seat of Griffith and potential WA Senate election
 * Should vote formally to start preselection for Griffith
 * Must be a Qld local candidate
 * Brendan nominated as Returning Officer for each preselection meeting.
 * See motions

Stripe for payments

 * American company that is slightly cheaper than Pin
 * Finally available in Australia
 * Brendan seeks permission to start using it for forms coding and donations interface
 * Stripe allows subscriptions, and doesn't require merchant banking account
 * Treasury will be given all necessary access details
 * No significant difference to Pin, but slightly cheaper — generally a better deal.
 * See motions

Inquiries process

 * Mozart and Frew do all our submissions to inquiries
 * We don't tell members as much as we used to do
 * Propose to inform members when inquiries happen
 * Automatically create working groups for inquiries we're going to submit on
 * A template email should be used to indicate the group being formed, the deadline and first meeting.
 * First meeting should be the non-General Meeting Tuesdays.
 * This is the Secretary's responsibility
 * Add inquiries to the calendar
 * Three inquiries coming up
 * Secretary or Deputy Secretary to be default chair of working groups unless someone else volunteers.

Acting Secretary/Deputy Secretary

 * Brendan spoke to Mark about Mark potentially being Mozart's deputy
 * We need a "Deputy Deputy Secretary" as Daniel is still incapacitated
 * Ben is willing to share Mark with the rest of the NC
 * Emergency fill in until Daniel is better
 * Suggesting that Mozart becomes Acting Secretary, and MarkG becomes Acting Deputy Secretary until Daniel can return to full duties.
 * Daniel hoping to be back in action mid-January — 30 days, and estimates might be inaccurate
 * We need a clear chain of command
 * Should only be 6 weeks
 * Four years ago, at Christmas, Conroy put forward his Internet censorship plans
 * See motions

Returns update

 * Electoral system is strange
 * All donations and expenses were under the Party banner, therefore you have to put in returns for $0 for all individual candidates.
 * All the returns are nil.
 * Everything will go in the next annual return, except for things already done.
 * The Party does not need to make a return until the end of the fiscal year.
 * Called and confirmed this with the AEC.
 * We should still have a quick report for transparency showing how much we spent and the highlights
 * Should be prepared for the NC meeting after next (four weeks).
 * Next NC meeting will be Thursday, January 2.

Banking update

 * Everything that we can and should do is already on the record
 * All that matters now is what the NC wants to do.
 * If we pass a temporary/operational constitutional amendment, an ANZ account can be applied for forthwith.
 * We need a corporate credit card
 * Brendan proposes we have a savings account and a transactions account
 * Credit card would be linked to the transaction account
 * Moving money from the savings to transactions account would require two signatures
 * Mark will look into interest rates on ANZ Business Extra accounts

Congress 2014

 * Item skipped.

Party history

 * https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/History
 * Glen — ACT budget was significant less than $5K
 * Mark — Was actually less than $1K
 * Could add previous activism
 * Maybe a list of major submissions could be added
 * Fighting the [Internet] Filter

Membership renewals

 * Membership renewals for founder members are in January.
 * There's no code to handle it yet
 * Worst case scenario: members will get a letter later than January for membership payments.

Motions

 * MOTION: Accept the minutes from 2013-11-20 and 2013-12-04.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 6 (Frew, Hasimir, Brendan, MarkG, DanielJ, Mozart); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Accept the preselection bylaw amendment as written.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 7 (Frew, Brendan, David, Hasimir, Mozart, MarkG, taco); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Open preselection for the seat of Griffith with the Preselection Meeting to be held January 11 2014, with voting on preselection candidates limited to members from Queensland.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 8 (Brendan, David, MarkG, Frew, DanielJ, Hasimir, taco, Mozart); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Should the Court of Disputed Returns call for fresh elections for the WA senate, preselection shall be opened for 4 weeks + necessary days for the Preselection Meeting to fall on a Saturday, from the date of declaration.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 7 (MarkG, Hasimir, Frew, DanielJ, Brendan, Mozart, David); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Appoint Brendan Molloy as Returning Officer for Griffith by-election and WA Senate preselection.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 7 (Brendan, Hasimir, Mozart, Frew, taco, MarkG, DanielJ); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Allow the opening of a Stripe account for handling transactions.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 8 (Brendan, MarkG, Hasimir, taco, David, Mozart, Frew, DanielJ); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Temporarily appoint Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer as Acting Secretary and Mark Gibbons as Acting Deputy Secretary until Daniel heals.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 6 (Hasimir, Brendan, DanielJ, taco, Frew, David); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 2 (MarkG, Mozart)
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Close meeting.
 * Put by: Brendan
 * Ayes: 6 (Hasimir, Frew, Brendan, taco, DanielJ, David); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.
 * Meeting closed.

Action items

 * Mozart and MarkG to prepare the skeleton email for sending out when inquiries are announced that creates the working groups.
 * Ben to provide election transparency report in the NC meeting after next (15 January)
 * Mozart to work on a good constitutional amendment for the purposes of making PPAU meet ANZ requirements.

By-law 2013-02 - Preselection
The motion is to accept the following amendments:


 * Amend the titles to prefix them with numbers (1, 2, 3, 4).
 * Replace paragraph 1 and 2 under "Administration & Responsibility" with the following:


 * 1. The preselection process is to be overseen and managed by a Returning Officer appointed by the National Council, whose responsibilities include:
 * * Working with the relevant committees to have the relevant systems put into place,
 * * Attending and overseeing the relevant preselection meetings,
 * * Announcing the final result of the preselection process, and
 * * Ensuring the integrity of the preselection process.
 * 2. Nominations for preselection must be provided by the means determined by the National Council.