Pirate Congress 2018/Nominations

Adding a Nomination
If you wish to nominate yourself for a position, please create your nomination using the template below. If you need assistance adding your nomination, shoot an email to secretary@pirateparty.org.au and we'll help you out.

{{Candidate| |

Catty McCat
I am a cat!| How dare you question my justification!| I purr.| Maybe, I am a cat.| }}
 * None

= Nominations =

President
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Miles Whiticker
I have been active in the Queensland Pirates for the past six years, and been the Queensland state coordinator for the past two of them. I am an active community organiser with multiple community groups in Brisbane and have contributed to the Pirate Party at all levels from local meetups to social media, news media, event organisation, press releases, design and marketing, strategy, volunteer coordination, and advocacy work including commonwealth submissions and legislation analysis. I'm running for the National Council as I believe my experience as community organiser and tech activist combined with my knowledge of the platform and technology issues means I can effectively help the party make change in the Australian political landscape. I have put my hand up for President and will read out my platform during my nomination speech, and am happy to nominate for the position of deputy president if I don't gain president. In my time as party member I have volunteered for multiple election campaigns for the Pirate Party in Queensland, including the Federal elections of 2013 and 2016 as well as the Griffith by-election of 2014. In my capacity as state coordinator I have organised meetups, expanded our social media presence and branding, liased with other community and activist groups and gained us media attention through local media such as 4ZZZ radio and ABC news. On a national level, I have contributed to writing press releases and preparing submissions to government such as the Commonwealth Space Agency Review and the recent copyright review.

I believe in grassroots movements, the liberatory power of technology, community organising, civil society and direct democracy. When the party was founded in Australia I was too young to enrol to vote, but I have been a supporter since the ALP Firewall Fiasco of 2007 and and have been a continuous member since shortly after graduating high school. I agree with the platform and ideals of the PPAU. I'm MilesW on IRC, my Discourse profile is at https://discuss.pirateparty.org.au/u/miles_w/ and I'm @theOtherHatGuy on Twitter. | }}

Deputy President
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Miles Whiticker
See nomination details under President. }}

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John August
See nomination details under Dep Sec. }}

Secretary
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Alex Jago
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 * I would prefer to be in a Treasury, but am also willing to serve in the Secretariat.
 * The Secretary position is a critical role and needs to be filled.
 * Please refer to my Treasury nomination.
 * Please refer to my Treasury nomination.
 * Please refer to my Treasury nomination.

Deputy Secretary
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John August
Everybody is running for cover and there are not many people left!
 * I have been a Councillor for some time, have been involved with activism for even longer and have thought long and hard about the world for still longer than that.|

More seriously, I see both good and bad in the party, and a place where I can contribute. The PP is in fact doing reasonably well financially speaking. However, we have in some cases lost the involvement and at best enthusiasm of former active members of the NC. Yes, new people is a good thing, but we want a combination, and we don't want to lose NC members for bad reasons. In particular, the loss of our immediate past president, Emily Sievers, is a definite worry. Simon Frew's continued involvement is a marginal thing, and we are fortunate he has continued.

My strongest motivation for involvement in the pirate party is a frustration with the institutions which exist in our society, particularly the law and the law around intellectual property. I certainly am on board with much of the remaining platform. I have been impressed with the degree of thought and consideration which has gone into our policies. The Greens certainly have a part to play, but any case our policies in comparison are much more nuanced.

However, I have real concerns with how a desire for "free speech" has ended up marginalising members, certainly women and possibly others. Yes, I see pirate party ideals as preventing government censorship. Nevertheless, the pirate party ideal should incorporate community and respect, as was captured in early "real" pirate enclaves. The ideal of equality should be one that we all embrace, and this should justify community and respect amongst pirates. If we are to change the world, it is not just through being "right", but also through having a community which is inviting for many people to come on board. If we are to change the world, we need to appeal to as much of the electorate as we can.

To this end, we need to maintain forums which are free of hostility and bullying, and are more like an amicable dinner party than a scrum. I have no plans to judge what it going on in people's heads or what other groups they are involved with, or promote government censorship. But behaviour here and now, on Pirate Party forums, is significant and must be we welcoming to all, in agreement with Pirate Party ideals of equality.

We have some distance to go, but I plan to do what I can to develop this welcoming and amicable environment. | See above. Also, I have co-prepared a media release around our BMI policy, and have promoted the Pirate Party on my community radio program. Within Sydney, I have tried to promote Pirate Party involvement with the existing Speaker's Corner. Yup. Derrrr.

I have been in the Secular Party, and the Abolish State Governments Party. http://johnaugust.com.au

Search for "Roving Spotlight" on http://soundcloud.com

}}

Treasurer
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Alex Jago
This year, I've joined the National Council as Registered Officer. I'm ready to step up to a weightier role. Also this year I've taken on the Treasurer role for one of my choirs, so I've gotten a bit of experience in already. | I'm running for Treasurer because MarkG has indicated he'd like to step back, and I believe that it's an NC role suited to me temperamentally. If someone more qualified than me would like to be Treasurer, I'll happily take the Deputy role. | In the last year, outside of my RO duties I've organised meetups, attended quite a few other events with MilesW, and completed a great deal of work on that authorisation tag update initiative I mentioned last year.

I want to note that NC meetings this year have been on nights when I've had prior commitments, and I've still managed to attend almost all the meetings and make contributions. Online FTW!

I've been a part of both election campaigns in my area since I joined (Griffith by-election and 2016 general election).

As an active user of both our IRC and Discourse platforms, I believe I have a solid understanding of the current state of our internal culture. Our pressing task over the next year remains to grow not just in total members but active, engaged members. I don't pretend to have a magic solution, but I'll support things that seem like they'll help, with both my time and my influence. | Yes. I've never been a member of any party except PPAU, and I hope that never changes. I've also helped out various Greens campaigns as an HTV-person, door-knocker and map-drawer. (The first two count as campaigning skills development.) | I'm alexj or alexjago on Matrix/IRC; my Discourse profile is at https://discuss.pirateparty.org.au/u/alexjago and I'm @alexjago51 on Twitter. | }}

{{CandidateRef| |

Mark Gibbons
See nomination details under Councillor. }}

Deputy Treasurer
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Alex Jago

 * ‘’See nomination details listed under Treasurer.’’|}}

Councillor (3 positions)
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Daniel Oakley
I've been a part of the party for a few years now, though mostly sitting in on the Congress and voting on amendments. As someone who's been keenly interested in civil liberties and privacy, especially in the online space, I'd like to put my hand up to help out the party and try to push us forward. I'm seeking this position because I've always been a bit fan of the Pirate Party, even before joining PPAU. Our policies and the work the party does is really important, and I'd like to do by bit to help out. Through my time, I've become a fairly large proponent of and contributor to the IRC protocol, in an attempt to push the sorts of digital personal liberties we try to uphold. As well as this, in my dayjob at a VPN provider I'm always trying to help people understand their liberties and privacy, as well as make a concrete effort to protect people in a practical way.

As a part of the PPAU, I'd like to do my best to help continue and push the work of our programming team forward, as well as contribute myself to some of the projects we have ongoing. I agree wholeheartedly with the majority of the PPAU platform. Hopefully I can become more intimately involved with both the creation of our platform and assist in putting it into effect. I'm dan- on IRC, @Daniel_Oaks on Twitter and DanielOaks on GitHub. }}

{{Candidate| |

Mark Gibbons
I've been involved in running the party's Treasury for the last five years. In that time the party has strengthened its finances, trimmed its costs, set up a better banking system and improved its payment process. My preference at this point is to shift to a more generalist function, but I expect I can go on as Treasurer should the party wish me to do so. I've been a member of 5 different National Councils, so I feel I can work with a 6th.|

In an election year it may be useful to have NC members with corporate memory from elections past, and I can help out as someone who's worked for the party in two Federal elections and one election in the ACT.|

I've been involved in running the party for 5 or 6 years now. I generally stay behind the scenes, but have done a bit of media, been a candidate in the ACT, and advocated for PPAU and its policies in meetings and forums with other parties. I've handed out and worked for the party at various elections. I was the first Policy Development Officer and oversaw the development of the core policy set in the leadup to the 2013 election. I've done preference negotiations and written the odd article, speech, and PR. |

I agree with our unique platform and fully support its core precepts including freedom of speech, privacy and liberty, scientific progress, and defence of the commons.

Before PPAU I was politically homeless except for a brief and misguided stint as an ALP-aligned student politician in the 1990s. |

}}
 * Twitter

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Andrew Downing
I've been a part of the party since before it was registered. I'm seeking this position because I want to keep PPAU going. I think it needs some transition to keep it relevant. I have served as Policy Development Office for 2 years and Councillor for 1 year, plus several years as a member of the policy development committee. I agree with the PPAU platform. I contributed to much of it. I'm @AndrewDowning on Discourse and AndrewDPirate on IRC. }}

Dispute Resolution Committee Member (2 positions)
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Liam Pomfret
Concerns over possible conflicts of interest with my position on the APF and now EFA Boards, as well as a need to focus on my academic work, have kept me on the relative outside of the party for the past few years. At the same time however, this has also kept me well apart from any internal disputes and conflicts which may have occurred during that time. I feel this puts me in a good position to act as a member of the Dispute Resolution Committee, with the need to maintain strict impartiality on any issues that may arise.| I have wanted to find a way to contribute again to the party for quite some time, and I believe the Dispute Resolution Committee position would be an ideal way for me to contribute without interfering with my academic and civil society responsibilities.| I have been with the Pirate Party since early in it's life, and stood as a PPAU candidate for the QLD Senate in the 2013 federal election. A number of years ago (August 2012 - July 2013), I acted as the state coordinator for QLD, organizing regular meetings in Brisbane for a relatively modest sized crew. Outside of the party, I am a soon-to-be PhD graduate. My research has focused on issues of online consumer privacy, with an aim towards both finding ways to persuade consumers to act more responsibly with regards to sharing their information online; and persuading companies to shift to business models which respect and promote consumer privacy. I am also highly active on Twitter, where I've fostered strong relationships with people in the broader digital rights advocacy and activism community.| I thoroughly believe in the Pirate Party's platform and ideals, though I may sometimes quibble over specific implementations of those. I have never been a member of any other political party. In the activist/advocacy space, I am a current board member of the Australian Privacy Foundation (and chair of its technical committee), and Electronic Frontiers Australia, and a founding member of Digital Rights Watch|
 * Twitter: @LiamPomfret
 * Linkedin
 * I still think "Vote for the boat people, vote Pirate" would have been an amazing electoral slogan (and still could be, what with the continuing situation on Manus)

}} {{Candidate| |

Bryn Busai
As a person who wants to help the party to help get the party to work in a more open and non-discriminatory way, I want to help in any way that I can. I am willing to learn to get my skills beyond a High School senior level of legal studies to act as an arbitrator.| I would like to help the Party advance its goals and work to make a more collaborative, non-discriminatory, and open party| I have contributed to Policies and discussions. I am willing to help any way that I can. | I agree with all of the policies and ideals of PPAU. I am extremely proud that this party bases its policies on facts. I am a former member of Gamers4Croydon, who did How-To-Vote Handouts. | Sorry for the page being so lacking... }}
 * Handle:Mandrke