Minutes/General Meeting/2014-02-11

Agenda

 * Griffith by-election (Mel or Brendan)
 * "Day we fight back" (Frew)
 * "March in March" (Frew)
 * Policy Development Report
 * State & Territory reports
 * ACT (Glen)
 * NSW (Sunny)
 * Qld (Mel)
 * SA (Bryn)
 * Tas (Tim)
 * Vic (Ben)
 * WA (Fletcher)
 * Any other business
 * Current membership numbers
 * Newcastle updates
 * Translation of promotional materials (Bryn)

Start: 20:44

Finish: 21:25

Attendance

 * Fletcher Boyd (WA)
 * Mark Gibbons
 * Simon Frew
 * Daniel Judge
 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer
 * Bryn Busai (SA)
 * David Campbell
 * Sunny Kalsi (NSW)
 * Sam Kearns

Apologies

 * Melanie Thomas (speaking at rally)

Griffith by-election

 * result: 1.5%
 * over 1k votes
 * 1.5% compared to 0.7% in Senate election (qld)
 * result = great assistance in people taking us more seriously
 * PR was sent
 * congrats and thanks to Mel and everyone who helped out, especially volunteers on the ground.

Day we fight back

 * Today is the EFF organised Internet blackout against NSA surveillance
 * we have blacked out our site
 * Frew have an interview with ABC local radio in the morning
 * its a good chance to raise concerns about NSA etc ASD in Australia
 * the day has got some coverage, Scott Ludlam has been doing a lot (Guardian article and gave Brandis a good serve in the Senate today)
 * http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/11/day-fight-back-against-internet-surveillance-scott-ludlam
 * http://greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/take-note-speech-attorney-generals-hysterical-answer-surveillance-overre

March in March

 * This is a series of protests around the country against the Abbott Government.. it is meant to encompas all issues
 * It's a good oportunity to raise surveillance and TPP, as well as show opposition to the government
 * Concentrating on turnout in capitals depsite some regional protects such as Wollongong
 * some banners, corflutes, t-shirts etc would be good to take along
 * revisit again in lead up

Policy Development Report

 * The Policy Development Committee has continued working on new policies for July and beyond.
 * Not much new to report since the last meeting, as we haven't taken on anything new.
 * There are a few things currently in the pipeline.
 * The PDC also oversees working groups: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Policy_Development_Committee#What_Is_Happening_Right_Now
 * As you can see, we have several working groups and meetings going on.
 * All members can get involved in those and contribute to policy development and inquiry submissions.
 * There is a meeting tonight, after this meeting, in #ppau-pdc, for the privacy tort working group.
 * And on Thursday night we will have a meeting for the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Inquiry Working Group.
 * Please come along if you're interested.
 * We're also working on another submission for the TIA Act review and would like a hand with that.
 * We're not planning any other meetings as of yet, but if you want to help, shoot an email to either simon.frew@pirateparty.org.au or policydev@pirateparty.org.au

ACT

 * still haven't organised a congress
 * Aus Digital Alliance forum is on this Friday, Glenn (taco) will be attendcing as will Mozart & Brendan

NSW

 * had the usual monthly meetup
 * there is a public meeting about the TPP on March 10 at Newtown Neighbourhood centre
 * details here: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Sydney_Meetup_2014-01-25

SA

 * Sunday there was a meeting with Mozart and couple other members
 * The #1 LDP Canditate for SA was there and was trying to do a new version of the minor parties alliance without Glenn Druery,
 * Bryn was asked to establish a set of establishing rules and a better name for said group.
 * The group's role is about sharing campaigns, sharing scruteneers, educating voters and some other ideas. Bryn's aim is to make a framework for extending the group nationally.
 * We tried to find any local issues to be campaign on... and the pirates had no idea!

WA

 * Fletcher spoke at a TPP community forum on Wednesday, was a good insight into the Perth activist community.
 * some surprising issues/problems with this event such as "speaking fees" etc
 * Video: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e03222d7a3b106f3f9c57fa07&id=f4e6ff7c29&e=d555ba7413
 * We also looked at attending the Cruelty Free Festival but I haven't heard back from the stall coordinator yet.

What are our current membership numbers

 * just over 1000, little changed from last week
 * renewal fees due soon when new webform comes online
 * new members trickling in far outweighs the odd resignation here and there

Newcastle updates

 * Some newcastle peeps want to put together a regular update, hopefully daily, start with a WG to assess if we can do it, Wendy Gator is a good candidate to spearhead it
 * basically get newcastle into gear and being all serious and grown up
 * also please to ensure any meetings organised (BY ANYONE FOR ANYWHERE), that IT is emailed to it can be added to the calendar.

Translation of promotional materials

 * Possibility of broadening our exposure if we translated materials into other languages.
 * also plays to our profile as an international movement
 * an idea we should pursue at some stage between now and the next federal election.
 * there should be some people in the party who can speak other languages
 * also able to garner some help from international counterparts