By-laws

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.

1. Administration & Responsibility

 * 1) The preselection process is to be overseen and managed by a Returning Officer appointed by the National Council, whose responsibilities include:
 * 2) Working with the relevant committees to have the relevant systems put into place,
 * 3) Attending and overseeing the relevant preselection meetings,
 * 4) Announcing the final result of the preselection process, and
 * 5) Ensuring the integrity of the preselection process.
 * 6) Nominations for preselection must be provided by the means determined by the National Council.
 * 7) Nominations must be submitted at least 3 days before the relevant meeting.

2. Nominations for the Senate

 * 1) The National Council will determine the Senate group size for each state and territory.
 * 2) Preselection candidates for the Senate ticket will be selected by a two-phase ballot, consisting of an approval voting phase and a preferential voting phase.
 * 3) Voting for preselection may be limited to members in the relevant state or territory where there is sufficient activity, at the discretion of the National Council.
 * 4) Approval voting phase will be used for determining whether or not a candidate has sufficient support to be placed on the ticket.
 * 5) Each candidate must receive 50% + 1 votes of support to be considered for preselection.
 * 6) Preferential voting phase will be used for ordering the candidates on the ticket should they pass the first phase.

3. Nominations for the House of Representatives

 * 1) The National Council will determine which electorates, if any, that will be contested.
 * 2) The National Council retains final authority regarding approval for the electoral division to be contested.
 * 3) Preselection candidates for any House of Representatives seats will be selected by a two-phase ballot, consisting of an approval voting phase and a preferential voting phase.
 * 4) Voting may be limited to a specific geographical subset of members, at the discretion of the National Council.
 * 5) Approval voting phase will be used for determining whether or not a candidate has sufficient support to be placed on the ticket.
 * 6) Each candidate must receive 50% + 1 votes of support to be considered for preselection.
 * 7) Preferential voting phase will determine who will run for the seat based on who receives the most preferences.

4. Character Assessment and Disclosure Requirements

 * 1) Disclosure of anything that would bring the party into disrepute, would be found through a police background check, or would disallow the candidate from legally running for a Federal election, is mandatory.
 * 2) If a preselection candidate wins the preselection ballot:
 * 3) Police background checks must be paid for and supplied by the pre-selection candidate 28 days before the Federal election nomination period.
 * 4) The National Council must disallow a candidate in the case where it would be illegal for said candidate to run for a position in Parliament
 * 5) If a background check returns anything that may bring the party into disrepute, then the National Council may, at its discretion:
 * 6) Require that the person disclose the record on the preselection ballot, or withdraw.
 * 7) Disallow the candidate to run for preselection.
 * 8) The National Council must produce on the request of any member the reasons for any such disallowance.
 * 9) All possible conflicts of interest must be disclosed to the National Council.

By-law 2013-03 - Constitutional Amendments

 * 1) This by-law clarifies Article 7.1(2).
 * 2) "notified in writing" includes placement at a specified place on the Party website or wiki before the 28 day deadline and informing the membership via email of the location of this document.
 * 3) "28 days prior to the National Congress" is considered to be 11:59pm AEST of the 28th day before the first day of the National Congress.
 * 4) New proposals may not be added after this deadline, but already proposed amendments may be modified by the proposer prior to the National Congress.
 * 5) These modifications must not substantially change the proposed amendments but may include updates in wording for clarity, or to correct errors.
 * 6) These modifications must be recorded and justified.

By-law 2014-01 - Urgent Motions

 * If an action or decision is urgent, the National Council may vote by way of email to pass an urgent motion without requiring a meeting.
 * The requirements for quorum and majorities are the same as in the Party Constitution, with the following clarification:
 * A contribution to quorum for an urgent motion can only be made by way of an explicit vote in favour ("aye"), vote against ("nay"), or abstention ("abstain").
 * An urgent motion may be put if any of the following conditions are met:
 * The action or decision is required to be made prior to the next scheduled National Council meeting, or
 * The Party is required to reimburse a member for personal expenditure on behalf of the Party and that member requires the funds urgently and there has been no prior motion for reimbursement passed, or
 * The action or decision is being made during an election period.
 * An election period is defined as a period beginning when the date of an election the Party intends to contest is announced, and ends the day after the election occurs, and may extend where necessary to the payment of outstanding invoices incurred during that period.
 * All urgent motions must be minuted and confirmed at the very next National Council meeting, including the recording of which Councillors voted and the direction of their votes.