Minutes/National Council/2017-08-23

Start: 20:30 AEST

End: 23:52 AEST

Attendance

 * Emily Sievers
 * Tom Randle
 * Simon Gnieslaw
 * Simon Frew
 * Alex Jago
 * John August
 * Miles Whiticker
 * Fletcher Boyd (Previous Secretary still handing over/Internal Elections Working Group/Prospective IT Team)
 * Jesse Hermans (Policy Development Officer)

Welcome

 * Emily welcomes us to the first meeting of the new NC
 * Congratulations to Emily for becoming our President

Previous meeting minutes

 * https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2017-08-16
 * Fletcher advises that they have already been accepted over email, but Tom says "I'd like the new NC to do it"
 * Tom: "The new NC attended, it's correct that they also certify those last minutes"
 * Tom: "If you did not attend, you must abstain :)"

NC meeting schedule 17-18

 * Set the time for National Council to meet for future meetings
 * Everyone used a Pad to determine availability, and the best days for most people were close between Monday and Wednesday
 * Alex will find it difficult to make Mondays or Wednesdays
 * Emily will also find it difficult on both these days, but will accept Wednesdays
 * "I can do it but it's not great"
 * "If wednesday is the only day we can otherwise agree on I will suck it up :P"
 * "I've juggled it for a year, we can do the thing"
 * John A will only be able to attend every 2nd meeting
 * Time is set to 8.30PM Sydney time every 2 weeks, QLD will need to Adjust when Daylight Savings has an effect on this (1 October)

Governance

 * AEC Audit and Emergency Congress are critical issues which Tom will need rapid response times from other members for anything related to these until they are complete
 * Tom has started changeover of AEC Officer positions
 * Treasury
 * Has to do transfer authorisations
 * 4 motions from previous minutes to transfer funds, verify those have occurred
 * Treasury has until 30th this month to submit Congress Financial Statements to NSW Fair Trading
 * Tom will throw things to Simon G, and Simon G accepts
 * Charter: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Charter_of_Responsibilities
 * Charter is not set in stone, we can change / update it
 * Simon G would like to tweak signature
 * Alex asks about "Reincorporate Federally"
 * Tom says no progress made on that, still on the "we should do this" pile
 * Tom says "federal corp being more flexible than a nsw association."
 * Alex volunteers to look into it after AEC Audit
 * Simon G asks Treasury if we have enough cash to pay the outstanding bills
 * Simon F says that Mark isn't here and he doesn't have access to accounts yet, but thinks that we are okay
 * AEC Audit
 * Notice of audit has been forward to the NC
 * Due September 26, we have to hand over our member records
 * A pad for the 1st member-wide email sent by this NC, has been started by Tom
 * Space for Emily's Presidential welcome message
 * Simon G volunteers to contribute
 * Emily will draft something tomorrow
 * PirateDB
 * Tom says PirateDB rolling out approximately 100 members per day
 * Simon G concerned that PirateDB not ready for rapid rollout without coinciding with explanatory email and there may be issues with member DB itself (ie. unintentional anon imagery even though we have no connection to anon, and don't want to throw inactive members off by assuming meaning with anon)
 * Pirate Party Address & Middle Names NEEDS to match AEC address to pass AEC Audit
 * Process: 1. Email members 2. Verify details 3. Export list, hand to AEC before the 26th sept
 * Jesse: Payments don't seem to be working by card
 * Tom will look into this
 * Fletcher: AEC membership audits generally take a sample of 500-550 members from each party in question, from that pool the AEC will contact a subset of members, and ask if they're a member of the party. If from this subset of members a set proportion deny being a member, then the AEC starts the process for deregistration.
 * From an internal point of view the best method is to email each full member and ask them to confirm their details, take 550 of those that confirmed via email and run them through the AEC enrolment check
 * reminder: this check has to be absolute, middle names need to match
 * From there if we don't get 550 absolute winners, then it progresses to phone calls to ensure that the details we have on file are matched by those held with the AEC.
 * I cannot stress this enough, almost nothing is more serious than the audit.
 * SimonG - there should be clear instruction on the email out and on the renewal page about the requirements
 * Alex (Registered Officer) and Tom (Secretary) will handle dealing with the AEC and handing over data to the AEC
 * Fletcher: Also in case you're not aware our privacy policy allows for basic membership details to be transferred to trusted parties in the event that things get hectic.
 * Tom: We will probably form a small team within the next week or two for any manual processes
 * Deputy President
 * There were two nominees for Deputy President at the last National Congress. One of the nominees resigned from the party before taking up the position, and the other one was unavailable to take it up because they already accepted another position on the National Council they ran for in the same election.
 * NC needs to direct the Internal Elections Working Group to run the election for Deputy President
 * The Secretariat can draft up the call for nominations
 * Only Full Members can serve on the National Council
 * Nomination period of no less than 7 days required
 * Fletcher is running the vote
 * Timing:
 * Election result was announced 11 August 2017
 * Timer to take up position is 7 days (18 August 2017)
 * This timer expired with no candidates remaining, so election to be called in 21 days (8 September 2017)
 * Simon G would like constitution to be clarified for when terms start/stop, because the wording is hard to understand
 * Tom, Fletcher, and Simon G all agree that September 8 is correct and process being handled in the correct way
 * Tom will send Fletcher the dates by email
 * If nobody nominates for the position, NC can appoint someone

DRC/DRC Election

 * Tom: Ideal to run at same time as Deputy President
 * DRC doesn't have a locked time frame, just "do it quickly"
 * Fletcher is fine with this being done at same time


 * Emergency National Congress needed to address Failed CAPs (Failed due to low quorum)
 * Needed to be compliant with NSW Association Requirements
 * No extension possible, a technicality which should be solved.
 * Also shouldn't leave those changes for another year
 * Tom suggests we just hold the actual meeting online with one agenda item to pass the whole constitution as it would be.
 * Done after PirateDB transition is complete to ensure more active member base to pass Quorum
 * NC terms not changed due to an Emergency National Congress
 * 42 Days' notice needed for Emergency National Congress
 * Simon G to help Tom with Timelines

Strategy Development

 * Deferred to next meeting due to time constraints on this meeting
 * Tom still wants the National Council to develop a 12-month action plan, as derived from initial strategy development discussions

Documentation Team

 * SimonG: I want a Documentation Team put together just to work on updating Wiki, WordPress, make guides etc. I don't know the process to make teams etc. but again, we can defer this topic to next meeting.
 * Miles volunteers

Immediate IT needs for new NC

 * Areas of responsibility
 * Members area: Secretary (Tom)
 * Website / web design: IT
 * Party accounts not covered by anything else: IT
 * IRC: Fletcher
 * IT team: no formal leader, a group of people responsible for running different systems
 * All IT requests email itt@pirateparty.org.au
 * Fletcher: "It's worth noting that I'd like to start implementing a stricter separation between the secretariat and IT now that we've got more people"
 * "having the same people doing everything should be avoided at all costs"

IT Audit

 * Deferred to next meeting due to time constraints on this meeting

Universal Job Guarantee information event in Sydney - Jesse H

 * https://discuss.pirateparty.org.au/t/universal-job-guarantee-program/1360/72

Fundraising

 * Deferred to next meeting due to time constraints on this meeting

State Co-ordinators

 * Miles wants to be QLD co-ordinator and organise a bunch of meetups
 * Simon wants to do VIC, but after AEC Audit due to workload
 * Emily annoyed that nobody asked her to give up acting QLD co-ordinator position but happy for Miles to take it

Appointment to positions

 * Tom has confirmed with Tim Serong can remain TAS co-ordinator for the time being
 * Fletcher needs to formally join the ITWG now he's not the Secretary.
 * Frew directs vote for Peter Fulton to do Social Media
 * Fletcher also wants to do it
 * Tom puts forward David Campbell to be reappointed as Public Officer (NSW Association Requirements)
 * Tom has confirmed he can remain so

General Business

 * Miles looked into PPI natcon venue quotes
 * Very expensive
 * Most of us informally against hosting PPI at this stage
 * Simon G doesn't have a problem with Miles participating with PPI with his own money, and can also represent PPAU if he likes
 * NC please send in website Bios
 * Press Team needs volunteers

Motions

 * MOTION: Accept the minutes of the 2017-08-16 National Council meeting as presented
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 6 (Simon Gnieslaw, Tom Randle, Alex Jago, Miles Whiticker, Emily Sievers, Simon Frew); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 1 (John August)
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Meetings of the National Council for the 2017-2018 term will occur fortnightly on Wednesdays at 8:30pm AEST starting 6th September
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Miles Whiticker, Alex Jago, Emily Sievers, Tom Randle, John August, Simon Gnieslaw, Simon Frew); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Direct the Internal Elections Working Group to hold an election for Deputy President with the voting period starting on 8th September and with nominations for the position closing at 11:59pm AEST 6th September
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 6 (Tom Randle, John August, Simon Gnieslaw, Miles Whiticker, Emily Sievers, Simon Frew); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Direct the Internal Elections Working Group to hold an election for one Dispute Resolution Committee position with the voting period starting on 8th September and with nominations for the position closing at 11:59pm AEST 6th September
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Simon Gnieslaw, Tom Randle, Simon Frew, Emily Sievers, Alex Jago, John August, Miles Whiticker); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Appoint Miles Whiticker as Queensland coordinator
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 5 (Tom Randle, Emily Sievers, Simon Gnieslaw, John August, Alex Jago); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 1 (Miles Whiticker)
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Reappoint Tim Serong as Tasmanian coordinator
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Simon Frew, John August, Simon Gnieslaw, Tom Randle, Miles Whiticker, Alex Jago, Emily Sievers); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Appoint Fletcher Boyd to the ITWG
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Tom Randle, John August, Simon Gnieslaw, Alex Jago, Simon Frew, Emily Sievers, Miles Whiticker); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Appoint Peter Fulton to the Social Media Team
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Tom Randle, Simon Frew, Miles Whiticker, John August, Simon Gnieslaw, Alex Jago, Emily Sievers); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Appoint Fletcher Boyd to the Social Media Team
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Simon Gnieslaw, Tom Randle, Simon Frew, Emily Sievers, John August, Miles Whiticker, Alex Jago); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: David William Campbell is reappointed the Public Officer
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 7 (Tom Randle, Miles Whiticker, John August, Simon Gnieslaw, Emily Sievers, Alex Jago, Simon Frew); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Close meeting
 * Put by: Tom Randle
 * Ayes: 6 (John August, Tom Randle, Emily Sievers, Miles Whiticker, Simon Gnieslaw, Alex Jago); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.