Pirate Congress 2016/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, send an email to secretary@pirateparty.org.au and we'll help you out.

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Catty McCat
I am a cat!| How dare you question my justification!| I purr.| Maybe, I am a cat.| }}
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= Nominations =

President
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Simon Frew
I am the current President and served in various positions on the National Council since before registration. I have helped guide the Party through both Federal elections we have contested. I regularly front the media and have spoken at numerous conferences and debates on behalf of the Party.|

I have been an activist for 20 years and have been a member of the Pirate Party since its foundation. Due to my experience and dedication to the movement, I feel that I am the best candidate to continue to serve as leader of the Party.

If elected President I will work to increase participation by members, grow the Party and our profile. I will strive to sharpen our critique of the growing Police state and fight back against the bi-partisan assault on our civil liberties and human rights.


 * I have contributed to countless press releases, spoken at a wide range of events, including the Sydney Film Festival, Whistleblowers Australia's AGM, Copyright is Theft debate at University of Technology Sydney and conducted numerous interviews on behalf of the Party. I have contributed to various legal reviews and internal policy debates which contribute to the intellectual substance of the Party.

I will continue to fight for civil liberties, governmental transparency and sensible Intellectual Property laws whether or not I am elected to the National Council. I am involved in politics for the long haul. I believe that if you aren't happy with the way things are, you must try to make it better. I can't imagine not being involved in the fight to make a better world and I believe the Pirate Party is the best organisation to do this because we are science based, principled, democratic and open to ideas and different views.

I am also a musician and an occasional producer of mashups. Being an artist helps lend weight to our arguments about intellectual property.| I support the Pirate Party platform and ideals and will do my best to uphold them into the future. I have been an activist for the last 20 years, so have participated in a wide range of movements and campaigns. I joined the Pirate Party in its very early days because it aligned with my beliefs and goals and joining was the best way I could contribute to politics in Australia. | }}
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Deputy President
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Tom Randle

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Secretary
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Luke Housego
Long time supporter of Pirate Party and member since just after formally registered in Australia.

Internet and Digital rights activist for almost 20 years.

Experienced in Administration and operation of effective, growing social and political organisations.

Exceptionally experienced in online long term strategically focused activity.

Experienced fundraiser.

Professionally work in a leadership capacity for strategy, organisational design, business architecture and analytics.

Thinks Pirate Party Australia is a great name. The Pirate Party needs significant improvement in how it is organised and operated to be effective in pursuing our policy objectives. I am (probably) the best choice in the party to achieve this.| Stood for senate preselection position for Victoria for 2016. After winning preselection had to stand down position due to unexpected circumstances.

My goal is to transform the operational and management structure of PPAU to be a modern political party that is capable of achieving a 5% primary vote in a federal election.

Initial focus will be completely deconstructing and rebuilding the experience of being a Pirate Party Member, our identity, how we explore, understand and communicate our culture and experiences. The party will become fun, insightful, a hint irreverent and have a voice that is loud and relevant.

Our operational processes will be more transparent and require less reading of volumes of text before you can do anything. New members will feel like they are important and can contribute straight away in ways that are meaningful. Old members will have platforms and support for considerate nuanced debate and discussion. Fear of failure and fear to take risks will not be our culture. We are going to do a lot things, make a lot of mistakes, but learn a lot more and our intent and choices will always be anchored on our core principles of rights, liberty and transparency.

Once the organisation is in the process of becoming functional for a serious political party, I will then create a new fundraising function that is bigger than just scraping small amounts of cash from a small pool of supporters. We have a vision and value that is of strong interest to a lot of motivated individuals and also to many companies. We will be raising serious money once we take ourselves seriously as an organisation. Once this work is on the right track, I will not need to retain this position. This is not my career and a transition to next generation leadership to help them grow the party to become even better again is important and a sign of maturity. Planning for this form the start as an important part of a key role like this. Yes.

Big fan of Rick Falkvinge's view of the world.

Have been espousing and putting into action swarm and decentralised "social" activism in both online and "real world" actions for decades.

Former member of Australian Labor Party (left faction member)

Former member of Liberal Party of Australia (know thy enemy) 7 = * Here is an advertisement I created for the 2016 elections that did not really get promoted, but it may help a little understand where I come from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P7GdvMtsWg }}

Deputy Secretary
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Tom Randle
See nomination details listed under Deputy President. }}

Treasurer
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Mark Gibbons
I've been the Treasurer for the past 12 months, and the Deputy Treasurer before that. Over that time we've improved PPAU's financial operations and built proper payment systems. We've set up a better banking system and a simpler and more robust payment process. I have a fair bit of time and experience in Treasury-specific stuff, in addition to years spent in jobs which deal with economics and finance.|

The next Treasury team will have important work to do. To start with, financial returns have to worked out with the AEC. After that, we will need to get our merchandise store running and diversify our finances so we depend less on continual fundraising drives. I think this is where I can be the most use and I'm ready and willing to have a go at it.|

I prefer to work behind the scenes, but I've done some media in my time, been a candidate in the ACT, and advocated for PPAU and its policies in meetings and forums with other parties. Before I was on the NC I was Policy Development Officer and had responsibility for leading the team which developed the 2013 election platform. I also oversaw preference negotiations for that election, and the follow-up in WA. I've also written the odd article, speech, and PR. |

I agree with our platform and fully support the core values including freedom of speech, privacy and liberty, and support for culture and science.

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


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Councillor (2 positions)
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Tom Randle
See nomination details listed under Deputy President. }}

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Alex Jago
Since 2014 I've been a reasonably active ordinary member. Now, I'm putting my hand up to be more involved still, and to take on some formal responsibilities -- if only to help spread the load! Outside of my life as a Pirate, I'm finishing up my electrical/computer engineering degree, and for several years now I've been a fundraising officer for my choir. So I've got some skills in helping run an organisation. |

I'm running specifically for Councillor, as an 'entry-level', generic position where I can help out others as needed. |

I've been a part of both election campaigns in my area since I joined (Griffith by-election and 2016 general election). In particular, this year I have contributed: my time on the day, money, memes, volunteer coordination, and evangelism in my other communities (when it's been relevant). 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 is to grow not just in total members but active, engaged members. I don't pretend to have a magic solution, but as a Councillor, I'll support things that seem like they'll help, with both my time and my influence. In particular, there are three such things which already exist or are in progress: in-person events, a more user-friendly online chat system, and development of our nascent liquid democracy platform -- I hope to get stuck into the latter regardless of whether I'm elected or not. |

Yes. I've also helped out various Greens campaigns as an HTV-person and map-drawer. |

I'm particularly proud to be topping (at time of writing) the all-time 'Likes Given' list on our Discourse instance. }}

Dispute Resolution Committee Member (2 positions)
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Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer
I have an understanding and diplomatic temperament, and a keenness to help resolve disputes. I have a degree in law, which included a subject devoted entirely to dispute resolution. I have also completed the coursework for a degree in legal practice, which emphasised dispute resolution skills.| I have made sustained contributions to the Pirate Party over the years, but as I've finished university and will be working full time for at least the next two years, I will likely have to reduce my contributions significantly. It is a running joke within the Pirate Party that we'll mark the calendar the day that the Dispute Resolution Committee is asked to resolve a conflict. Nevertheless, it is an important role and as we hopefully continue to expand our membership numbers and see an increase in active members, disputes will be inevitable. It is important that we do not repeat the last year and have an incomplete Dispute Resolution Committee, just in case it's needed. Given my qualifications, the Dispute Resolution Committee would gain a valuable member, and give me an opportunity to continue contributing where possible.|
 * Press Officer (2011–)
 * Deputy Secretary (2012–2014)
 * Member of the Court of Arbitration of Pirate Parties International (2012)
 * Policy Development Officer (2013–2014)
 * Member of the Policy Development Committee (2013–)
 * Inquiries Officer (2014–)

If elected I would competently work to assist the resolution of disputes if and when they occur within the Party.| I agree wholeheartedly with the Pirate Party's platform and ideals, having written and contributed to many of the Pirate Party's policies, and advocated those policies in submissions to various governmental, parliamentary and independent inquiries on behalf of the Pirate Party. I have previously been involved with Pirate Parties International and PirateTimes, the Pirate Movement's news outlet. I am also a member of Pirate Party UK.| }}
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Hayden Dwyer
As a founding member of PPAU, I have attended the foundation meetings and was heavily involved in the drafting of the first constitution of the Party. As such, I have an intimate knowledge of the spirit of the rules and regulations binding members of the Party. I have been a member of the Dispute Resolution Committee since its inception, and have previously held the role of Deputy Treasurer.| As a member of the DRC, I hope that I can, if the need arises, help to mitigate any infighting between our members. While I don't see myself sitting on the national council again, I still view PPAU as a crucial party in Australian politics, and I'd like to do whatever I can to ensure our members feel comfortable, and want them to know that they have an avenue to pursue any disputes they may have with other party members. | As stated above, I have been a member of PPAU since its infancy in 2009, and was involved in the drafting of the constitution, much of which is still used now. I have previously been a member of the National Council as Deputy Treasurer, and attended the National Congress as a physical representative in that role. I was also at one stage involved with the IT Working Group (when it was the IT Committee), though left due to the large number of members involved. I have attended several rallies/protests hosted/co-hosted/attended by PPAU, though I haven't done so lately due to living overseas. Again, as stated above, I hope to further the pirate movement by keeping disputes within the party to a minimum, which I believe will ensure that we can continue to attract members to a friendly, open environment. | I heavily agree with the core principles of the Party, though I don't hesitate to say when I believe a policy may step outside of the principles of free culture, civil liberty or intellectual rights (and may therefore alienate members/voters). I have never been a member of another party or political movement. | }}
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