Minutes/Policy Development Committee Meeting/2014-07-09

Agenda

 * Tax policy version 2 (Mark) — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Taxv2_policy_working_group
 * Energy policy version 2 (Mark) — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Energyv2_policy_working_group
 * Constitutional reform (Mozart) — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Constitutional_reform_working_group
 * Education insert (Mark) — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Educationv2_policy_working_group
 * Copyright insert (Mozart) — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_copyright_insert
 * Privacy insert (David) — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Privacy_tort_working_group
 * Peer pressure Bill into running for chair of PDC (Brendan)
 * Closing matters

Attendance

 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer (Chair)
 * Mark Gibbons
 * David Crafti
 * Daniel Judge
 * Brendan Molloy
 * Bill McLean
 * Laura Killian (late with apologies)
 * Andrew Downing (late with apologies)

Tax policy version 2

 * Colours of graphs to be changed so as not to imply that abolishing taxes is a negative.
 * Abolishing taxes is usually seen as a positive thing, so it should not be red.
 * Colour palettes to be matching.
 * QUESTION: Why does the policy say abolish the GST, and then say that there's a consumption tax? Couldn't it still be called the GST? And aren't vehicle registration charges a state tax?
 * GST is a poor form of consumption tax: we want a better form. This won't require every invoice to be calculated separately.
 * Agreement that we cannot say "abolish state taxes."
 * DECISION to change wording to: "Remove GST in current form and require states to abolish payroll tax, vehicle registration charges, stamp duties on vehicles, and insurance taxes."
 * QUESTION: How would the alternative consumption tax work?
 * Explanation available here: https://discuss.pirateparty.org.au/t/tax-welfare-policy-v2-0/60/16
 * QUESTION: Wouldn't taxing all imports require backing out of every free trade agreement?
 * A tariff is not a tax; a tax is not a levy.
 * COMMENT: There are so many massive changes, that this policy should be staggered into stages so that benefits can be assessed.
 * General agreement that this is more of an implementation process rather than a policy statement, and that implementation is beyond the scope of the policy.
 * DECISION to change the sentence "Pirate Party Australia would undertake the following reforms" to "Pirate Party Australia would undertake the following reforms in stages:"
 * COMMENT: The title "Insititute a negative income tax" presumes the person knows what it is without helping their thought process along.
 * DECISION to change the title to "Combine tax and welfare into a single, fair system through a negative income tax"
 * Agreement to change:
 * "Remove welfare programs…" to "The basic income will replace welfare programs including…" and
 * "Remove existing offsets…" to "The tax threshold will replace tax offsets including…"
 * COMMENT: Because the changes are so far reaching, the policy should include a credible and transparent mechanism for monitoring their effects, especially on the distribution of income, in case of unforessen problems. Maybe have the Productivity Commission provide an annual assessment to Parliament.
 * Agreement to include this in the policy.
 * COMMENT: Specify that online mechanisms must be secure.
 * Agreement to include this.
 * QUESTION: Should the health services levy be deducted along with income tax so that people aren't bitten at tax return time?
 * Agreement to include this.
 * See motions.

Energy policy version 2

 * COMMENT: There is paranoia about smart meters. It would be good to add that they must be secure.
 * COMMENT: Smart meter data should also not be used by law enforcement without a court order.
 * The smart meter provision has already been signed off on — this is merely supporting something that is already legislated.
 * This would make a change to the existing legislation.
 * Agreement to insert "Protect smart meter data to ensure it cannot be used to gather law enforcement intelligence without a court order."
 * QUESTION: Are the transparent disclosure of energy ratings provisions just for corporate premises? Private changes to private dwellings should be private, as far as practical.
 * Agreement to change this to specify "non-residential."
 * QUESTION: Doesn't this replace several policies? It's not strictly "Energy version 2" in that sense. It impacts on the Environment and Animal Welfare policies.
 * Agreement that the policy title should be "Energy, Environment and Climate Change"
 * QUESTION: Doesn't the Clean Energy Finance Corporation already fund energy efficiency initiatives? A serpate "Energy Efficiency Fund" would be redundant. We could instead advocate additional funding for the CEFC to promote energy efficiency — http://www.cleanenergyfinancecorp.com.au/energy-efficiency.aspx
 * Agreement that the text "Protect and restore climate change instruments including the Carbon Farming Initiative, the Climate Change Authority, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and ARENA" should adequately cover the issue.
 * Energy Efficiency Fund removed.
 * COMMENT: This will require ripping parts out of the Environment and Animal Welfare Policy.
 * The motion will be tricky, but can be developed before Congress.
 * The exact Congress proposal need not be voted on by the PDC.
 * QUESTION: The line "Require rented properties to meet an energy efficiency minimum standard (encompassing provision of energy and water efficient fixed appliances and fixed heating) by 2015" seems like it needs more consideration. What do we expect to be the impact on rantal prices, availability etc as s consequence of such a mandate?
 * No cost as the vouchers are being provided under the policy.
 * See motions.

Constitutional reform

 * Provisions relating to Parliament making decisions on war and treaties were accidentally removed from the first draft.
 * Agreement to re-add these to the proposal under "Certain decisions to be reserved for Parliament"
 * Error in title: "Expert Panel" should be the "Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples"
 * Amendment made.
 * Bill of rights policy was not revised due to time constraints.
 * QUESTION: What was intended to be done with the Bill of Rights Policy?
 * Just a general revision of it, cleaning it up and reformatting it slightly, as well as dealing with the inability to contractually sign rights away as sometimes it is necessary to do so (eg non-disclosure agreements).
 * Nobody is suggesting that there should not be consequences of the exercising of your rights. For example, choosing to exercise the "right to control your body and health" may have huge cost for people, but it is their choice to exercise it.
 * This is not particularly clear under the existing policy.
 * QUESTION: Under the citizens' initiatives section, could it be mentioned that the purpose is to move from parliamentary sovereignty to constitutional sovereignty?
 * That was not the intention. The intention was that Parliament remains sovereign until the people complain.
 * COMMENT: Change "However, indigenous societies have faced virtual destruction as a consequence of" to "However, numerous indigenous societies have faced virtual destruction as a consequence of" to counteract any possible assertion that we are saying that all indigenous societies have "not survived". It doesn't let anyone accuse us of discounting those components of indigenous society that have survived.
 * Agreement to make this amendment.
 * QUESTION: Should the proposed s 51A limit the types of laws the Government could pass?
 * It does, and it is also limited by the proposed s 116A prohibiting racial discrimination.
 * QUESTION: What happens if Australia is invaded and there is no time for Parliament to deliberate? Will there be an emergency means for the executive to take action and declare retrospecively in certain cirumstances?
 * Defending is a different matter: the decision to go to war is a declaration of war. Australia would not "choose" to accept a declaration fo war. Defending oneself is not declaring war, it is having war declared upon you.
 * If a quick meeting of the executive can be called, a quick meeting of Parliament can be called.
 * See motions

Education insert

 * General agreement that the proposal is such a substantial amendment that it is an entire policy rewrite.
 * Mark will create an entire replacement proposal.
 * QUESTION: Wasn't the School Chaplains program already killed by the High Court?
 * They're looking for a way to get around the ruling, and will likely come back.
 * Item to be returned to later on.

Copyright insert

 * This is intended to partly address PM-19 and PM-20 from Congress 2013 — https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Pirate_Congress_2013/Motions#PM-19:_Streaming_of_Free-to-Air_Television
 * They were put to the Committee and weren't acted upon over the last 12 months due to other issues.
 * Current policy addresses most of the issues, and this proposal adds the recommendations of the IT Pricing Inquiry to the Copyright Policy.
 * Once TPM enforcement provisions are abolished there is no restriction on offering circumvention as a service.
 * Abolishing the TPM enforcement provisions will require leaving the Australia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (AJEPA).
 * See motions

Privacy insert

 * This has already been approved, so no vote is needed.
 * David got in touch with the Australian Privacy Foundation, and it has been cleared by one of their board members.
 * The criteria for acceptance in the vote at the previous meeting has been met.
 * Formatting of the insert has been changed slightly and the references have been adjusted.
 * Using "Ibid" to refer to an immediately preceding citation is inappropriate for wikis due to the content being largely dynamic.

Peer pressure Bill into running for chair of PDC

 * Bill refuses.

Education policy (continued)

 * COMMENT: The innovation voucher could be tried, but there'd have to be a willingness to abandon it if it doesn't work.
 * It works quite well in Europe and there is an indication that the former government was considering it.
 * QUESTION: Reforming the lifetime limit on FEE-HELP debt doesn't actually say how it is to be reformed.
 * General agreement to change this line to "Replace the lifetime FEE-HELP limit with a maximum loan cap, offset by repayments."
 * See motions

Closing matters

 * The Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement will need to be looked at by the PDC once JSCOT starts calling for submissions.
 * Mozart would like to thank everyone for their contributions this year.
 * No current nominations for Policy Development Officer
 * It could be rotated, but it would ultimately be up to the National Council.

Motions

 * MOTION: Approve the Tax and Welfare Policy (version 2) for member consideration at congress.
 * Put by: Mozart
 * Ayes: 6 (Mozart, MarkG, DanielJ, Brendan, BillM, dcrafti); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Approve the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Policy for member consideration at Congress.
 * Put by: Mozart
 * Ayes: 6 (Brendan, dcrafti, DanielJ, MarkG, Mozart, BillM); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Approve the Constitutional Reform Policy for member consideration at Congress.
 * Put by: Mozart
 * Ayes: 6 (Brendan, Mozart, AndrewD, BillM, MarkG, DanielJ); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0 (lkillian)
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Approve the Copyright Policy Amendments for member consideration at Congress.
 * Put by: Mozart
 * Ayes: 8 (Brendan, Mozart, AndrewD, BillM, lkillian, dcrafti, Daniel J, MarkG); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.


 * MOTION: Approve the Education Policy (version 2) for member consideration at Congress.
 * Put by: Mozart
 * Ayes: 8 (dcrafti, Brendan, AndrewD, MarkG, Mozart, lkillian, BillM, DanielJ); Nays: 0 ; Abstains: 0
 * Motion carries.