Minutes/General Meeting/2013-07-30

=General IRC Meeting (#ppau)=

Start: 20:01 30/07/13 AEST

Finish: 21:10 30/07/13 AEST

Rules
Rules conveyed as available here: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/General_Meeting/Rules

Agenda

 * Copyright review submission (Mozart)
 * Recap of Congress (Mozart)
 * Flyers
 * Banners
 * Volunteer form — http://pirateparty.org.au/contribute/
 * Looking at improving participation
 * Officer reports
 * Policy Development Officer (Mozart)
 * ACT Coordinator (Glen)
 * NSW Coordinator (Sunny)
 * QLD Coordinator (Mel)
 * SA Coordinator (Bryn)
 * Tas Coordinator (Thomas)
 * Vic Coordinator (Ben)

Attendance

 * Roughly 10.

National Council

 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer (Chair)
 * Daniel Judge
 * Melanie Thomas
 * Brendan Molloy
 * Mark Gibbons
 * David Campbell
 * Rodney Serkowksi
 * Glen Takkenberg

Officers

 * Policy Development Officer (Mozart)
 * Melanie Thomas (Qld)
 * Bryn Busai (SA)
 * Glen Takkenberg (ACT)
 * Thomas Randle (Tas)

Absentees (no apology received)

 * Sunny Kalsi (NSW)
 * Ben McGinnes (Vic)
 * Thomas Randle (Tas)

Copyright review submission

 * Due tomorrow,
 * Mozart has about 40-50 pages and it's complete in terms of content.
 * Disappointing that few were available to work on such a key document.
 * as we're in an election, it's understandable.
 * All members are encouraged, post-election, to consider working on submissions to the ALRC and other bodies, as they really improve your knowledge of the issues we deal with.

Recap of Congress

 * We adopted and amended several policies, and got through things within time which was unexpected.
 * Tasmanian ballot filled, meaning able to run in 4 states
 * National Council expanded to 9 members - should help things run smoother.
 * congrats to new members of the Council: Ben, Mark, Mel and Daniel
 * congrats to Simon on President
 * Special thanks to David for his work as President
 * Special thanks to Rodney, founder of party and leaving NC for first time.
 * Special thanks to Mozart for taking on Dep Sec and sio mcuh hard work
 * Special thanks to Brendan for "being the most diligent Secretary I think any Party in Australia has seen, and hopefully he enjoys having his hands free of administration so he can get out there and do what he does best."
 * 10,000 flyers received and distributed to candidate states.
 * Banners in works as well.

Looking at improving participation

 * How can we facilitate greater local participation
 * Really to start driving the development of state branches.
 * But also to give us a more grassroots approach.
 * How to empower members to not need massive reliance on a central authority to tell them what to do.
 * We want a top-down _and_ bottom-up model really, so Mozart is working on a bunch of ways this can be achieved.
 * unlikely to have much before the election, but hopefully will have some "reform proposals" ready by the end of the year so we can make a good start in 2014.
 * For example: a clear set of approval processes so that members know what hoops they need to jump through. (ie avoiding a local printing up stuff independently/unapproved and thus have us fall foul of election laws.
 * It is the responsibility of the Party leadership to inform the members of what they can do, and assist them in getting there.
 * Clearly describing the processes required should alleviate much of the inertia that prevents people contributing because they don't know if they're able to do things.
 * Anyone with specific ideas can email Mozart directly at mozart.palmer@pirateparty.org.au

Policy Development Officer (Mozart)

 * Mozart has just taken over as Policy Development Officer from MarkG who did a fantastic job expanding our policy set.
 * Until after the election, the Committee will be working with the Press Team and Campaigns Committee to provide our candidates with short summaries and statements they can provide to journalists regarding our policies.
 * This is simply because the Committee knows the policies best and the election is very important.
 * Post election tasks:
 * expanding the number of citations to support our policies
 * working through the existing backlog.
 * surveying the members to get a list of policy areas that should be prioritised.
 * identifying key areas that are required, such as health, defence, and so on.
 * Please hold off on any policy suggestions until after the election, so that they don't end up in the "not right now" pile.

Melanie Thomas (Qld)

 * Qld meetings have been held fortnightly in lead up to election
 * except the last meeting, which was missed due to varying other committments
 * Next meeting to be held next Thursday evening
 * Mel has an idea for a Pirate Party - literally - to promote her campaign (perhaps in a pub somewhere, bands etc - everyone has to dress as a pirate)
 * open to public, entry fee $$ to go to campaign
 * Priority is election campaign

Bryn Busai (SA)

 * Contesting March 2014 election unlikely
 * planning another meeting in 2 weeks time, lead time to let people book it in.
 * would like contacts to start recruiting and workout how to get permission to do personal recruiting at the Unis...

Glen Takkenberg (ACT)

 * nothing has happened locally since the last GM
 * now overdue for Territory Congress, needs to happen ASAP

Other State Reports

 * No reports from NSW, VIC, TAS, WA