Pirate Congress 2014/Constitutional Amendments

Constitutional amendment proposals must be presented to the National Council a minimum of 28 days before the National Congress, which this year is Friday 20 June 2014 at 11:59 pm (AEST) as per By-law 2013-03. Proposals submitted after that date will be held over until the following National Congress. Please email your proposals to [mailto:secretary@pirateparty.org.au secretary@pirateparty.org.au].

CAP-XX: Minor Corrections
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Replace "meeting- however" with "meeting. However, " in Article 6(3).
 * Replace "unaffiliate" with "disaffiliate" in Article 6.1(4).
 * Replace "competing in" with "contesting", and replace "Such branches would" with "These branches", in Article 2.1(2).

Rationale
Minor typographical and grammatical error corrections.

CAP-XXA: Removing examples from Structure & Composition
Put by: Tim Serong

Motion
In Section 2 "Structure & Composition" (1) replace:


 * "The Party shall be governed at a Federal level by a body entitled the “National Council”. The National Council may create additional structures, such as a National Executive, Parliamentary Party, Women Pirates Committee and Young Pirates Party or such other structures as it sees fit."

With:


 * "The Party shall be governed at a Federal level by a body entitled the “National Council”. The National Council may create additional structures within the party as it sees fit."

Rationale
The examples don't serve any useful purpose. Additionally, suggestions like "Young Pirates Party" are condescending and potentially divisive. ("Oh, hey there kiddo! Sure, one day you'll grow up to be a real pirate too!")

CAP-XXB: Remove spurious examples from and clarify Article 2(1)
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Replace Article 2(1) with:

Rationale
Presumption of committee names in the Constitution is a bit annoying, and in the process, unnecessary implied what style of subordinate organisation that the NC would be empowered to create, which is now clarified.

Clarifies that the NC has the power to create committees, working groups and branches, as it already has. It also clarifies that a branch is considered a subordinate organisation that can be overridden by the Federal Party.

This motion conflicts with CAP-XXa.

CAP-XX: Clarify Article 2(5)
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Replace Article 2(5) with:

Rationale
There were major grammatical flaws in this paragraph, which have been corrected, without changing the purpose behind this paragraph, by breaking it into two separate paragraphs.

CAP-XX: Update membership requirements and powers in Article 4.1
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Replace Article 4.1(1)(d) with:


 * Replace Article 4.1(2) with:

Rationale
Relax the requirements regarding previous party membership, as this clause has never been enforced beyond requiring the knowledge of which party the new member has come from.

CAP-XX: Clarify ambiguity of Article 6(6)
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Replace Article 6(6) with:

Rationale
This paragraph was grammatical flawed, with the potential to cause confusion. The purpose of this clause has not been changed beyond correcting any ambiguity.

CAP-XX: Create Article for National Congress Online Voting
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Delete Article 6(9).
 * Insert a subsection under Article 6.1 as 6.1.x as follows:

Rationale
The current wording is all shoved into the end of another Article somewhat as an afterthought, with rushed and difficult to understand wording. That paragraph has been expanded to a full Article for easier amendment and expansion in the future, and clarifies some edge-cases that were left ambiguous by the previous wording.

CAP-XX: Correct Ambiguity for Article 11(1) (Dispute Resolution Committee)
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Remove Article 11(1)(a)
 * Amend Article 11(1) to:

Rationale
Clears up some ambiguity, removes an unenforceable clause and does not change the nature of the paragraph.

Motion

 * Move Article 3.1.1 to become Article 4.5
 * Remove now empty Article 3.1

Rationale
This was proposed at the last National Congress but in the context of the larger document does not make sense to be placed where it has been and should be moved back to Article 4.

CAP-XX: Standardise Election of Registered Officer
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Remove Article 3.3.7.1(3)

Rationale
It does not make sense that this position is elected differently to the other councillors.

CAP-XX: References to legislation to be put in italics
Put by: Brendan Molloy

Motion

 * Italicise and correctly format all references to legislation in the Party Constitution

Rationale
While a little bit pedantic, we have references to legislation within the Constitution and not all of them follow the same format, nor are italicised. Even very minor changes of this nature require a constitutional amendment vote to ensure oversight.