Pirate Party NSW Proposal

The following are proposals and information relevant to the potential formation of local & state parties in New South Wales.

=Drafting a Constitution=


 * Constitution Pad — Please add your notes and ideas for both organisational structure and for the constitutional preamble in the pad.

=Local Government=

The next elections are scheduled for September 8, 2012. The deadline for applications for political parties was July 29, 2011. However it is in the interest of the Party in NSW that we now move to register locally at least and have a functioning bureaucracy for the next round of elections or any by-elections in the coming term. The long term goal would be to develop the Party to be registered for the State elections in 2015. It will also allow the Party to explore a wider application of Pirate principles to a wider policy set.

Electoral Requirements
To register to contest Local Government elections a party must have:


 * an acceptable name
 * at least 100 members, who are enrolled on the NSW electoral roll, and not relied upon by another party for registration purposes
 * "...when submitting the application you will need to include at least 100 Declaration of Party Membership forms of members on whom the party wishes to rely upon for registration, the signatures on these forms are required to be hand written. The preference is for us to be in receipt of original forms either hand delivered or sent by registered post."
 * "...a relied member of the party, who must be on the NSW Electoral Roll, is permitted to be relied upon at a Federal level by another party. Political party registration at a State/Local Government level & Federal level fall under different legislation."
 * a registered officer
 * a written constitution that sets out the platform or objectives of the party.

Relevant Legislation

 * | Local Government Act 1993

Deadlines
Registrations for Political Parties for the September 2012 Local Government Elections must be lodged and completed by July 29, 2011. The NSWEC indicates that any application may take up to 12 weeks to process.

=State Government=

Elections — 2015
The NSW state parliament has constitutionally fixed four-year terms for the fourth Saturday of March every four years. The election is slated for 28 March, 2015.

Party Registration
To register to contest State elections a party must:


 * have an acceptable name
 * have at least 750 members, who are enrolled on the NSW electoral roll, and are not relied upon by another party for registration purposes
 * have a registered officer
 * have a written constitution that sets out the platform or objectives of the party
 * pay the $2,000 registration fee.

Relevant Legislation

 * | Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912