Minutes/General Meeting/2014-01-28

Agenda

 * General announcements (Mozart)
 * PDC Report (Mozart)
 * Save Medicare rally (Mel)
 * State Reports
 * ACT (Glen)
 * NSW (Sunny)
 * Qld (Mel)
 * SA (Bryn)
 * Tas (Tim)
 * Vic (Ben)
 * WA (Fletcher)

National Council

 * Simon Frew (Chair, reporting for Sunny Kalsi, NSW)
 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer (PDO)
 * Melanie Thomas (Qld)

Coordinators/Officers

 * Fletcher Boyd (WA)
 * Tim Serong (reporting for Thomas Randle, Tas)

Apologies

 * Nil

General announcements

 * There will be an Election Committee meeting after this meeting in #ppau-election
 * Queensland received it first batch of how-to-vote cards for Mel's election campaign.
 * On the wiki at http://pirateparty.org.au/w/images/e/e0/Melhtv-front.png and http://pirateparty.org.au/w/images/b/b0/Melhtv-back.png
 * Jarrod did a fantastic job designing these, will probably be the best on the day.
 * Thomas Randle has stepped down as Tasmanian Coordinator
 * Thank you to Thomas for his hard work.
 * The NC will discuss this tomorrow night to see how to approach finding a new coordinator.
 * Mel heard a radio item today where PPAU was mentioned alongside Greens and Katter
 * Stable Population and Secular Parties were left out.
 * It's very satisfying being an actual minor party now.
 * We have stability and no infighting, making us a bit stronger than the European Pirate Parties.
 * Our one year anniversary membership drive was a success.
 * Made $2,000 offering pay-what-you-want memberships
 * Boiled down to roughly $10 for every new member, with several people paying more than the regular fee.
 * Some even paid a lot more than the fee.
 * We now have over 1,000 members!
 * No breakdown of memberships by state, easiest way is to email Brendan.
 * We can have a minuted breakdown for next meeting.
 * Most states should be at least around the halfway mark.
 * Brendan provided the most recent breakdown:
 * ACT: 101; NSW: 335; NT: 5; Qld: 186; SA: 71; Tas: 38; Vic: 218; WA: 119.
 * At least 50 are duplicates or erroneous.

PDC Report

 * The Policy Development Committee has been made responsible for doing inquiry submissions, as well as policy drafting.
 * The PDC structure has working groups underneath it that do the bulk of the policy and inquiry work.
 * We've got several working groups that all members can join and get involved in.
 * See http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Policy_Development_Committee#What_Is_Happening_Right_Now for a list of current projects.
 * Tonight at 9:30 there will be a meeting in #ppau-pdc to discuss the Privacy Tort policy.
 * Tomorrow night at 10:00 there will be one for the IP Laws Amendment Bill, in #ppau-pdc
 * Thursday night at 8:30 there will be one for the "Enhancing Online Safety for Children" discussion paper, in #ppau-pdc
 * All members are encouraged to get involved.
 * Just turn up for the meeting, watch the wiki page for developments.
 * Meetings are also on the calendar, easily found on the website.

Save Medicare rally

 * Mel is speaking at a "save Medicare" rally next week on behalf of PPAU.
 * Nothing yet has been discussed regarding a universal healthcare policy
 * Mel has mostly a free hand on this.
 * Talk about how healthcare is part of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
 * "The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health."
 * We ratified it therefore healthcare is a human right, our principles as a Party are to defend human rights.
 * The big target for the Coalition is cutting back on environmental programs and protections
 * Can't see the Coalition getting much legislation through the Senate, either now or in July.

State reports

 * ACT, SA, and Vic did not report.

Qld

 * Focused mainly on the by-election
 * Had a meeting last Saturday to discuss strategy: had a good turnout.
 * Represented at Freedom Day rally on Australia Day
 * Lots of speaking at rallies coming up: Save Medicare, TPP, and Restore Democracy in Queensland
 * Campaigning again this weekend, up until the election.
 * News Corp photographer taking photo for a story tomorrow.
 * Getting lots of mentions nationwide, not just in Qld.

WA

 * Talking to representatives from a few groups in Perth re: platform ideas/how to better appeal to WA voters.
 * Expecting an announcement of a WA election soon.

NSW

 * Presented by Simon Frew in lieu of Sunny Kalsi (NSW Coordinator)
 * A meeting in Sydney last Saturday.
 * Simon is speaking at and organising a public meeting on the TPP on March 10 in Newtown.

Tas

 * Presented by Tim Serong as Thomas Randle has stepped down.
 * There is a state election on March 15
 * Unlikely to be registered before then, as 100 members are needed, and there are only 38.
 * There was a brief flurry of activity to get a working group together before Christmas to get the state branch going.
 * It died down a bit (bad time of year perhaps).
 * There's no need to rush, because we don't have the funds (applies to all states with imminent elections).
 * Might be good for PPAU to endorse people as a publicity exercise.
 * Endorsements don't make a difference in Australia and makes parties look weird.
 * Only works where you have a candidate that makes absolute sense to endorse, e.g. Scott Ludlam.