Minutes/Policy Development Committee Meeting/2013-02-06

Agenda

 * Attendance/apologies
 * Communication with party members
 * Reports from working groups / vote on draft policies
 * Establishment of new working group

Attendance

 * Sam Kearns
 * Andrew Downing
 * Rodney Serkowski
 * Melanie Thomas
 * Daniel Judge
 * David Crafti (about 15 mins late)

Minutes
Meeting Start: 20:12

MarkG: Presented the draft Drug policy and outlined the position.

http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Drug_policy_working_group

AndrewG: Invited criticism of the policy, suggested we need to have answers ready to deflect accusatrions of being soft on drugs

Brendan suggested we reference the portugal and switzerland drug policies.

 Motion: That the PDC accepts the recommendations of the drug policy working group and proposes the policy on drug reform be reviewed by the party membership ahead of the 20 March PDC meeting.

 Aye  aye  aye  aye  aye  aye

Motion Carried

AndrewD and Brendan both raised the issue that the process for policy development should be detailed and published in the wiki for all members to see

MarkG presented the draft Coal Seam Gas policy and outlined the position.

http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_CSG_working_group

AndrewD clarified that the farmers right to say no is specific to CSG and doesn't cover any other crossover with other mining rights issues... that's not a battle we want to take on at this stage, but the nature of CSG is a specific case.

 Motion: That the PDC accepts the recommendations of the CSG working group and proposes the policy on CSG be reviewed by the party membership ahead of the 20 March PDC meeting.

 Aye aye  aye  aye  aye  aye  aye

Motion Carried

Melanie Thomas presented her research on options for changes to the Marriage Act. Recommended that we have a policy of replacing the marriage act with a civil unions act.

 Motion: That the PDC will develop a policy to replace the Marriage Act with a Civil Unions act. A working group will be formed for this policy area headed by Melanie Thomas that will produce a draft proposal including detailed policy and polly tables for the PDC meeting held nearest to 6th March 2013.

 Aye <SamKearns> aye aye <DanielJ> aye <Roderick> aye <AndrewD> aye <c-mood> aye

Motion Carried

<MarkG> Motion: That the PDC will develop a policy formalizing existing party views on copyright reform. A working group will be formed for this policy headed by MarkG that will produce a draft proposal including detailed policy and MAUT tables for the PDC meeting held on 20th February 2013. This working group will replace and absorb the existing working group set up to formalize party views on shortening copyright duration.

<MarkG> aye <SamKearns> aye <DanielJ> aye <AndrewD> aye aye <Roderick> aye

Motion Carried

AndrewD presented a written explanation of how MAUT tables are used

http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Using_MAUT_in_Policy_Development

Sam Kearns requested that the PDC recommend to the NC that Ben McGuiness be admitted as a member of the PDC

<MarkG> Motion: That the PDC will develop a policy formalizing existing party views on patent reform. This policy will redefine patents and their laws in order to manage issues around gene patents, software patents, and the misuse of patents in scientific and academic fields. A working group will be formed for this policy headed by MarkG that will produce a draft proposal including detailed policy and MAUT tables for the PDC meeting held on 20 February 2013. This working group will replace and absorb the existing working group set up to abolish gene and software patents and the working group formed to shorten patent lengths.

<MarkG> Aye aye <DanielJ> aye <c-mood> aye <AndrewD> aye <SamKearns> aye

Motion Carried

<MarkG> Motion: that the PDC will develop a policy to protect data privacy. A working group will be formed for this policy headed by MarkG that will produce a draft proposal including detailed policy and MAUT tables for the PDC meeting held on 6 March 2013.

aye <MarkG> Aye <DanielJ> aye <SamKearns> aye <AndrewD> arr <c-mood> aye

Motion Carried

<MarkG> Motion: That the PDC will develop a policy (or policies) to implement reforms in the taxation and transfer payments system to encourage innovation and job creation, and to remove measures that undermine these objectives. A working group will be formed for this policy headed by MarkG that will produce a draft proposal including detailed policy and polly tables for the PDC meeting held on 6 March 2013. This working group will replace the existing payroll tax reform working group.

<Roderick> aye <DanielJ> aye <SamKearns> aye aye <c-mood> aye <AndrewD> aye

Motion Carried

<SamKearns> Motion: That the PDC will create a wiki document describing the process of policy creation. This document will be drafted by Mark Gibbons and presented at the next PDC meeting for formal adoption.

<MarkG> Aye <SamKearns> aye <DanielJ> aye aye <c-mood> aye <Roderick> aye <AndrewD> Arrr Motion Carried

<SamKearns> Motion: To close this meeting, and hold the next PDC meeting on 20th February 2013

<MarkG> aye aye <SamKearns> aye <AndrewD> aye <DanielJ> aye <c-mood> aye <MarkG> carried

Motion Carried

Meeting closed: 21:55