Pirate Congress 2012 Candidates

This page contains candidate statements of those nominated for election to Pirate Party Australia positions at the Pirate Congress 2012.

The Congress elects six National Council members. The newly elected National Council elects a Party Agent from the candidates put forward, as per the Constitution. Dispute Resolution Committee elections will also be held at this Congress, pending further clarification.

Those who accept nomination, or are self-nominated, must submit their statements themselves.

David W. Campbell
Many of you know me as the "hacker" who helped out some elderly folks get their way around censorship, some as the big guy who told DFAT where to stick the TPP or maybe you only know me as the guy on the contact page of the website listed as President.

I see an amazing future sprawling out before Pirate Party Australia, we are fresh, we are ruthlessly honest and passionately intertwined with our core tenets. There is no other party on the landscape in our position, we can shoot from the hip completely transparently and stand proud with our history of open democratic process. We have no corporate agenda or union ties, we have nothing but privacy, civil rights and the pursuit of honest open democracy in our sights, and there is something very special about that.

As the 2011/2012 President I have pushed our agenda in the media, pushed for more members and locked horns and hands with with other organizations both for and against our tenets, both in private and in the media.

I have been an effective spokesperson for the party during the TPP rounds and many Radio interviews across the country and the world. I feel I am the best choice to continue into 2012/2013 as the Party President and help build on the team and work-groups developed in the last year. I think we are on the tip of a very exciting year for the Pirate Party within Australia. We are maturing and hopefully will be recognized by the AEC before the next election and I want to personally ensure that we get there and we are in the 2013 Australian Federal Election.

I am available via mobile telephone 0450675027, email david.campbell@pirateparty.org.au, twitter @davidcampell84 or our IRC server as DavidCampbell, say hello on any of these avenues and I will be happy to answer your call and help out in any way you need.

Simon Frew
I am putting my hand up for President of Pirate Party Australia because I feel I am an effective voice for the Party and have demonstrated this through my many and varied contributions to the Party over the last few years.

Over the last year my activities included researching and writing our intervention to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, have participated in its' negotiations in Sydney and Canberra. I have spoken at many protests in support of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Researching and writing press releases and speaking to the media many times on various issues of import to our organisation.

I have been involved in politics for 14 years and have gained a wide array of skills useful to our organisation. As demonstrated in my time in the National Council, I work well in a team, and contribute to our policy, internal organisation and public image in my various roles.

Simon Frew
See above statement.

David Crafti
I have been involved with Pirate Party Australia since 2009.

Professionally, I have around 10 years of experience as a Software Engineer, and have been working for the last 2 years as a Software Development Team Leader for an iconic Australian company, where I have been leading teams of between 6-12 developers to make products, within a complicated technical environment, that are used by millions.

I am a strong Civil Libertarian, which is why I joined the Pirate Party, and I want to have a thorough understanding of why our society is how it is, so I am about 3/4 of the way through a Master of Laws degree, where I am focussing on IP and Civil Liberties.

I helped draft the party's initial constitution, though my role in that was small. Rodney was the champion of it.

I was elected president in 2009. During my reign of terror:
 * I was the main contact point for the media, being on radio, TV and online, and I developed good relations with many journalists focussed on IT-related policy in Australia.
 * I personally recruited around 40 members (before the online signup form) on our way to getting the 500 we needed to submit to the AEC.
 * I was involved in most of the press releases, which were well-received by the online media.
 * I was an organiser of, and speaker at, an anti-censorship rally, which almost fell apart due to the differences between other organisers. I managed to get all the organisers to talk to each other and reach an understanding that allowed the rallies to proceed.
 * I was involved in getting a lot of the groundwork done with regard to organisational structure, though Rodney Serkowski is the clear father of the party.
 * I cultivated the relationship that lead to the Exit International event at which David Campbell did a great job promoting our position with regard to internet censorship.

The goals that I failed to achieve during my term:
 * The party was not registered, despite having enough members.
 * I wasn't able to facilitate the creation of the infrastructure that would have made it easy to communicate with the member base, and therefore didn't communicate effectively with the members.
 * I couldn't pull together all the loose ends I needed in order to provide swag to members who provided a high level of financial support.

I am able to objectively assess my shortcomings, learn from them, improve them, and move on in a spirit of cooperation. To those of you who vote, that might sound a bit fluffy, but it's a trait that a party cannot do without in its leadership positions if a grass-roots organisation wants to stay together and on the right course.

Since my time as president:
 * I have received formal training in leadership, and my position at work allows me to put this into practice on a daily basis.
 * I have been in the Dispute Resolutions Committee for the last two years, though thankfully there have been no disputes to resolve.
 * I have attended several rallies supporting the Pirate Party position over the last couple of years and I recently spoke at a pro-Wikileaks rally, detailed here: http://www.craftiscranium.com/2012/06/supporting-julian-assange-melbourne.html and helped push the agenda of the Pirate Party and our support of Wikileaks.

I support David Campbell for the position of president, though Rodney is also exceptionally qualified. From what I understand, Simon and Brendan have done great work in the secretariat as well, with Simon having spoken at rallies to good effect.

I've heard nothing but good things about Mozart in his work on press releases, and he is excellent in his written communication, so he would be of great value to the party as deputy president. As would David Haidon, who has been organising Victoria's branch along with Mark Street.

I believe that I would also make an excellent deputy. I have time to dedicate to the party now and I'd like to spend it reestablishing media relationships to get more coverage for Pirate Party Australia, and to also drive membership and see the party finally registered.

My years of experience and my wealth of training in leadership, as well as my education in law make me an excellent, credible candidate.

I believe that the party is well served by many talented people, so I'm not going to fight for the position of deputy president - there are other people who are qualified for it - so I will also run to renew my position in the Dispute Resolutions Committee.

Brendan Molloy
Click to go to summary.

Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer
In my short time with Pirate Party Australia, I have worked diligently in the role of Press Officer to produce countless press releases. However I have not limited myself to operating in that one area. During the past nine months I have contributed heavily to the innovation patent system and ACTA submissions, regularly attended meetings, and represented PPAU and PPNZ at the 2012 PPI GA. Since April I have been a judge on the PPI Court of Arbitration, and have gained valuable insight into the state of the movement, particularly where other parties are encountering difficulty. Outside the Pirate Party I am a final-year Bachelor of Music student, and freelance as a writer/editor. I believe my determination, dedication and skills would make me a valuable addition to the National Council.

Glen Takkenberg
I am a new name to most of the Pirate Party membership outside of Canberra, despite being a member since 2009, as I had taken a hands off approach to the party after being given the impression that my employment at a government agency was at risk with the security vetting officer being under the impression that we were an extremist group conspiring to overthrow the government! And so I continued as a passive member until I got a call from an old friend to come and have a drink with the party secretary who happened to be in town, and learned that we had a short deadline that was near impossible to achieve to recruit members and register for the territory elections in October, but we needed people to lead the effort. So I have thrown myself head first into the party, and helped get the goal of over 100 members by the deadline, and have now got the experience of recruiting, campaigning, going through scruitineering with the electoral commission, running meetings, emailing members and writing public statements. I believe I can use the experience gained from the ACT branch to help the national branch achieve its goals, and help us fight against increasingly extreme and draconian laws that threaten the free democracy of this country.

David Haidon
Originally from Canberra but now living in Melbourne, I am a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Bachelor of Production. While at VCA I was involved with a wide variety of theatrical events in roles such as stage management, lighting, sound, video projection and set construction on puppetry, dance, and drama. I currently work for the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre as a Audio Visual and Communications Technician.

I have been heavily involved in student politics while at VCA and UoM, including being VCA Student Union's IT Officer for 2 years, VCASU's President in 2009, the 2010 Arts Officer for the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU), UoM Theatre Board for 3 years. I was a core contributor in the Save VCA Campaign (www.savevca.org) including one of the main organisers for the highly successful Save VCA Week that was held in August 2009.

I have been involved with the PPAU since 2009 and am the 2011/2012 Deputy Secretary. I also have been very involved with the Melbourne CBD Crew. While in office I have been part of the delegation to the Melbourne TPPA Stakeholder Meeting and represented the PPAU at rallies in support of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. I hope to continue my involvement on the National Council in a support role in one of the deputy positions or party agent, using my experiences as an audio visual technician, photographer and set designer, my work in festival and independent theatre management, and background in student union politics to add a unique perspective to and further the goals of both the Council and the PPAU in 2012/2013.

Brendan Molloy
For those that don't know me, my name is Brendan Molloy, and I have been elected to the National Council for the past two years and have been with the party since soon after its inception in 2008. I am a full time software developer but arguably, I spend more time on improving and coordinating the Pirate Party than anything else.

During the time that I have been working as Secretary, the Pirate Party has accomplished a significant amount of work to actively promote our values and enact change wherever possible.


 * Spent a significant amount of time auditing and managing the membership register in order to prepare for registration of the party.
 * Created our first online signup form as soon as we found out that the AEC enrolment requirements had been changed to allow this. By campaigning on Twitter and Facebook, the form I created has nearly doubled our membership within 3 months.
 * Proposed that we create several new positions within the party in order to better facilitate the contribution of rank and file members, which has seen us acquire a wonderful designer that created very effective posters for the PPAU-ACT campaign.
 * Strongly criticised the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, attending all public briefs in Sydney and Canberra, ensuring that DFAT has been held to account. I demanded access to any economic analyses that they would use to defend any previous signing of any FTA. Needless to say, they were not happy but obliged, giving us multiple useless documents. No surprises there.
 * Spear-headed the project to have the website redesigned to be more accessible, user-friendly and attractive.
 * Spent a lot of time campaigning on Pirate Party issues, and making significant contacts along the way that have assisted the party over the years in multiple ways, such as feeding us useful information.
 * While the dramas of setting up a mailing list are still yet to be fully resolved, any enquiry that hit my inbox was usually replied to within 15 minutes. I am also always available on IRC, and always willing to speak one to one with any member of PPAU, or member of the public.
 * Promoted an environment of social cohesion. If you are looking for a way to assist the Pirate Party, I have done my utmost to find an appropriate position for you, or have one created.
 * Worked on several inquiries such as the National Classification Scheme Review and the Innovation Patent Scheme Review, which has seen the Pirate Party significantly footnoted within the relevant reports.
 * Created the Programming Work Group to facilitate development projects within the party. This has allowed us to begin working heavily on our liquid democracy implementation.
 * Made significant financial contributions to the party in order to facilitate the acquisition of services and promotional resources.
 * Worked closely with the PPAU-ACT folks in order to quickly build their territory branch.

We need experienced leadership going into an election year. It is going to be tough and time-consuming to get the funding we need to mount a successful campaign, to build the committees required to determine preselection of candidates for each state, to coordinate the committees so that they may best push the party forward, and to promote a positive image of the Pirate Party nationally and internationally. I believe I am up to the challenge.

With the sheer amount of important Government inquiries coming up (Copyright Review, Technical Protection Measures Review, National Security Review, etc), we need experienced leaders who know the party platform back to front, who understand how to be consultative and open to discussion, and have a history of taking initiative and actually getting things done. I believe I meet this criteria.

One of my major focuses of 2012 would be to continue to open better communication gateways between the party officers, the rank and file and the public. I would like to continue to push for the use of liquid democracy within the party, and really get these mailing lists sorted in a reasonable way as soon as possible. The party still has a lot of potential for growth, as can be seen by the sudden influx of ACT members and the formation of PPAU-ACT. I would like to continue to assist in this process.

In summary, I believe I am the best candidate for the position of Secretary, and if elected to multiple positions, will accept this one as my preference. It would be an honour to work with PPAU again, and I believe with my support, we will continue on a steady path of growth into the future. If you have any questions, you may email me at [mailto:brendan.molloy@pirateparty.org.au brendan.molloy@pirateparty.org.au] or catch me on IRC under the name 'Brendan'.

Thanks for your support!

Glen Takkenberg
See statement under deputy president.

Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer
See statement under "Deputy President".

Brendan Molloy
Click to go to summary.

Glen Takkenberg
See statement under "Deputy President".

David Haidon
See statement under "Deputy President".

Mark Street
See Statement under "Party Agent"

Rodney Serkowski
I founded the Party some time in May 2008, and have been working hard ever since to help build the Pirate movement in Australia. I was responsible for initial drafts of the platform, constitution, many discussion papers and parliamentary inquiries, press releases and media statements, freedom of information requests and a raft of other things. When I get time I blog and am easily contactable on Twitter. I'd like to continue my contribution to the Party and movement in 2012/13 as Treasurer.

Brendan Molloy
Click to go to summary.

David W. Campbell
As the bid for President appears to be quite popular, if that bid is unsuccessful as there are many great candidates my second choice would be to for-fill the role as treasurer, outside of the pirate party I work in the Banking industry for a regional building society, I have operated my own small business in the past and have been the treasurer of a local rotary club in Maitland, NSW, so I have the experience and skills necessary for this role. I appear to have a most uniquely positioned workplace and have free access to a cluster of bank branches.

Sam Kearns
I am a relative newcomer to the Pirate Party having joined in January 2012 and participated actively since March, though I have followed pirate issues for a few years now. Since joining I have contributed to the party as the writer, producer and host of the Pirate Party Australia Webcast which I consider my primary contribution to the party. I have been self employed for 14 years as a freelance software developer and more recently a vending machine operator, so I do have some experience with bookkeeping and preparing tax returns. I live on the NSW Central Coast near Gosford with my wife of 10 years and 2 young children and am currently studying at Newcastle University in the evenings.

Glen Takkenberg
See statement under Deputy President

Brendan Molloy
Click to go to summary.

David Haidon
See statement under "Deputy President"

Sam Kearns
See description above under "Treasurer"

David W. Campbell
See description above under "Treasurer"

Mark Street
See Statement under "Party Agent"

Glen Takkenberg
See statement under Deputy President

David Haidon
See statement under "Deputy President"

David W. Campbell
See statement under "President"

Mark Street
I am a Robotics and Software Engineer from Melbourne, and as another long time member of the party, and having attending 3 congresses locally and remotely I feel that I have much to contribute and wish to step up to a position on the National Council this year. I have worked hard, together with Davids' Haidon and Crafti to keep up regular meetings in Melbourne and to keep the Crew functioning despite wildy varying attendance and volunteers who go missing. As a Major contributor to the OldWiki and to the Party draft policy as written, I feel that my strengths are in the internal communication, organisation and policy drafting areas. I want to get further involved in spreading our message and I believe that as Party Agent I could do just that. I have also nominated as Deputy Treasurer and Deputy Secretary because I feel that my talents are best put to use in the process focussed areas of the party, not necessarily as the public face.

Hayden Dwyer
As a long time member of the party, and one of the original drafters of the constitution, I feel I have intimate knowledge of, and respect for, PPAU. For the past two years I have stood on the Dispute Resolution Committee, and before that, I occupied the role of Deputy Treasurer. As such, my ability to fill one of the positions on the DRC is second to none (or second to very few, anyway). Outside of party politics, I have a Bachelors degree in IT, and am currently studying for a Graduate Diploma in TESOL (not necessarily related to the party whatsoever, though this certainly improves communicative skills). I hope that I will have a chance to further the party's internal politics this year.

David Crafti
See statement under "Deputy President"

George Campbell
I have been a union delegate for over 20 years in the public Service, with significant direct experience in dispute resolutions, which have included Workplace relations, OH&S, Harassment, Discrimination, mediation and arbitration. With the pirate party growing significantly, I expect that my extensive skills in being able to resolve disputes will be needed.