Minutes/Policy Development Committee Meeting/2014-08-27

Attendees

 * Andrew Downing (Chair)
 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer (Inquiries Officer)
 * David Crafti
 * Bill McLean
 * Fletcher Boyd
 * Sunny Kalsi
 * Mark Gibbons
 * Daniel Judge

Apologies

 * Ben Fairless
 * Brendan Molloy
 * Laura Killian (On leave)

PDC members Changes

 * Fletcher Boyd (new)
 * Sunny Kalsi (new)
 * Ben Fairless (new)
 * Laura Killian will be leaving us due to study commitments, but promises to return.

Inquiries Status

 * Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper inquiry submission (Mozart).
 * Happening by Monday evening (1st September)


 * Data retention legislation inquiry submission (Mozart).
 * The consultation paper on data retention has been leaked today. http://images.smh.com.au/file/2014/08/27/5710838/Data_retention_consultation.pdf
 * There's no opportunity for public submission just yet, but I expect that to follow soon.


 * Brendan and Mozart are looking at crowdfunding the translation of an important Dutch case into English.
 * Because it will be useful to this and future Internet filtering proposals.
 * The case is between two ISPs (Ziggo and XS4ALL) and BREIN, the Dutch "rights" group.
 * It's a Court of Appeals decision, which is a tier below their highest court.
 * The decision says that filtering is both disproportionate and ineffective.
 * Which is a handy admission from a court for us. Unfortunately no certified translation exists that I can find.
 * http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/29/pirate-bay-ban-lifted-in-netherlands-as-blocking-torrent-sites-ruled-ineffective

Progress Reports from Active Working Groups

 * Universal Healthcare Working Group (Chair=BillM)
 * No Report
 * Corporate Stalking (Chair=DavidC) ... pending participation by Liam
 * No progress. Will send Liam an email.
 * Agriculture and Food Working Group (Chair=Laura Killian, status=Uncertain)
 * Moving to backlog. Chair Laura is on leave from PDC activity.
 * MarkG: honestly most of my what I would advocate for agriculture is already in other policies"
 * Distributed Digital Currencies and Economies Policy (Chair=AndrewD)
 * No activity, but discussed at length during meeting (see log below)

Focus Session

 * Distributed Digital Currencies and Economies Policy (Chair=AndrewD)
 * Much discussion was had and detailed in the IRC log below.

Find something for the new guys to do

 * Sunny Kalsi chairing the Library and Cultural Development Policy
 * Moved to active policy development. WG meeting set for 1st September.
 * Fletcher joining Sunny on the same WG.

Active Policy Developments

 * Universal Healthcare Working Group (Chair=BillM)
 * Focus on the development of a universal healthcare policy, with specific consideration of dental and ambulance cover
 * Members: AndrewD, BrendanM, MarkG


 * Corporate Stalking (Chair=DavidC) ... pending participation by Liam
 * Develop a policy regarding the surreptitious gathering of data about people for  creepy purposes.
 * E.g. insurance companies reading social media in order  to determine premiums.
 * Members: Liam?


 * Startups Working Group (Chair=AndrewD)
 * Focus on investigating policies to advance the opportunities for small to  medium startup businesses in Australia to enhance the digital economy
 * Members: MarkG, Mozart


 * Distributed Digital Currencies and Economies Policy (Chair=AndrewD)
 * Members: MarkG, dcrafti, BillM


 * Library and Cultural Development Policy (Chair=Sunny Kalsi)
 * Members: AndrewD, MarkG, Fletcher
 * Libraries are an odd cultural appendage. They are like cultural sharing centres. They are a  little different with regards copyright
 * This the policy we need to "deepen": http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Policies/Cultural_Participation
 * Libraries are also being chipped away at.
 * Everywhere that trade agreements negotiations suggest special dispensation for libraries, they get knocked ba
 * We propose that they get a real leg up. Maybe do something radically aligned with their core purpose
 * Maybe make they like Patent free zones
 * Make them maker-spaces
 * Make them the source of new business startups
 * Make them real cultural centres
 * A place where people can create art and culture, like community hubs for artists
 * Also, some stuff about use of unused property: e.g. " If you have land/building, it's not in use, it's bleeding you with land tax and you can't do anything with it right now, then you could lend it to the commons as a for public use thing and be exempt from the land tax."

Policy Development BackLog

 * Political Donation Reform
 * Probably means upgrades to: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Policies/Reform_of_Democratic_Institutions#Improve_transparency_and_conduct_in_Australian_politics
 * Recommend: Post now on Forum for discussion.


 * Universal Childcare Working Group (Chair=????)
 * Focus on the development of a universal childcare policy


 * Universal Education Working Group (Chair=Mark Gibbons)
 * Focus on the development of a universal education policy, with specific consideration of the cost of education and accessibility


 * Sexual Offences Working Group (Chair=????)
 * Focus on the development of a revenge pornography policy that considers the  introduction of a concept of "permanent publication", a potential  sentencing requiring placement on a list for sexual predators, and the  ability for police to act upon threatening calls
 * PDC recommended to be combined with "National Domestic Violence Strategy"


 * Agriculture and Food Working Group (Chair=Laura Killian, status=Uncertain)
 * Develop a policy addressing key issues of the Australian agriculture and food system.
 * Laura will call a meeting on this policy WG soon.
 * Members: MarkG