Minutes/General Meeting/2013-03-12

=General IRC Meeting (#ppau)=

Start: 19:59 12/03/2013 AEDT

Finish: 21:51 12/03/2013 AEDT

Rules

 * Feel free to add anything reasonable you wish to the end of the agenda, and it will be discussed.
 * There is one speaker per agenda item noted in brackets.
 * Discussion on each agenda item will commence upon the speaker finishing.
 * When you have finished speaking on your item, ask for question and comments.
 * Wait until a speaker indicates they have finished before making comments.
 * People not conducting themselves as if in a meeting will be kicked (out).

Agenda

 * Introduction and attendance (Chair)
 * Assign minute taker (Chair)
 * Policy and preselection meeting (Frew)
 * Discreet mascots (Daydream) 8:14
 * PPI complaint (Mozart)
 * Pirate Party Croatia election prediction (Mozart)
 * State coordinator reports:
 * NSW - Simon Frew
 * ACT - Glen Takkenberg
 * Tas. - Thomas Randle (Emailed Apology, Mozart to speak on behalf)
 * WA - Krystin Dix
 * Qld. - Liam Pomfret
 * Vic. - Ben McGinnes
 * PDC report (MarkG)
 * Wollongong Meeting Announcement (Frew)
 * Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Improving Electoral Procedure) Bill 2012: Action against it? (Daydream)
 * Any other business

Attendance

 * National Council
 * Brendan Molloy
 * David Campbell (Chair)
 * Glen Takkenberg
 * Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer
 * Simon Frew


 * State Coordinators
 * Ben McGinnes
 * Glen Takkenberg
 * Krystin Dix
 * Liam Pomfret
 * Simon Frew


 * 17 Active

Apologies

 * State Coordinators
 * Thomas Randle

Policy and preselection meeting

 * remote attendance available, a page wil be set up
 * rsvp's slow, numbers had best pick up lest we end somewhat more out of pocket than planned
 * close (10m) to Central Station & plenty food/facilities nearby
 * note re meeting process, actual voting is online after, meeting is good sounding board for dicussion though
 * there will be projector
 * gear list: http://pirateparty.openpad.me/policy-meeting-2013-gear-list

Discreet mascots

 * idea that pirate party could come up a cartoon mascot to aid in promotional material
 * not conventional for Australian political parties, but no reason why we cant (note donkey/elephants in US politics)
 * possibly a parrot?
 * "visual aid" may be better terminology than 'mascot'
 * discussion/idea to be raised with campaigns work group

PPI complaint

 * Frew sent email complaint to PPI as per motion at last congress re poor handling of participation at last conference and other issues
 * PPI failure to acknowledge meant email was made public
 * court of arbitration resignation refused acknowlegment by board
 * two (unnamed) PPI board members also tried to resign but were 'not allowed to'
 * also possible that ' several members of PPI are making moves to withdraw' (canada, UK, netherlands likely, Croatia, Aust, NZ may also)
 * extensive debates on mailing lists including much Span vs Catalonia stuff
 * 'General dissatisfaction with the board has been expressed.'
 * Frew will be participating remotely in the Kazan conference (20/21 April).
 * noted in meeting that
 * we have an election coming up and our own affairs to deal with
 * if it breaks up something, hopefully better, will evolve to replace it
 * "the next PPI General Assembly will be make or break really"
 * will will likely have a motion to withdraw from PPI next congress
 * 'for as long as we are a member of PPI they represent us, and therefore it is a liability.' & 'the PPI shenanigans smears us with a tar brush and media love to jump on it'
 * no doubt this can be debated more later

Pirate Party Croatia election prediction

 * PP Croatia a young party, about a year old
 * if election called tomorrow they would likely get 6.4% of the vote; enough to get into parliament

NSW - Simon Frew

 * we officially voted to form at the last meeting, with a committee to draft the constitution for PPAU NSW so we can contest the state election
 * need 750 members to register in NSW

ACT- Glen Takkenberg

 * relatively quiet
 * missed deadline for public submissions to the size of the legislative assembly
 * Glen and Brendan attended the Aus Digital Alliance forum as PPAU representatives

Tas. - Mozart on behalf of Thomas Randle

 * Tasmania held our 3rd meetup in Hobart last Sunday, we now have a small group of regulars who will be working over the coming fortnight to develop the tasks needed to complete registration of an Tasmanian branch before our next State election expected in early 2014.

WA - Krystin Dix

 * State election held on Saturday, LNP leading, AEC still counting some districts
 * fairly quiet with most having other commitments
 * next few weeks should pick up, especially online (eg VOIP/Mumble)
 * distance between some WA member locations is an issue

Qld - Liam Pomfret

 * most recent meeting 26th Feb. rain kept some away so low attendance (3 total)
 * next meeting in Brisbane is set for next Thursday, March the 21st.
 * looking into the possibility of having online meetings via VOIP/mumble for QLD, especially to facilitate member participation from those outside the South-East

Vic. - Ben McGinnes

 * Ben new Vic co-ordinator as of 2 weeks ago
 * Fortnightly weekday meetings cancelled, replaced with monthly Saturday meetings
 * first on 23rd March
 * Mark has forwarded some past emails to Ben
 * meetup.com stuff cleaned up, leaving only the preselection meeting on march 24th.
 * both Mark and David have withdrawn from likelihood of running as candidates
 * Ross House booking will be cancelled
 * no other likely candidates so far
 * wider participation outside Melbourne will be encouraged via mumble
 * physical meeting venue changed to mail exchange hotel, near southern cross station

PDC report

 * last meeting approved some policies for the review of members. We could use some feedback so please check them out. They are:
 * Copyright policy: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Copyright_working_group
 * Whistleblower protection policy: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Whistleblower_working_group
 * Tax & welfare policy: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Tax_working_group
 * Civil unions policy: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/PDC:_Marriage_Act_working_group
 * Working groups are focused on patent policies and digital liberties policies (which includes internet censorship and data retention).
 * Anyone with ideas or who'd like to join any of the working groups drop us a line at policydev@pirateparty.org.au
 * "On behalf of the PDC, I urge people to make their views known at the April policy meet- more feedback and more debate = stronger policy. Please come if you can." - mark
 * the meeting schedule for all WGs can be checked here: http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Policy_Development_Committee#Policy_Working_Groups

Wollongong Meeting Announcement

 * First Wollongong meeting to be held
 * 8pm Tuesday 19th March
 * North Wollongong Hotel (Northgong)

Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Improving Electoral Procedure) Bill 2012: Action against it?

 * re the recent bill doubling the electoral nomination costs
 * little chance of changing any thing now, as it has passed
 * a good example of the problems with the major parties however.(corruption, cronyism, anti-democratic etc)
 * Mozart has prepared a motion to have an electoral requirements policy
 * could always be repealed one day