Minutes/General Meeting/2013-02-26

=General IRC Meeting (#ppau)=

Start: 20:00 26/02/13 AEDT

Finish: 21:14 26/02/13 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) - Feenicks
 * Change in candidate fees (Mozart)
 * Preselection and policy meeting (Frew)
 * State coordinator reports:
 * NSW- NSW Branch forming (Frew)
 * ACT - Glen Takkenberg
 * Tas. - Thomas Rundal
 * WA - Krysten (No Notification)
 * Qld. - Liam Pomfret (Emailed Apology)
 * Vic. - Mark Street (No Notification)
 * PDC Report — hold till c.8:45
 * Preselection is now open (Glen)
 * Any other business

Attendance

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


 * State Coordinators
 * Simon Frew
 * Glen Takkenberg
 * Thomas Randle
 * + Approximate attendees:
 * 5

Apologies

 * Liam Pomfret

Change in candidate fees (Mozart)

 * Senate just passed legislation that raises the bar and prices for election candidates
 * Greens amendments trashed.
 * Candidate fees will double.
 * $2K for Senators.
 * $1K for House of Reps.
 * Current bank balance will not quite cover all candidates we hope to run: need to fundraise.
 * need at least 2 candidates per ticket to be grouped
 * plan on funding 2 per state, territories will need be self funded
 * any potential candidates, if possible should contribute to the $2000 fee but finances should not preclude hopefuls from running

Preselection and policy meeting (Frew)

 * Gaelic Club in Sydney booked for April 6 and 7 for our policy weekend
 * close to central station
 * 40 or so room capacity
 * should be internet available so remote attendance/streaming should be possible
 * it will start on Midday the Saturday and be all day Sunday... both days until 5pm,
 * all members welcome and encouraged to come
 * anyone planning to be a candidate had best be there or "make an amazing effort remotely via a stream or prerecorded message" (Youtube clip would be adequate, but not ideal)
 * door charge to help cover costs, possibly $35 but less for those in financial hardship

NSW: NSW Branch forming - Frew

 * meeting in weekend voted to found branch
 * need 750 members to register in NSW
 * current numbers at 300-350 or so
 * Brendan, Frew, Roderick volunteered to work on Constitution
 * minutes from meeting on wiki soon
 * possible NSW issues to focus on: Law & Order, civil liberties, CSG, anti-corruption/transparency, public transport etc

ACT - Glen Takkenberg

 * Had meet up last saturday
 * Discussion re senate candidates, possibly no-one to run
 * Glen Takkenberg submitting to the size of ACT Legislative Assembly review
 * Glen Takkenberg attending ADA forum on Friday with Brendan
 * casual drinks meetup for ACT folks on saturday

PDC Report (MarkG)

 * PDC: about 8 working groups are in the final stages of policy development, so a slew of policies will go to a vote at the next PDC meeting.
 * Due to the number of policies coming in a one-off additional meeting has been scheduled for 8PM on March 13. It will be for review only, with formal approval votes limited to the fortnightly regular meetings.
 * Formation of new WGs will be slow until some existing groups finalize but we did set up two high-priority groups at the last meeting. These are:
 * The digital liberties working group, which will develop policies dealing with data retention, net neutrality, and internet censorship. Ben McGinnes is chair and it is due to report back to the March 13 PDC meeting.
 * The refugee/asylum seekers working group, which is trying to develop a better approach to this whole issue than what is happening now. Brendan is chair, & it aims to report back ahead of the April congress.
 * Both WGs are keen for volunteers, so email policydev@pirateparty.org.au if you're interested.
 * people wanting to lend a hand with policy can also pop into #ppau-pdc

Preselection is now open (Glen)

 * preselection form is at http://preselection.pirateparty.org.au/
 * need police background check, plus a photo and your CV
 * police check can take some time
 * The National Council voted in the last NC meeting to only fund Senate Candidates in the states
 * As such we will not be funding nomination fees or campaigns for territory based Senate seats, nor House of Representatives seats in any state or territory.