Pirate Party Australia is pleased to formally announce that the Party has decided on candidates in four states. The Party met last month to hear presentations from members seeking candidacy for the Senate this year. Nominations came from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania.
Brendan Molloy and David Campbell, Secretary and President of the Party respectively, will be competing in the election in New South Wales.
“Australia needs strong representatives that actually stand for principles. I intend to be that representative, pushing back on the encroaching surveillance state of data retention and Internet censorship, while offering positive and much needed reform for copyright, digital liberties and civil liberties,” said Brendan Molloy, lead candidate for New South Wales.
“For too long the electorate has been treated poorly by the incumbents, assuming that the voter will only choose between the big two parties. We offer Australians a real option for political change. I look forward to the public discourse, and hope everyone will join us in creating a better future for Australia.”
Nominations for the Victorian ballot from Joe Miles and Geoff Hammett were successful.
“During this campaign we will be bringing something new to the political debate, a discussion on where we see ourselves as a nation in the future and genuine solutions for getting there. This is done with proactive politics and proactive decision making, with democracy at the core. These are things I hope to bring to the Australian Senate,” stated Joe Miles, lead candidate for Victoria.
In Queensland, the Party will be fielding Melanie Thomas and Liam Pomfret.
“I’m delighted to have been selected as a Queensland Senate candidate for the 2013 federal election. I’m looking firmly toward the future and I pledge my commitment to working toward an innovative and inclusive society,” commented Melanie Thomas, lead candidate for Queensland.
In Tasmania, the Party’s candidates will include Thomas Randle. Additional candidates may be announced in July, pending the results of the Party’s National Congress which will be held in Canberra.
You certainly have my vote, I am even interested in membership.
I think the name “pirate party” is going to make this political party sound like a joke.
I really hope at some point we can be free of voting either liberal or labor and to do this, we need a real option.
I’m hoping for something like an “Open Progressive Political Party” or OPPP
Where everything the party does is open for scrutiny on the internet and people can possibly vote (or at least have a voice) on policies.
s/respectfully/respectively
To Kris,
I used to think that too. Imagine being the first Pirate Party in the world that was elected? (Sweden – Rick Falkvinge) they are being elected in the EU parliment, councils in Europe, Iceland with over 5% of the vote last weekend. I think it is important to the keep the name. It tells the establishment we are not ashamed and to lookout!
Is the membership a lifetime membership? 20 bucks and that’s it? Because I want to join as well.
And congrats for the good news! I’m happy for you guys.
Kris
Falkvinge makes a good argument in regard to retaining the Pirate Party name in an article here: http://falkvinge.net/2011/02/20/why-the-name-pirate-party/
But basically, if we were called the “Open Progressive Political Party” we wouldn’t even get the same level of small media coverage that we do now.
and to quote the Falkvinge article:
“Either we call ourselves the Pirate Party, and get to define what the name stands for, they reasoned, or we’ll be called the Pirate Party anyway, without control of what the name stands for”
If we had the same IP policies as something named like the OPPP, then our opponents would just level the name “Pirate” at us as a derogatory term.
By calling ourselves Pirates we can reclaim the term and blunt its use against us as a derogatory term, especially effective when you factor in the fact that the increasing trend toward ever more draconian copyright laws stands to make everyone a “pirate”, just for engaging in standard cultural activities.
Darn it, no candidates near me to vote for. Rats.
No candidates in SA? That’s very sad. 🙁
here is hoping that the Aussie Pirates have learnt from the lessons of the Germans and come prepared! Germany voted the Pirates in and they were caught totally off guard because they did not believe they’d get into state parliaments first time round.
Aw, man, no Western Australia candidates, either? I can’t help support you!