Melanie Thomas, a media professional from Brisbane, is Pirate Party Australia’s first House of Representatives candidate, following the successful registration of the Party last January and its first federal election in September 2013.

Pirate Party Australia continues to lead the way for transparency in Australian politics by using its democratically decided Senate preferences from the previous election as a basis for its how-to-vote cards for the Griffith by-election. The final list was determined by the Party’s Election Committee that consists of all interested members of the Party, resulting in only minor divergence from the original Senate preferences.

“We used the same list as we did for the Senate last year, with slight adjustments to accommodate for Independents and changes in the political climate. The original list was decided by a party-wide vote,” said Ms Thomas. “We use online meetings for the majority of our organising, meaning that all members right across Australia have the opportunity to get involved in the day-to-day running of the Party.”

“This is what the Pirate Party offers for Australia and especially the people of Griffith — a commitment to government transparency and participatory democracy. The community must be involved in the decision-making process and informed of what their representatives are actually doing. Too much is occurring behind closed doors and under veils such as ‘national security’ or ‘in our best interests’.”

Although transparency and participation are key parts of the Pirate Party’s platform and principles, the Party has policies on many other issues.

“We have a wide-ranging set of policies that cover issues of vital importance to Australia, including energy, the environment, taxation, welfare, and asylum seekers and refugees,” Ms Thomas continued. “We’re providing a viable alternative to everyone who is sick and tired of the behaviour of the larger parties. All our policies are built firmly on a basis of evidence.”

The Pirate Party celebrated its first anniversary of registration nearly a fortnight ago. The Party’s full platform and policies are available at https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform

The Party’s how-to-vote card for Griffith can be found here: https://pirateparty.org.au/w/images/e/e0/Melhtv-front.png

For the curious, the back side of the card can be found here: https://pirateparty.org.au/w/images/b/b0/Melhtv-back.png