Category: Press Release

Press releases

No backward step on climate change

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Pirate Party Australia welcomes the upsurge of interest in renewable energy and climate change that the Western Australian Senate Election campaign has generated. An overwhelming 97 percent of climate scientists now believe human activity is causing global warming, and the cost of the failure to act is growing[1]. This is a call to action for all parties and candidates who support science and evidence-based policy making.

Pirate Party Australia endorses a rapid and large investment in renewable energy sources beyond that which is currently proposed[2]. In the absence of such an investment, Pirate Party Australia will firmly defend existing climate change mechanisms including the Renewable Energy Target, the Carbon Tax/ETS, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Pirate Party candidates will oppose any attempt to undermine or remove any of these instruments.

“Pirate Party candidates stand on the side of science,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for the Senate in WA. “No Pirate Party candidate will give ground to anti-science and demagoguery.”

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Oversight is not obsolete

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Pirate Party Australia opposes the imminent abolition of the National Security Legislation Monitor (NSLM).

The NSLM conducts the crucial and ongoing task of reviewing “the operation, effectiveness and implications of Australia’s counter-terrorism and national security legislation”[1]. It provides independent recommendations on protecting individual rights and ensuring safeguards are effective.

The abolition of the NSLM is being conducted under the cover of the Coalition Government’s “Repeal Day,” which is purportedly intended to remove obsolete and unnecessary regulations[2]. The NSLM is targeted on the grounds that its mission is “complete,” despite its recommendations having so far been ignored.

“It typifies the bipartisan nature of the security state that one party would seek to abolish oversight on the grounds that another party ignored it,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for the Senate in WA. “The removal of external oversight further unbalances our overbearing security legislation and makes it even more urgent that political oversight exists to fill the void.

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Attorney-General’s Department remains ASIO’s puppet

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A submission made by the Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) on telecommunications legislation reform indicates that the Department is little more than a lobbyist for law enforcement and intelligence agencies[1][2].

Pirate Party Australia noted in its own submission to the Comprehensive Revision of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 that the AGD was caught in a “form of regulatory capture whereby those charged with regulating [law enforcement and intelligence agencies] become advocates for or defenders of the retention and expansion of those agencies. The Attorney-General’s Department has in the past argued on behalf of [those agencies] rather than take an impartial view — that is, the Department has advocated that … powers be expanded, including when providing evidence to inquiries on the matter.”[3]

Fletcher Boyd, the Pirate Party’s lead candidate for the Senate in Western Australia, commented: “The submission made by the Attorney-General’s Department reinforces exactly what the Pirate Party submitted to the Senate Committee. The Department is not on the side of the people, it is on the side of those agencies that naturally want more surveillance powers and more authority to intrude on citizens’ privacy.”

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Pirate Party renews call for international open and free Internet agreement

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Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, has recently called for the development of an “Internet Users’ Bill of Rights” as part of the “web we want” campaign[1]. Against this backdrop, Pirate Party Australia renews its calls for a global treaty to enshrine net neutrality, freedom from state control, and protection for private communication, free expression and unrestricted access to information[2]. In 2012 the United Nations Human Rights Council effectively declared that Internet access should be a human right, and that the same rights that people take for granted offline must be also enshrined online[3].

“Many of the rights we take for granted are being violated online because the Internet is still be treated as a dark and scary place,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for the Senate in WA. “The approach taken by governments and intelligence agencies is fundamentally misguided. The Internet is not separate to society, it is a key part of how our society functions. Our rights must be respected online just as much as they are offline.”

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Pirate Party successfully crowdfunds election campaign

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Yesterday Pirate Party Australia met its campaign funding target of $10,000 entirely through crowdfunding, in preparation for the WA Senate election on 5 April.

Following the announcement that fresh elections would be taking place, the Pirate Party launched the fundraiser using Pozible, a crowdfunding website similar to Kickstarter, and has reached the $10,000 goal in just under two weeks. Supporters of the Pirate Party are still able to contribute to the fundraiser via Pozible, and all money will go directly towards purchasing campaign materials for the election.

“This is a fantastic show of support for Pirate Party Australia,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for the Senate in WA. “We are very thankful to our supporters for providing us with the funds to seriously give this election a go. Despite lacking wealthy sponsors, celebrity candidates, or a massive membership base, we have an enormous amount of grassroots enthusiasm as demonstrated by how quickly we were able to reach our goal.”

The Pirate Party would like to thank all those who contributed, especially those who contributed more than $250 to the campaign — Mitchell Carr, Adam Thomas, Matthew Schmidt, Dennis Au, Georg Sinn and Mark Walkom.

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