Pirate Party Australia – Page 13 of 76 – Pirate Party Australia is a political party based around the core tenets of freedom of information and culture; civil and digital liberties; privacy and anonymity; government transparency; and participatory democracy.

Pirate Party Australia Supports Opting Out from Federal Government’s MyHealth Record System

Posted on August 21, 2018

Pirate Party Australia supports moves by Australian Citizens to opt out of the Federal Government’s MyHealth Record System. Many flaws within the system have been exposed by the Australian media since the Opt Out period began on 16 July, 2018.

While Pirate Party Australia supports a national system of electronic health records in principle, the MyHealth Record systems fails to provide the basic privacy safeguards that should be enforced for such a system, combined with a mandatory Opt Out system rather than Australian Citizens being asked to opt in.

“The MyHealth Record system as it was initially rolled out looks like a lazy and poorly thought out IT project,” stated Pirate Party President Miles Whiticker. “This is a continuation of the Federal Coalition Government’s shocking record on IT infrastructure and privacy matters. It should only ever have been an Opt In system,” Miles continued, “and while we understand that the issue has since been rectified, that initially Australian Law Enforcement Agencies would not have required a warrant or court order to access the information held on MyHealth Record is concerning to Pirate Party Australia and should be to all privacy advocates.”

“Pirate Party Australia would encourage all Australian Citizens to opt out of MyHealth Record before the current 15 October 2018 deadline.”

How to opt-out of My Health Record, courtesy of the Australian Privacy Foundation:

Pirate Congress 2018 Results

Posted on August 14, 2018

The results of Pirate Party Australia’s July 2018 National Congress are in!

The Pirate Party held its National Congress in Brisbane on July 7—8. Congresses are the time when members of the party can propose amendments to the Party Constitution, amend and adopt policies, decide leadership positions, and meet andsocialise in person. Congresses conclude with an online voting period to give all members a say. The results of the now-concluded week-long voting period can now be announced.

The Party had a turnout of approximately 21% from a pool of 732 participants.

Thank you to everyone who ran for positions and congratulations to those who were elected.

A reminder that election to the National Council is but one of many ways to contribute to the party. We are always looking for people to help on the press team, design team, in policy development, social media, writing submissions, research and so on, or just be an ongoing voice in the party. With an election in prospect, we have a particular opportunity to make a difference and shake things up this year. To get involved, email [email protected].

Pirate Party’s Universal Basic Income – Costed, considered and good for Australia

Posted on April 30, 2018

While we appreciate the initiative that the Australian Greens have made in putting a version of Universal Basic Income (UBI) forward, Pirate Party Australia long ago developed the idea into a practical and costed policy that is good for Australia.

While some criticisms of the Greens’ approach are valid, our own UBI policy has many fundamental differences. However, many criticisms of the Greens’ UBI policy are unfair and only show the ignorance of the critic, often being based on “intellectual guilt by association”, without any real engagement with the detail.

The Pirate Party UBI policy is not a universal payment to all, but rather part of an integrated taxation and welfare system, where an citizen earning $40,000 a year pays no tax nor receives any benefit. Above this income, they pay tax. Below this income, their income is topped up to a maximum of $15,000 a year, representing an effective UBI.

Emergency Pirate Congress 2017 Results

Posted on November 29, 2017

The result of Pirate Party Australia’s 2017 Emergency National Congress are in!

Due to a failure to meet the quorum set for Constitutional Amendments at the 2017 Annual National Congress the National Council opted to hold an online only Emergency Congress. 32% of the ~1000 eligible full members voted on the single proposed Constitutional Amendment over a period of three weeks.

Bennelong – Call To Action!

Posted on November 17, 2017

The seat of Bennelong is up for by-election on Saturday 16 December 2017.

We are considering contesting this by-election, but only if we get enough volunteers to do it properly. If there are not enough volunteers by Monday, our campaign will not go ahead. We know that this isn’t much time, but there is a lot of paperwork to nominate a candidate and very little time to do it in as nominations close soon.

We are looking for volunteers locally who are in commuting distance to Bennelong NSW, and Australia-wide who can offer assistance online. We particularly need a coordinator who is on the ground in Sydney.