Pirate Party Calls for Census Boycott Due to Privacy Concerns

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The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has recently announced that people being surveyed for the Census can no longer retain their anonymity. The ABS will now retain the names and addresses of all contributors to the 2016 Australian Census[1]. The previous Census introduced retention of private data on an opt-in basis, but this time around, retention of private data is to be compulsory.

“Whilst we don’t believe that the ABS is planning to collect identifiable information for nefarious purposes, there are serious privacy concerns with collecting names and addresses along with all of the other personal information gathered in the Census,” said Simon Frew, President of Pirate Party Australia. “A future government could simply re-collate the data and use the information to target opponents based on religion, career or ethnicity. When potential abuse can only be thwarted by the good-will of future governments, the risk to personal safety is too great.”

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Pirate Party distances itself from Alliance for Progress

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The Pirate Party is distancing itself from the ‘Alliance for Progress’. The Alliance, an informal group consisting of a number of progressive minor parties, was formed to promote collaboration on common interests and the negotiation of preference arrangements between its members. While these were commendable goals, and the Pirate Party values the cooperative ties that were established with other like minded parties, the Party wishes to distance itself in particular from any activities where Alliance for Progress members may be associating with the so-called ‘Minor Party Alliance’ and their ‘preference whisperer’.

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Village Roadshow Starts Game of Whack-a-Mole

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Today the first test of Australian website blocking laws is being launched. These laws were passed by the Abbott Government last year, and are now being used by Village Roadshow in an attempt to block the free movie streaming site SolarMovie.

"It took them long enough," said Simon Frew, President of Pirate Party Australia. "They have spent years campaigning for these laws, and 'donated' hundreds of thousands of dollars[1][2] to both the Coalition and ALP in an attempt to put the Internet genie back into the bottle. It then took them over six months to launch their first case."

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Party Update: Jan 2016

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Ahoy

Pirate Party Australia has held our first strategy meeting last Wednesday the 13th of January. It was a successful meeting and we aim to hold another strategy meeting on Wednesday February 10 to discuss fund raising and anything else that people think we need to discuss.

We had a good discussion about our relations with other minor Parties and have a better idea what we should do going forward. We also discussed how to set up State branches, with the long term aim of participating in State elections. I will go into further detail below.
Here are the minutes from the strategy meeting: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/Strategy_Meeting/2016-01-13

State Election Committees

To get the organisational experience to form State branches we have decided to form State based election committees. The aim is to get potential candidates and anyone else keen to help out working towards the Federal Election this year. It will involve fund raising, campaigning to spread the word about our general awesomeness and getting materials ready for the Federal Election. After the election we plan to use the State Election Committees as the basis of emergent State Councils.
The draft terms of reference for State Election Committees is here: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/State_and_Territory_Election_Committee

If you would like to participate in these Committees and maybe enter the election as a Pirate Party candidate please email the National Council as soon as possible at: [email protected]

Membership Database System

Late last year we put out a tender for a new membership database system. The winning submission was from ThoughtWorks, who are providing a massive discount due to their belief in what we are trying to build. The initial cost will be $10,500 (including Pozible fees) with a stretch goal of $21,000 for a membership database system with all of the trimmings. The completed system will be open source and useful to political Parties and non-government organisations well beyond our own Party.

We have approached the Alliance for Progress and plan to speak with NGOs and other minor parties to help raise the funds. We are also launching a Pozible campaign to assist in raising the money and we will need your help to contribute directly and to help spread the word on social media. We will link to the campaign in the next member mailout.

CS:GO

We held the Counter Strike: Global Offensive Tournament against r/CircleJerkAus last Sunday night. Sadly we were defeated, but we helped raise $609 for the Fred Hollows Foundation and had a good time. We’d like to thank everyone who donated and participated. Despite not winning the funds, it also resulted in some good publicity for the party. You can find links to more information about the tournament and the video replay in our discussion forums.

Treasurers Report

We’ve wrapped up an interesting year on the financial front – with highlights including an epic battle with paypal and a post-election submission to the AEC.
Read all about it here: https://pirateparty.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Financial_report_Congress_2015_Final.pdf.
This report is later than usual – we have changed to a Xero accounting system and things should faster and easier in the long run. (This report is an updated version of the interim report submitted at congress)

Now we’re gearing up for another intense year, with an election to contest and lot of funds to raise. Big thanks to every past and future donor!

This announcement has also been posted in our discuss forum here:
https://discuss.pirateparty.org.au/t/party-update-jan-2016-pirate-party-australia/650
If you wish to discuss this announcement, please feel free to do so there.