Pirate Party Australia – Page 56 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 Pleased with Data Retention Backflip

Posted on August 10, 2012

Update (11:29am): corrected PR to point out that it was anonymous security bureaucrats who made the announcement, not the Government.

Pirate Party Australia are pleased with, but skeptical about, by the announcement by anonymous security bureaucrats that the Australian Government will delay implementing mandatory two-year data retention plans until after the next election.

Yesterday, anonymous security bureaucrats announced that proposals contained within the National Security Security Inquiry discussion paper to store the web history of all Australians for up to two years will be stalled until 2013. The National Security Inquiry has been labelled as “controversial” and the Attorney-General’s Department expects it to attract “significant public interest”[1].

“While we are happy that action on this issue will be delayed, we are skeptical that this may mean they will push the changes through quietly once no-one is looking,” said Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia. “Given the very short timeframe that the public were given to hand submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, we anticipate there will be minimal oversight when legislative changes are put forward.”

Pirate Party Australia demands continued legislative independence

Posted on August 9, 2012

Leaks of information regarding the highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations have prompted Pirate Party Australia to call for a reclamation of Australian sovereignty.

The most recent leak, published by KEI Online, show that while the United States negotiators publicly said they would be pushing for protection of fair use, the US and Australia were advocating for stricter limitations to copyright exceptions[1].

Other negotiating parties present – New Zealand, Chile, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam – put forward proposals that would allow exceptions and limitations to copyright and technological protection measures, and the extension of those exceptions into the “digital environment.” Both of these proposals were opposed by the US and Australia.

Pirate Party launches National Security Inquiry Petition

Posted on August 7, 2012

Earlier today Pirate Party Australia launched an online petition, objecting to the proposals of the National Security Inquiry. The Inquiry was referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) by the Attorney-General. The petition will be presented to the Senate, and can be signed here.

The National Security Inquiry (#natsecinquiry) proposes to extend the powers of Australian intelligence and security agencies, including greater provisions for telecommunications interception – such as accessing unrelated computer systems – and penalties for refusing to disclose passwords. The proposal may also allow intelligence and security officers to be shielded from penalties for misconduct.

Pirate Congress 2012 Results

Posted on August 1, 2012

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

The annual National Congress took place on July 14–15, and the results of the now concluded week-long voting period are able to be announced.

The results of the motions were as follows:

Pirate Party to run Independent Candidates in Upcoming ACT Election

Posted on July 17, 2012

Pirate Party Australia’s ACT branch formed in early June 2012, and planned to compete in the October Legislative Assembly election with their name on the ballot as a fully registered party.

Yesterday morning the ACT electoral commission released a statement rejecting the application on the grounds that it was not satisfied that the Party had 100 members who were electors at the time the party’s application was submitted. 16 of the 110 submitted were not on the electoral roll under an ACT address, meaning the Party fell short by six electors.

“While we are disappointed that we missed out on registration by such a small margin, we will amend our application and expect to be registered as soon as possible, although that will likely not be possible now until after the election,” said Glen Takkenberg, Registered Officer for Pirate Party ACT. “This does not mean will we will not contest the election. We will field candidates to be listed in the ungrouped section of the ballot.”