Minutes/National Council/2015-03-18
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Meeting Minutes
This document is a record of a meeting. Do not edit this document without contacting the relevant group first.
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Agenda
- Previous meeting's minutes
- Modifications to Press Team ToR (Mozart)
- Pay what you want membership (DanielJ)
- Local government registration (DanielJ)
- Expulsion issue (Brendan)
- Action Items
- General Business
Start: 21:10 AEDT
End: 22:00 AEDT
Attendance
- Brendan Molloy (Chair)
- Fletcher Boyd
- Mark Gibbons
- Ben McGinnes
- Daniel Judge
- Simon Frew
- Michael Keating
- David Campbell
Apologies
Minutes
Previous meeting's minutes
- https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2015-03-12
- Held over til next meeting
Modifications to Press Team ToR
- Held over til next meeting
Pay what you want membership
- Enacted this morning with no formal close date
- Promotional event in light of recent internet related news
- announced in this mornings press release
- Brendan fixed up the form to deal with it again.
- About 17 new members so far since it went active
- Approved earlier today via a Call for Vote motion over email
- See motions
Local government registration
- Details for NSW summarised here: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Registration/NSW/Local
- plan to do for other states at also for state level rego (some preliminary stuff done for QLD & VIC)
- Seems that NSW could be an anomaly
- Other states either don't have party names on local govt ballots, or dont seem to require separate registration
- Cutoff date for NSW is July 2015 for the 2016 elections
- Needs 100 hand written physical forms
- Form is http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/81277/DECLARATION_OF_PARTY_MEMBERSHIP_1_Feb_2012.pdf
- First instance could email NSW members and ask to download, fill out and mail in form.
- May also need NSW constitution and be as a separate NSW association, so some other admin/setup work.
- Do physical drive arounds etc as last resort (NSW is big)
- Obviously we dont want to sink too much resources into local elections at the expense of other things, but some effort here is worth it for the publicity options and local building opportunities
- form process can also act as a trial run for State rego process (see what works and what doesnt)
- July does give it a tight-ish timeframe though
Expulsion issue
- Invoke resolution 2011-6 for now.
- Effect of resolution is to keep private the details until person affected has acknowleged or 72 hours have passed.
- See Appendix A for expulsion letter (confidentiality was not requested within 72 hours)
- See motions
Action Items
- Work on data retention/privacy protection resources ongoing
- local election issues dealt with above
- contact Brendan re 'pay what you want' form edit done as above
General Business
- Tech issues discussion
- to be carried over to an IEC discussion
Question from Tserong
- When is authorisation not required when representing the party? NC auth is obviously required for PRs and submissions (https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Authorisation_processes) but what about if I write a letter to the editor of a local paper and sign it "Tim, Tas co-ord, PPAU"? I'm obviously representing the party, but TBH seeking NC auth at this level seems crazy/unnecessary (given I have been granted an actual title, one assumes I'm not a total douche and can act with some lattitude).
- Co-ordinators primary role to grow state level to the point of creating state branches.
- Temporary role
- https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/National_Council_Resolutions#Resolution_2011-4
- the point of a coordinator was not to be representative though, hence the name coordinator - it coordinates, not represents.
- have been some issues in the past that necessitates the caution here
- Until state branch structures built some level of Federal vetting necessary
- For stuff that isnt a PR or formal submission but in some way is representative of PPAU from a coordinator then email item to NC and two NC member sign off
- David has formally retired PPAU Newcastle for now
Motions
- MOTION[CFV]: To temporarily set membership fees to a minimum of $0 for a pay what you want recruitment campaign, effective immediately.
- Put by: DanielJ
- Ayes: 6 (Melanie Thomas, Mark Gibbons, Michael Keating, Brendan Molloy, Simon Frew, Daniel Judge); Nays: 0 (); Abstains: 0 ()
- Motion carries.
- MOTION: Invoke Article 4.5(2) to expel Chris Jones for the reasons outlined in an email to be sent by the Secretary immediately at the conclusion of this meeting as per Article 4.5(3), with a confidentiality period of 72 hours.
- Put by: Brendan
- Ayes: 8 (Ben, Brendan, DanielJ, Fletcher, MarkG, Frew_, David, Keating); Nays: 0 (); Abstains: 0 ()
- Motion carries.
- MOTION: Close.
- Put by: Brendan
- Ayes: 7 (Ben, MarkG, David, Frew_, DanielJ, Keating, Brendan); Nays: 0 (); Abstains: 0 ()
- Motion carries.
Action Items
- Daniel to email relevant party tonight regarding expulsion
- Daniel to ensure minutes published before email sent
Appendix A
| Expulsion letter to Chris Jones | |
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Dear Chris Jones, The National Council wishes to inform you that your membership has been withdrawn and you have been expelled from the Party[1]. This email is the written statement of reasons for the expulsion as per Article 4.5 of the Party Constitution, and will be made available to all members unless you write to us within 72 hours of our sending of this email to request that the statement be withheld. Article 4.5(2) stipulates that a member may be expelled "should that individual's membership or actions whilst a member be prejudicial to the interests of the Party." We recently formally warned you that actions you had undertaken were deemed to be prejudicial to the interests of the Party, but it seems those warnings went unheeded. Specific actions that the National Council has deemed prejudicial to the interests of the Party include:
It is extremely disingenuous to not only overplay your role in a situation, but to drag others into your narrative as you have done in the first two listed reasons. It is also extremely dishonest and reprehensible to attempt to use our infrastructure to inflict damage on the Party, particularly when your core issues are with a directly elected National Council and a democratically ratified Party Constitution that you agreed to when you joined the Party. It is therefore prudent to expel you from the Party effective immediately, which will include being barred from our communication channels. We regret that your actions have made your continued membership untenable. [1]: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/National_Council/2015-03-18 Yours cordially, Daniel Judge |