Pirate Congress 2016/Minutes

Meeting Minutes This document is a record of a meeting. Do not edit this document without contacting the relevant group first.

Day 1

Opening [10:21]

Standing orders

• MOTION: Adopt the standing orders
  • Motion carried on the floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carred online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

Outgoing NC reports [10:31]

Simon Frew, President

• Busy year, but faltering participation from members
• 'Dynamo' Brendan Molloy burnt out.
• National Council agreed to put party on a firmer footing by contracting the MemberDB system, but meant less funds for unexpected election.
• NC was tasked to look into: paid staff member, membership database, and electoral reform.
• Difficult to pay stuff without money; direct marketing less effective than crowdfunding, but membership fees will create far more revenue.
• Began looking to the membership database system in November 2015.
• Alliance for Progress ineffective in regard to electoral reform, being more focused on attacking and punishing the Greens than long-term reform; Greens did vote to abolish GVT, but need to focus on getting change.
• Had to raisemoney for the database and the election, but the database will help receive member payments.
• Election taught us that we had lost ground on intellectual property issues, as the Greens seemed to shift against fair use, and the Arts Party promotes a disagreeable IP policy.
• Turnbull Government seems to be less focused on national security, so less we need to do on that front at the moment; we should start focusing on IP again.
• Popularity of racist parties (eg, One Nation) at election means we should focus on criticising them, but still promote free speech: we want to criticise and ridicule bad ideas.
• We might be in for another election within 12 months.

Daniel Judge, Secretary

• Has been Secretary for three years, and not recontesting for any NC position due to personal issues.
• Member numbers total 1400, but could be slightly less due to duplicate entries in the membership database.
• We have about 100 associate members.
• Breakdown of state, age and gender: https://imgur.com/a/j78Bq
• We should look at state and local elections.
• Registration requirements for state and local elections are onerous and have tight deadlines, but this should be a long-term plan.
• Federal election proved that having boots on the ground can double the vote in those areas.
• Although we are a federal party, encouraging local interest is needed to increase support.
• Local issues get peple involved, and local government raises profile and reputation.
• Older demographic may be interested in the shrinking public domain.
• Still important to get active on campuses and attract younger members.
• Gender needs to be addressed; although it was partly coincidental, we had all white, male candidates in the last federal election.
• Female membership could realistically be as high as 20%; gender is optional on the sign-up form.
• Only one female in-person attendee at the Congress.
• The Party did push for a Royal Commission on the electoral system, but the Alliance for Progress was not as keen to pursue this.
• MemberDB software will lead to increased and consistent revenue.
• The current membership database does not transfer well to people with limited IT knowledge and experience; that shouldn't be a requirement for Secretary, so MemberDB will make it easier for new Secretaries.
• ThoughtWorks delivered what it was contracted to do in regard to MemberDB, but there is currently not enough done to deploy it and more work is needed.
• Counter-Strike Global Offensive fundraising match was positive.
• Much of the NC's activities are non-administrative, such as elections.
• The data retention guide led to some good publicity and public attention.
• Thanks to everyone, especially fellow Councillors.

Michael Keating, Deputy President

• Thank you to the PDC; the PDC works hard all year, but that work is often unseen until Congress.
• Thank you to fellow Councillors.
• Our policy set remains strong and relevant despite shifts in the political landscape.
• We need revenue; we've existed on very limited funds for a while but it's unsustainable in the long-term.
• Lack of membership renewal fees is a problem for revenue.
• There is a significant administrative overhead in keeping the Party running.
• More diverse participation is needed and that is something the next NC should work on.
• We are open to broader participation but we need to identify and resolve issues that are causing barriers.
• Election results were acceptable; we did better than many other parties, but we need to be prepared for a hostile Parliament and an early election.

Procedural motion: brief adjournment [11:01]

• MOTION: Adjourn for five minutes.
  • Motion carried on floor (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED.

Treasurer's report from Mark Gibbons [11:17]

• The end of our financial year coincided with the end of an election cycle, so we are naturally down on funds.
• We are not doing too badly; there is still about $2,000 in the bank account.
• There has been progress in building a financial model for the Party.
• MemberDB will provide the backbone of a sustainable financial model.
• Crowdfunding is effective at raising money (we haven't failed one campaign), but it is risky and inefficient; a lot goes out in fees.
• Renewals and merchandise will provide a far more stable income.
• If we get enough revenue we may even be able to pay for a fundraising officer.
• We have raised $32K, primarily from three crowdfunding campaigns (MemberDB, federal election and by-election) and donations.
• Elections are always very expensive.
• Moving away from PayPal is a necessity due to its withholding funds arbitrarily; we have fought them and won, but this has created some recurring problems.
• A generalist Councillor could take on the responsibilities of fundraising, but longer-term this should be a specialist position within the party.
• We need an effective financial model so we can recruit and subsequently register for state elections.
• State elections mean more publicity and knock-on effect of increasing our chance of getting into the Senate, especially post-GVT.
• We are a strong minor party, so we should be doing everything we can to get more attention and credibility with voters.

Constitutional amendment proposals [11:23]

CAP-0: Raise quorum

• This motion is constitutionally required; there is no other motivation for this amendment.
• General opposition on the basis that 20% is reasonably high and is acceptable for current and immediate future membership.

• MOTION: Raise quorum for constitutional amendments from 20% to 22%.
  • Motion defeated on floor (no dissent)
  • Motion defeated online (4 dissenting)
  • Motion DEFEATED.

• David Campbell requested that voting on motions begin online and in-person at the same time.

CAP-1: Change notification requirements for constitutional amendments

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-1.
  • Motion carried on floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
• Motion CARRIED.

CAP-2: Adopt the Schulze method for congressional voting

• Schulze Condorcet is the current method of voting, but it is not explicitly stated in the Constitution.
• Concerns about including a Wikipedia link in the definition.
• Defining Schulze method is too complex to include in the Constitution, but Wikipedia is not a preferable source due to potential vandalism.
• Possibility to link to a specific version of the Wikipedia article.
• Procedural motion proposed.

Procedural motion: table CAP-2 [11:41]

• MOTION: Table CAP-2 until the end of the constitutional amendment proposals.
  • Motion carred on floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (4 dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

Constitutional amendment proposals (continued) [11:42]

CAP-3: Changes to handling vacancies on the National Council

• Note that 'absolute two-thirds majority' is explicitly defined in the Constitution.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-3.
  • Motion carred on floor (no dissent).
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

CAP-4: Grammar A

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-4.
  • Motion defeated on floor (3 for, 3 against)
  • Motion carried online (1 dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED (13 to 7)

CAP-5: Explicitly disallow state branches from registering as a federal party or division

• A division is a state branch that is registered for federal elections.
• Desire to avoid repeating the relationships of the Greens divisions.
• Desire to keep nationwide unity as a party.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-5.
  • Motion carried on floor (no dissent).
  • Motion carried online (1 dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

CAP-6: Changes to the positions on the National Council

• This is intended to take effect from next Congress.
• Speeding up implementation of these roles would be complicated at this stage.
• Thomas Randle, National Council remarks: This is a major overhaul of the National Council and needs to be debated vigorously. Curent role of the NC is focused on governance. President is external face. Secretary is administration. Treasurer does finances. This moves internal functions that could be handled by other bodies outside the NC to take over these roles. This motion also makes the job of the Secretary harder by conferring more duties.
• Fletcher Boyd, National Council remarks: An NC position being responsible for a role does not mean that only that person will fill that role. The workload of a Registered Officer is not a significant burden to be added to the Secretary.
• Giving party members a say over who does what in the party is a democratic approach.
• Michael Keating, National Council remarks: We haven't had a lot of volunteers in these positions, but tying them to the NC will hopefully encourage more people to seek defined roles. Speaking as a former Registered Officer, there isn't a lot of work outside elections, and this has to be delegated to local deputies anyway, so dedicating an entire NC position to this is a waste of a position. These roles make people responsible for coordinating efforts in these areas, not necessarily solely responsible for them.
• Mark Gibbons, National Council remarks: Making these roles elected will attract the right people. Appointing people doesn't necessarily lead to that.
• Daniel Judge, National Council remarks: Acknowledging Tom, I think the best thing would be to have these elected because NC members are typically the most active and accountable within the Party. Naturally these roles will require delegation because they can't be done by a single person. There is significant overhead in the transfer of information between Secretary and Registered Officer.
• If this motion passes, a special national congress could be called to propose changes to these roles.
• Mixed opinions as to when this amendment would take effect.
• General agreement that defining new roles with duties is a good idea.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-6
  • Motion defeated on floor (1 dissent).
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.
    • Note: later overturned (see further below)

CAP-7: Require full members to be registered to vote

• The current membership application form for full members includes the declaration: 'I am enrolled for Federal elections, i.e. I am 16 years of age or older. I am an Australian citizen (or a British citizen who was on the Australian Electoral roll on 25 of January 1984) and I have lived at the above address for at least one month.'
• It is necessary to specify this because the Constitution doesn't, although the join form includes it, and we rely on people being enrolled to stay registered.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-7
  • Motion carried on floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

CAP-8: Change the member resignation process

• This amendment only changes it so that members who wish to resign must notify the Secretariat rather than the full National Council.
• The Constitution does currently allow memberships to lapse for not paying applicable fees; this neither repeals nor adds that, as that is not the purpose of the Constitution.
• The motion cannot be substantially amended to change the purpose, so removing the lapsing aspect is not an option now.
• There is currently no applicable fee, nor an applicable fee period. If there is an issue, it can be referred to a committee, including the DRC.
• No significant concern that the lapse provision would be exercised, but interest in having it looked at before the next Congress.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-8
  • Motion carried on the floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED.

CAP-9: Change the required minuting timeframe

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-9
  • Motion carried on the floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

Motion: Adjourn for lunch [12:35]

• MOTION: Adjourn for lunch until 1:35 pm.
  • Motion carried on floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (1 dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED.

Constitutional amendment proposals (continued) [13:41]

CAP-10: Change to National Congress announcement requirements

• Motion: Adopt CAP-10.
  • Motion carried on the floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
• Motion CARRIED

• This would allow the National Council to announce a Congress a year in advance, but that would be impractical. An announcement would need to have a venue and date secured.

CAP-11: Clarify Policy Meeting schedule requirements

• A Policy Meeting is defined in the Constitution as a meeting to adopt policy, so this does not affect PDC and policy working group meetings.

• Motion: Adopt CAP-11.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED

CAP-12A: Freeze quorum

• This locks quorum at 20% and would not be applied if CAP-0 was repealed.
• Quorum is the percentage of members eligible to vote that are required to vote on an amendment for the vote to be valid.
• The National Council could theoretically amend the Constitution if it looked like quorum would not be met.
• Fear of meeting an increasing quorum may be a good motivation for improving engagement.
• Voting for CAP-12A would cause CAP-12B to be defeated automatically.

• Motion: Adopt CAP-12A.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online (5 dissenting).
  • Motion CARRIED.

CAP-12B: Protective quorum provision

• Defeated automatically.

Procedural motions: discard CAP-12A vote in favour of voting for CAP-12B [14:11]

• MOTION: Discard the vote for CAP-12A and allow members to select whether 12A or 12B is voted on.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

• MOTION: Discard CAP-12A in favour of voting for CAP-12B.
  • Motion defeated on the floor.
  • Motion defeated online (7 for, 7 against)
  • Motion DEFEATED.

Constitutional amendment proposals (continued) [14:20]

CAP-12A (revisited)

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-12A.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carred online (6 dissenting)
  • Motion CARRIED.

• Agreement that competing motions allow for multiple solutions, but that the process for deciding between them needs to be improved.

CAP-13: Quorum clarification

• This will not amend the constitution unless either CAP-0, CAP-12A and CAP-13B fail to pass.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-13.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online (1 dissenting).
  • Motion CARRIED

CAP-14: Dispute Resolution Committee vacancies

• If three-quarters of the National Council votes to illegitimately or inappropriately remove a member of the DRC, we have significantly larger problems than whether this interferes with the sanctity of the DRC.

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-14.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

Procedural motions: move FM-1, table CAP-2 and adjourn [14:33]

• Motion: Move FM-1 to before PS-1 in the agenda.
  • Motion carried on the floor (no dissent).
  • Motion carred online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED.

• Motion: Table CAP-2 until after nominations tomorrow to allow suitable time to create a mirror of the Schulze Wikipedia page.
  • Motion carried on the floor (no dissent)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

• Motion: adjourn for 10 minutes
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online.
  • Motion CARRIED

Constitutional amendment proposals (continued)

CAP-6 (revisited)

• Concern that neither the motion nor the constitution specifies when a constitutional amendment takes effect, and whether adopting CAP-6 at this Congress would immediately cause vacancies on the NC if it passed.
• The worst case scenario is that we need to conduct an extraordinary Congress to elect the vacant members.
• Mixed opinions as to whether the matter should be dealt with now, or referred to the DRC after Congress if there is a problem with the interpretation.
• No enthusiasm for allowing people to nominate for the new positions due to complicated election and limited time.
• Procedural motion that this be committed until next Congress proposed, then withdrawn pending further discussion.
• Mixed opinions as to whether an explanatory note would amend the proposed amendment, and whether that would be constitutionally sound.

Procedural motions: discard previous votes [15:34]

• MOTION: Modify the standing orders to allow the floor to discard existing votes from the floor.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online (1 dissenting)
  • Motion CARRIED.

• MOTION: Amend the standing orders to add under procedural motions: "A procedural motion may be made to discard the result of a previous successful vote, and to rerun that vote. The only person who can make this procedural motion is the person who tabled the original motion."
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

• MOTION: Discard the previous vote CAP-6.
  • Motion carried on the floor (2 dissenting)
  • Motion carried online (no dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

Constitutional amendment proposals (continued) [16:02]

• MOTION: Adopt CAP-6.
  • Motion defeated on floor.
  • Motion defeated online (no dissent)
  • Motion DEFEATED

Procedural motions: adjourn and continue [16:08]

• MOTION: adjourn for five minutes to allow last-minute nominations.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carred online (1 dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

• MOTION: Extend the meeting to 5 pm today.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online (1 dissent)
  • Motion CARRIED

Policy motions [16:20]

PM-1: Policy review and update

• MOTION: Accept PM-1 Apply the edits contained in this update of the existing policy
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-2: Lockout laws

• MOTION: Accept PM-2 as presented
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online (no dissent).
  • Motion CARRIED.

Procedural motion: adjourn [16:53]

• MOTION: Adjourn until 10 am tomorrow.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED

---

Day 2

Opening [10:11]

Standing orders

• Kept the same as yesterday; amendment yesterday has been read out again to confirm it continues.
• Motion carried to reaffirm standing orders with no dissent.

Nominations and speeches [10:13]

President

• One nominee; Simon Frew defaults to and accepts position.
• No speech given.

Deputy President

Michael Keating

• Current deputy president; would like to continue.
• Former Registered Officer.
• Involved in interviews and press releases.
• Helped kick off the MemberDB and merchandise store.
• Works in IT; not necessarily a bad thing — good understanding of Internet-related policies (data retention, etc).
• Business IT requires being able to communicate in layperson's terms.
• Would like to see participation increase over the next 12 months, in areas like press releases and policy development.
• Would like to continue work on promoting the Party and keep the ball rolling post-election.
• There is a lot more we can do, especially engaging with likeminded organisations and cooperative parties.

Thomas Randle

• Currently a Councillor; running for Deputy President and Deputy Secretary.
• Rundll on IRC.
• Nominating to step up to something public facing or internal administration.
• Has enjoyed being a Councillor, being able to work on a few different areas.
• Main focus has been on non-policy areas, because policy is done well already.
• Focus has included campaigns and social media, where skills lie.
• Has worked in event and theatre production, marketing, and programming.
• Feels all skills come together to help the party in terms of public presentation — helping people understand who we are and what we do.
• Is running for three positions he feels are positions that are focused on communication and participation.
• These are his goals for the National Congress — improving communication and participation.
• Was a Senate Candidate in 2013, has been involved in the Campaigns Committee and Election Committees.
• Focused on making all new members feel that they are important and can contribute.
• If not elected, will work with the new NC to implement ideas.

David Crafti

• No presentation given as yet, will be held over til registered officer position.

Questions

• What do you consider to be your biggest failure over the last 12 months in the party, and what will you do.
  • Answer — Michael Keating: Inability to participate as much as I'd like in the Party due to work commitments. I'd like to work on that and improve with increased available time.
  • Answer — Thomas Randle: I wanted to focus more on creating a community within the Party, especially in the way we welcome new members. My focus remains on this — communication with members. I want to find things to keep members engaged, and not just turning up at elections and Congresses.

• Addressed to Thomas: You are running for multiple positions; to which do you feel you would be most suited?
  • Answer — Thomas Randle: I feel I am equally suited to either Deputy President or Deputy Secretary. They both allow me opportunity to implement ideas, but have different roles.

• What is the best way to increase our vote to 2% to be competitive and to gain the member numbers needed to form state branches?
  • Answer — Michael Keating: We need to improve our relationship with other parties that have common policies and work with them to build awareness of ourselves through association. More volunteers to attend local meetings and conduct events. We need to look at ways we can take our worldview/brand to the greater public — there are a lot of people who would agree with us, but who don't know we exist or what we stand for. Encouraging and empowering members to spread the word and help the party raise its profile.
  • Answer — Thomas Randle: I agree with Michael. We've started as a federal party, and our policies are mostly federal, but we know we need to focus on state elections to get traction. This means communication, community and participation. Members need to know what happens next when they join, and make sure there is an amount of hand-holding so that new members know who does what and how they can get involved. Joining should be the beginning of the story, not the end. A lot of this comes down to systems — how people interact, and how they learn. The National Council must facilitate local members forming visible crews, which involves a rethink of how we communicate, and what improvements can be made. Make avenues obvious.

Secretary

Luke Housego

• Running for Secretary only.
• Feels this is a very important role; we've gone through a period of growth and we faced challenges, exceeded expectations and demonstrated resilience.
• A key challenge is looking at how do we grow and expand from here.
• We need to shift the focus to how do we recruit members at a broader level in terms of demographics.
• We did not substantially change our position since last election, we do need to increase our vote share.
• This electionw e were taken significantly more seriously, but this did not translate into an increase of votes.
• We need to change how we operate internally, and that will be reflected on the outside.
• Brings a fresh outlook on how to achieve these changes, and to do things it would not necessarily be able to do so.

Fletcher Boyd

• Nomination text read out to congress on nominees behalf by secretary (Daniel Judge).

Questions

• What would you personally do to lift our membership and our votes?
  • Answer — Luke Housego: The way to get involvement from people interested in our issues is giving them content, a sense of control, inspiration and identity. We need to retract and focus on fixing ourselves first — who we are, how we do things, etc. I would help to build an identity, and to get numbers, focusing on youth as they are most interested and most affected by the same issues. Young people want to get involved in politics at age 17–18, and there are a lot of groups recruiting at that age. We don't effectively target this age group. It's not that hard to get involved on campus, but we need to be active there and actually offer something. We must offer something interesting to young people, and get people active and involved, and lead to a dynamism we haven't previously experienced.
  • Answer — Fletcher Boyd: The Australian Labor Party, the Liberal and National Parties, and tGreens all concentrate on several feeds for new blood. We need to spend more time concentrating on drawing membership from Australian universities. However, students aren't the only area we need to concentrate on. People over 30 can be a significant resource that we haven't really tapped into and several of Luke's proposed strategies to engage with students will alienate older volunteers.

• Addressed to Luke: What do you say about your often politically incorrect comments (e.g. sexist) and memes that you are costantly making on Disquss and broarder social media?
  • I am who I am. I don't think I'm sexist, but I'm not sensitive. I use irony, and I think often that is misunderstood. This is what happens on the Internet.

• Both candidates note the need for an improved communications system. Do you have a specific platform in mind? How do you feel this would increase participation?
  • Answer — Luke Housego : There are already established and very successful patterns and communities across the Internet. Gaming communities are very attractive to people from their teens to mid-30s. We need to use a mix of technologies. Our current technologies are out-of-date; we haven't kept up. We need to understand there are many different ways to participate, and we need to engage on as many as practical. Slack allows informal, fun discussions, and while we have to keep IRC, that's not the place for it.
  • Answer — Fletcher Boyd: My go to (and the go to of the current IT Team if I recall correctly) is Matrix. However, any form of asynchronous platform that doesn't alienate our existing IRC members or hinder international cooperation would be better than now. Unfortunately Slack has a number of problems that make it pretty much unusable for PPAU. Some of these problems are solved by upgrading to a paid tier but for large non-corporate groups the price is astronomical. Slack has a 10,000 message history cap for the entire team. That means that anything past the most recent 10k messages are pretty much lost unless you upgrade. (Includes private messages) No guest access, without a paid account you cannot allow guest users to join the team. This means that you basically need to use a 3rd party invite system (or roll your own) to make guest access remotely usable. It's worth noting that Slack has cracked down on teams who automatically send a large number of invites. Limited configuration. No individual ban lists, no group permissions outside of the paid tier or any of the other features provided by IRC. No international cooperation. Right now I can join the channels for PPUK, PPSE and PPNO to name a few. Private content is out of our protection. PirateIRC is configured to log zero conversation data as opposed to a central server outside of Australia with Slack. In case you were wondering about the cost of the lowest paid tier. Currently we have 62 people in #PPAU, this can fluctuate to 100+ users quite easily. Assuming only 80 people join we're looking at $6,400/yr or $7,680/yr if billed month to month. We shouldn't be splitting communication between IRC and Slack, there's literally no reason why the more off topic discussion that Luke references cannot ocurr on IRC/Matrix.

• With the talks of Discus, IRC, mailing lists, social media, Slack and even alternate communications mediums. With this multitude of current and proposed mediums, what do you think is the best way to ensure we don't split our community while best engaging people with these alternate mediums?
  • Answer — Luke Housego: I'm a member of a large gaming community. We use Reddit a lot. We use Slack. It's not about one technology over the other, it's about finding the best tool for us at the moment. We need to connect people together to create strong bonds.
  • Answer — Fletcher Boyd: My proposed platform links directly with IRC and won't alienate existing users. We can't really pare down beyond a platform for realtime communication and one for longform discussion.

• Addressed to Luke: Earlier you stated very clearly you said you knew which topics and issues would gain youth attention. Could you enumerate some of them?
  • Teenagers want a sense of identity, they're out there in the world and have concerns over things like privacy. There's a lot of concerns and issues affecting them that don't affect older people at the moment. They have a sense of reality of this digital world that a lot of older people don't necessarily have; their concerns are significanly more superficial. Young people are passionate and interested and want to get involved, and we need to facilitate that. We need online and face-to-face communication to increase the sense of community. We need to provide ways for young people to get involved, including focus groups to see exactly what they're concerned about, and campaigns where they can make small contributions.

• The Pirate Party has historically chosen to use and support 'free open source software' over proprietary alternatives. Do you feel this is an advantage or a hindrance?
  • Answer — Luke Housego: I support open software and have successfully implemented it with very large companies. There are issues with pty software and the effects can be quite deep. However, it's often an interpretation issue insofar as how far we should take it. We should generally support open source, but we should avoid being too ideologically fixed.
  • Answer — Fletcher Boyd: The nature of FOSS software provides several benefits itself and those need to be balanced against features provides by other solutions. In short, we shouldn't use FOSS just because its FOS.

• If you were to be unsuccessful to winning the role, how would you still like to participate in the party?
  • Luke: The Pirate Party is the Pirate Party. This is a party that encapsulates a zeitgeist. The Labor Party hasn't kept pace. The Greens are focused on yesterday's issues. The Liberal Party is just cute. I'm in the Party until you kick me out, and I'm going to help. I probably won't be as enthusiastic if not elected, but eventually I'll get bored and get back into it.

• Will you help us get a more active Melbourne presence? If so, how?
  • Luke: Absolutely. Specifically, the local community is essential. I was frustrated that I couldn't get involved, but it was good to be able to meet Pirates face-to-face. Building on that is something I see as important, and we need to actually get out there and do things that matter and are interesting. I'd do that whether or not people are with me.
  • Fletcher: I'll continue on the Press Team and may apply to the IT Team.

Deputy Secretary

Dan Shea

• No grand plans, but works hard and learns quickly.
• Left school at 15 to become a bricklayer, ran own business for seven years, not mentally challenged.
• Entered fire protection industry.
• Now works in sales.
• Political background was simply going to vote and then going home for a beer.
• There needs to be a voice on the NC from a non-IT background; feels he provides that voice.

Thomas Randle

• Presented under nomination for Deputy President.

David Crafti

• No presentation given as yet, will be held over til registered officer position.

Questions

• Addressed to Dan: If elected to the role, will you continue wearing sunglasses on your head?
  • I think that depends on what the Party wants. I don't really have a fashion sense, and would defer to the party.

• Addressed to Dan: Are you going to grow a beard?
  • I would like to. I've been a firefighter, and they don't let you. Maybe I'll get one now we can afford better masks.

Treasurer

• One nominee; Mark Gibbons defaults to and accepts position.

Deputy Treasurer

• One nominee; Peter Fulton defaults to and accepts position.

Registered Officer

Dan Shea

• Already presented for Deputy Secretary.

David Crafti

• Nomination text read out to congress on nominees behalf by secretary (Daniel Judge).

Councillors

Andrew Downing

• I see the role as being an undefined role to be filled with duties assigned by the National Council.
• Joined when Sen Conroy tried to introduce Internet filtering.
• Had been thinking about issues like implemting participatory democracy.
• Has been working on 'Polly' — the principles for participatory democracy.
• That was too abstract — had to actually get involved in the day-to-day democratic processes.
• Spent time as a member of the PDC and then as PDO.
• Very pleased with how people have received the policy set.
• Personally contributed to policies on liberties, copyright, cultural participation, patents, education, bill of rights, constitutional reform, distributed digital currencies, marriage, health, drugs, asylum seekers, transgeder and intersex issues, and prison reform.
• Wants to now become involved in the actual mechanisms for implementing particpatory democracy within the Pirate Party.
• There are a lot of people interested this time around in implementing this.
• Would like to work on the NC to implement the structures and systems for transparent internal participatory democracy.
• Will happily continue working in policy development and contribute anywhere in promoting particpatory democracy.

Tom Randle

• Already presented for Deputy President.

Alex Jago

• Nomination text read out to congress on nominees behalf by secretary (Daniel Judge).

Emily Sievers

• Nomination text read out to congress on nominees behalf by secretary (Daniel Judge).

Peter Fulton

• Already accepted Deputy Treasurer

Dan Shea

• Already presented under Dep Sec.

David Crafti

• Presented under nomination for Registered Officer

Tim Serong

• Been a member since about 2012, when registration was being attempted in Canberra.
• Loathes the two-party system; both behave like children and make stupid laws.
• The Pirate Party resonates with Tim; you can't stop culture developing.
• The way that we want to enable participation in the Party and democracy as a whole makes sense.
• Wants to make sure we can promote the party effectively.
• Despite there being 50 members in Tas, he has only met about 10–12 — would like to fix this.
• Would like to be involved in improving communication within the party.
• Contributed to press releases and fairly active on IRC and forum.
• Involved in IT, but also keeps a small farm.

Questions

• To ensure diversity, is it possible for the male candidates to arrange that only one of them gets elected?
  • Alex: Yes.
  • Tim: Delighted to see a female candidate. We have a diversity problem. On the one hand, I would be happy to step back and make sure Emily was elected. But whoever gets elected is elected because that's the decision of the party.
  • Andrew: No. The will of the membership is the way to go. I'm keen on diversity but it must be democratic and happen through participation.
  • Tom: No, but I hope everyone votes for diversity.
  • Crafti: Would not accept the position if the only position he got was Councillor, if it meant Emily was the replacement.
  • Pete: It's up to the members to vote. We can't step down unless it's voluntary. Happy for Emily to be elected.
  • Dan: I bring some small diversity, not as much as Emily. I would be happy to withdraw personally, but it's almost an insult to Emily in that it implies she could not win on her own. To step back and let someone else win is giving a prize for trying.
  • Alex: Tend to agree with Dan.
  • Emily: It's entirely up to the conscience of the individuals. I would be reluctant to accept something I was offered solely because I'm female, but the party does need more women.

• Addressed to Emily: Can you talk about being the only female nomination, and what that means for the party?
  • Answer: I'm surprised I'm the only woman nominating. I hesitated for a long time over whether I should because I thought joining the NC would be like joining the Boys Club. It seems like everyone here would like more women, but are wary of showing preferential treatment, which is fair enough. Given how STEM-oriented a lot of PPAU members are, I suspect it's a similar situation to getting more women into STEM.

Policy Development Officer

• One nominee; Martin Sheridan defaults to and accepts position.

Dispute Resolution Committee members

• Two nominees for two vacancies; Hayden Dwyer and Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer default to and accept positions.

Procedural Motion: Adjourn [11:57]

• MOTION: Adjourn for 10 minutes.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online.
  • Motion CARRIED.

Procedural motion: lunch [11:20]

• MOTION: Move lunch back from 12:30 to 1:00 pm.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED

Constitutional amendment proposals (continued from day 1)

CAP-2 (revisited)

• Motion: adopt CAP-2 as amended
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried onine.
  • Motion CARRIED

• This amendment was replacing the link to Wikipedia definition with a link to a local copy of the wikipedia definition

Procedural motion: bulk voting [12:26]

• Motion: vote to accept PM-3, PM-4, PM-5 and PM-6 as a single vote.
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online.
  • Motion carried.

Policy motions (continued from day 1) [12:30]

PM-3: Federal ICAC, PM-4: Sex Work, PM-5: Abuse in detention centres and PM-6: Recent animal welfare issues

• Amendment to expand 'ICAC' in PM-3 to read 'NSW ICAC' with a footnote to the ICAC website.

• Motion: Accept PM-4, PM-5, and PM-6 as written and PM-3 as amended..
  • Motion carried on the floor.
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-7 Creative Works Act

• Amended to fix a typo with the fourth bullet point under "Create an Orphan Works Office".
  • "Allow the Orphan Works Office to declare a work as being orphaned if it *can* be demonstrated that the work is no longer published in a manner accessible in Australia." The word "can" has been added.

• Motion: accept PM-7 as amended.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Motion: Adjourn for lunch

Standing order

• Standing order to add a acknolidgement of traditional owners
  • Motion CARRIED

Policy motions (continued)

PM-8 "Codification"

• Motion: Accept PM-8: "Codification" as written.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-9 "Abortion"

• Motion: Accept PM-9: "Abortion" as written.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-10 "Versioning of legislation"

• Motion: Accept PM-10: "Versioning of legislation" as written.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-11 "Gun Control"

• Motion: Accept PM-11: "Gun Control" as written.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-12 "Prison Reform"

• Motion: Accept PM-12: "Prison Reform" as written.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

PM-13 "Transgender and Intersex issues"

• Motion: Accept PM-13 "Transgender and Intersex issues" as written.
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Formal motions

FM-1 "Position Statements"

• Amended to fix typo in title.

• Motion: Accept FM-1: "Position Statements" as amended
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Position Statments

PS-1 "Transgender and Intersex issues"

• Amended to fix some grammar.
  • "*People* need to be able to have *their* legally-recognised gender changed without sexual-reassignment-surgery as a mandatory prerequisite...". The words "People" and "their" added.

• Motion: Accept PS-1: "Transgender and Intersex issues" as amended
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Location of next National Congress

Procedural motion

• MOTION: To discuss location of next congress now
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Discussion

• Peter Lawler suggests a boat to Antarctica
• Melbourne or Wollongong primary contenders
• Suggestion to put each to vote
• Motion to be put for Melbourne

Motion

• MOTION: hold the next national congress in Melbourne
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Discussion topics

Election

Comments by President Simon Frew

• Party faced a choice around a year ago to run a full campaign or consolidate the Party to create a better footing for future elections.
• The Party lacked the human and financial resources in 2015-2016 financial year to run the scale of campaign we would have liked, the out of cycle double dissolution was a factor.
• The Party has used this time to improve the Party internal processes and organisation, focussing on the internal processes that need to be ready to launch when elections occur, including:
  • Pre-selection needs to be ready at all times to run when an election may potentially occur
  • Preferences negotiations needs to be ready and formalised
  • Developing reusable campaign materials in the down time between elections
  • One lesson from Bennelong is running local candidates is great advertising for dollars expended, very cost effective

Floor comments

• Speculation new Parliament will be unworkable for the Prime Minister and there may be another quick Federal election
• Request to develop posters for members to print from home
  • Comment from Daniel Judge that we already have some
• Comment that the commercial MX paper advertising ran in 2013 made a difference
• Suggestion Party should contest Anthony Albanese's electorate.
• Andrew Downing: When Party runs House of Reps candidate the How to Vote should include both House of Reps and Senate, so as not to require two hand outs.
  • Daniel Judge comments resources constraints meant we couldn't do that for the previous 2016 Federal election, will have to change in the future
  • Daniel Judge comments DL format of How to Votes are not as good as A4
• Michael Keating mentions preparation for elections is very important and needs more effort.
  • Continues: another possible election within 12-24 months.
• Comment that the Party wins votes from all demographics including older folks.
• Simon Frew discusses benefit of Alliance for Progress on campaigns though it does draw energy away from our own Party
  • Alliance for Progress was created to help progressive parties form Group Voting Tickets, which is mostly void now
  • Was starting to morph into an Anti-Greens alliance
  • National Council pre-emptively put out a press release distancing our Party from Glen Dury block that was forming
  • There remains opportunities for joint public campaigns between parties.
• Suggestion redesign How to Vote so left overs can double as a general flyer.
• Suggestion to create a more visible repository for campaign/elections materials.
• Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer raises lots more people are need to help with Party design work.

Change of Name

Daniel Judge report for vote to have a Party name change debate.

• 233 voted for a debate
• 148 voted against a debate
• 15 voted abstention
• Debate to continue

• Tim Serong comments 5-6 months of debate already
  • Questions: How long does the debate need to go on?
  • Daniel Judge suggests an option could be to form a formalised committee to manage the debate going forward
• Simon Frew comments:
  • Use preferential voting for any final vote
• Michael Keating comments the process to change a Party name will not happen quickly.
  • Implications for legal structures which would need to be managed correctly
• Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer comments the original proposal was for a specific name and that it happen at this Congress but the proposal was never formally put forward for this Congress.
• Michael Keating comments a lot of good passion in the debate.
• Comment from Ben that these debates are never simple.
• Peter Fulton comments there are financial costs to re-branding and it takes up Party resources
• David Crafti comments changing Party name is far easier than changing Party corporate legal structure
• Dan comments "Just as a note, voting to continue the discussion doesn't mean that we want to change the name. I voted to have the discussion because I think it's important, but I am personally against it"
• Joke motions suggested in IRC:
  • "all references to 'reddit' be replaced by 'le reddit'"
  • "Name change to Pirate McPirateface"
• David Campbell comments "if we changed to Libertarian Left we may as well commit to group seppukku"
  • Daniel Judge comments "Libertarian Left" was suggested but there doesn't appear to be enough support for it.
• SimonG suggests a procedural motion to "(1) Name change issue to be decided before next National Congress and (2) Set up a committee body now to manage changeover"
• Comment from the floor: all the possible options so far have been worse than the existing Party name.
  • Continues: critic of "Libertarian Left" name option, many people have bad connotations for both words, the extremes of libertarianism is not our Party, the extremes of leftism is not our Party.
  • Continues: our existing name is a mostly clean brand, our peer group might better understand what is meant by "Libertarian Left" but most of the public will not.
• Comment from IRC "Working at grassroots for years to get the Pirate name out there, name change is kind of a backward step"
• David Campbell "I think I can comment with Authority, that Brendan made that name intentionally awful so somebody would be spurred into action to create an actual good name, Brendan doesn't actually want that name, he told me himself, haha."
• Fletcher Boyd suggests a motion "Congress directs the incoming National Council to continue to investigate the possibility of a change of name"
• SimonG suggests a motion "for Incoming National Council to establish a committee to manage the Name Proposal process with final result to be ready before next National Congress, so that it could then be sworn in if the associated CAP passes."
  • Michael Keating comments personally against such a timeframe that soon.
• Saraj comments "Look on this train i believe we should be promoting still the strength of the Pirate party overseas and using that to enhance our own awareness campaign of our policies and show that we are about so much more than just copyright"
• Fletcher Boyd comments "I am strongly against the timeframe proposed in SimonG2's motion"
• Daniel Judge comments that most Party members probably don't want this debate to linger
• Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer comments no one put an amendment proposal to change the Party name and we cannot stop anyone in the future putting such a proposal, though no one has yet.
• Simon Frew comments Party now need to work out which names to put to the Party and put the vote as soon as possible
• Michael Keating comments "In the wake of what Mozart just said, I think the debate should be killed off. Which wasn't my original thought. Totally killed off. And anyone who feels strongly about changing the name can put forward a motion to change it to what they think the name should be at the next Congress. That would solve that issue wouldn't it. And they can have that discussion on the discussion forums if they want or what ever. But they can put that forward. It can pass or be defeated at Congress. And they can do that every year if they want."
  • Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer comments the paradox we can never end the debate if anyone wants to continue it.
• Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer questions "what is the actual implications of that vote" (the Party name change debate vote)
  • Daniel Judge comments: it was a straw poll vote and not binding. The next National Council could ignore it.
• Peter Lawler comments on options to form various committees.

Motion

PROPOSED MOTION: "Set up a committee body now to manage the questions of "Should we change names?" and "To what name should we change" so that a final vote can be presented by Next National Congress"

Put by SimonG

Motion discussion

• Simon Frew comments he is against this motion because he wants the debate over before next Congress. Not keen on a timeframe.
• Michael Keating comments a better motion may be to recommend to the next National Council to set up a committee to look at the name change and carry out a vote.
• Comment that new committees sap energy from the Party's other activities
• Fletcher Boyd comments he speaks against the motion and proposes alternate motion text
• SaraJ comments "Waste of Pirate Party Australia limited resources"
• Gator comments "Can't support this because it asks for a name change and not whether we WANT a name change"
• Andrew Downing comments the problem choosing a name everyone likes is similar to the problem of preference ordering

• MOTION: "Set up a committee body now to manage the questions of "Should we change names?" and "To what name should we change" so that a final vote can be presented by Next National Congress"
  • Motion defeated on floor (6 nays)
  • Motion defeated online (13 nays, 1 aye, 1 abstain)
  • Motion DEFEATED.

• Michael Keating comments if anyone wants to put a motion to change the Party name they can and it doesn't require the National Council to do that.

Motion

PROPOSED MOTION: "Congress directs the incoming National Council to continue to investigate the possibility of a change of name"

Put by Fletcher Boyd

Motion discussion

• Floor comment: "vote no so we can kill it"
• Michael Keating reaffirms: "vote no so we can kill it."

• MOTION: "Congress directs the incoming National Council to continue to investigate the possibility of a change of name"
  • Motion defeated on floor
  • Motion defeated online (11 nays, 0 aye, 3 abstain)
  • Motion DEFEATED.

• Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer comments "The practical effect of this is people can continue discussing it on the forum for as long as they want and if a proposal crystallises it can be put at the next national Congress, as per usual, so we are back to where we started."
• SimonG questions "So is this issue officially dead from an official/National Council perspective? Please say yes"
  • Daniel Judge comments no, it leaves it with the new National Council and they could continue it.
  • Simon Frew proposals can be put and discussed at National Council meetings.

Close Congress

PROPOSED MOTION: "Close Congress"

Put by Simon Frew

• MOTION: "Close Congress"
  • Motion carried on the floor
  • Motion carried online
  • Motion CARRIED.

Congress closed at 5:22pm

• Closing comments from Simon Frew and Daniel Judge thanking members and Congress organisers.