Pirate Congress 2022/Motions

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Formal Motions

None

Policy and Platform Amendment Motions

PM-1 Capital Gains Tax reform

Put by: Andrew Downing, varno

Motion

Adopt the following as a new section 6.7 of the Economic Reform policy.

Closing Capital Gains Tax Loopholes

"Capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax you pay on profits from selling assets, such as property." Capital Gains taxable profit comes from increases in value of a property between buying and selling it. CGT applies when the profit has been "realised", so that it doesn't force business disruption. CGT applies at your income tax rate, to avoid tax dodges by shifting asset profits vs. income. However, current CGT regulations provide unfair benefit to wealthy asset holders vs. regular income earners. There is a 50% discount on CGT, after an asset has been owned for 1 year. Further, CGT is commonly avoided by borrowing against the market value of an asset.

There are a few clearly identifiable factors that may contribute to capital gains, some of which are more clearly reasonable targets for taxation than others.

• Speculation - the value went up due to increased speculation (or demand) on property value.
• Economic Growth - the economy grew over time, lifting all property prices with it.
• Improvement - the owners improved the property, such that its value increased.
• Inflation - the currency in which the value is denominated, became devalued.

Speculation and Economic Growth are gains achieved without the owner contributing any actual value to the economy. As such, we should view them as valid targets for taxation.

Improvements to the property do in fact require the generation and contribution of economic activity by the owner. As such, we should not view such investment as a valid target for taxation.

Inflation is a change in the value of the dollar that we're counting value in, and as such we should discount any apparent gains according to inflation before applying CGT.

Meanwhile, inheritance should not force a CGT event, since it does not inherently create a realisation of any capital gain.

Pirate Party Australia proposes the following reforms:

• As per current Capital Gain Tax law:
  • Owner-occupiers continue to be CGT exempt on their primary residence.
  • Capital loss on sale, may offset current or future capital gains
  • Your CGT taxation rate is the same as your income tax rate.
• Remove the 1 year 50% CGT discount rule.
• On Asset Purchase, record CGTBasis = Asset purchase price.
• On Asset Sale, CGT applies to (SalePrice - DepreciatedImprovement - InflationIndexedCGTBasis)
  • DepreciatedImprovement is the depreciated cost of declared asset improvements.
  • InflationIndexedCGTBasis is CGTBasis with CPI applied since CGTBasis was recorded.
• On Asset use to Secured Debt,
  • If (TotalSecuredDebt - DepreciatedImprovements - InflationIndexedCGTBasis) > $0.00,
    • Apply CGT to that amount.
    • Record new CGTBasis = TotalSecuredDebt
• On Asset Transfer as Gift, Inheritance or change of CGT exempt owner-occupier status,
  • New holder may request a formal reevaluation of their asset to record a new CGTBasis.
  • Without reevaluation, the prior owners CGTBasis applies.

References

Rationale

We want to close CGT loopholes as outlined in the policy:

Current CGT regulations provide unfair benefit to wealthy asset holders vs. regular income earners. There is a 50% discount on CGT, after an asset has been owned for 1 year. Further, CGT is commonly avoided by borrowing against the market value of an asset.

Result

• Carried on the floor of Congress with 14 Aye, 0 Nay, 3 Abstain.
• Carried with 82% in favour in the online vote.

PM-2 Climate Change and Energy update

Put by: Tyrone D'Lisle

Motion

Adopt the following as an update and replacement of the existing Climate Change and Energy policy.

Climate change and Energy

Decades of scientific research shows a clear consensus that human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, is changing the earth’s climate. The science also shows that this change is pushing the earth’s climate into a state that will make life on earth more difficult and costly.

Human activity has increased the atmospheric concentration of heat-trapping gases to levels not seen for many hundreds of thousands of years, and the rise is accelerating.

Fossil fuels do not merely generate greenhouse gases: particulate air pollution from burning fossil fuels kills millions of people each year and generates massive volumes of toxic waste. Replacement of fossil fuels with cleaner technology thus offers us an opportunity to improve human well-being and the environment.

Australia is well positioned for this transition. We have robust wind and solar resources, have very high known uranium and thorium reserves, and have few land use conflicts so far and vast coastlines which provide good site locations for various clean energy technologies.

Australian households have already shown a desire to adopt clean energy technology with the adoption of rooftop solar being one of the highest in the world. Electric vehicle uptake too is increasing as new infrastructure becomes available and the technology matures. Governments should be supporting this uptake wherever it is economic to do so.

The current energy market has shown itself to be a failure and there is desperate need for reform. This failure was clear during 2022 when the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) had to suspend the entire National Electricity Market (NEM) to avoid major blackouts across 5 States. A reform process must be undertaken to ensure supply and root out rent seeking and profiteering within Australia’s energy system.

Pirate Party regards a fixed carbon price as important. Predictable pricing provides the certainty which long-term investment requires, and would create a mechanism for energy efficiency and innovation all across the economy. Environmental externalities represent a form of privatised profits and socialised losses, which a properly run economy should reject. Pirate Party Australia endorses existing climate policies in the absence of a more efficient alternative. However, a holistic price on carbon and measures to support technology and competition represent the best model for long-term improvement in our energy systems.

Pirate Party Australia advocates the following reforms:

• Enact measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and to zero net emissions by 2050.
• Remove legislative prohibitions on the use of nuclear energy, nuclear fuel fabrication and reprocessing, and uranium mining, while retaining prohibitions on weapons-grade processing and abiding by nuclear non-proliferation agreements.
• Re-purpose the 'Climate Solutions Fund' to support 'blue sky' research into alternative climate solutions, such as carbon drawdown technology, small modular reactors, nuclear fusion, and food additives to reduce farm emissions.
• Increase the Clean Energy Finance Corporation investment to $50B annually and expand it to support loans for community power start-up costs and grid connections, and nuclear energy.
• Remove the GST on energy and substitute a carbon price based on the successful 2014-15 model.
• Apply a price on exported carbon to purchase carbon offsets through the UN clean development mechanism.
• Remove waste levy exemptions currently applying to coal power.
• Adopt current EU standards for vehicle fuel efficiency and energy efficiency in consumer goods and buildings.
• Remove taxes on electric vehicles.
• Work to adopt a universal plug for electric vehicles.

References

Rationale

The 2022 Federal election showed that there is a desire from the Australian public for greater action on climate change and a transition to clean energy. The latest IPCC reports also show there is an urgent need for action. I felt the existing Pirate Party policy on Climate Change and Energy needed updating to better reflect this pressing need for action and the current circumstances we find ourselves in. The existing policy doesn’t accurately reflect the evidence on nuclear energy and the need for it as an option as we transition to a clean energy system.

Result

• Carried on the floor of Congress with 13 Aye, 1 Nay, 2 Abstain.
• Carried with 82% in favour in the online vote.

PM-3 Nuclear Energy - Position Statement

Put by: Tyrone D'Lisle

Motion

Adopt the following as a Position Statement.

Nuclear Energy

Statement

Pirate Party Australia is committed to Australia achieving net zero by 2050 whilst also ensuring we retain a high standard of living. This will require the adoption of reliable and affordable clean energy technologies over the coming decades.

Nuclear energy has demonstrated for nearly 70 years that it can provide reliable and affordable energy without producing the dangerous pollution or greenhouse gases associated with the burning of fossil fuels. Despite a small number of notable accidents, nuclear remains one of the safest forms of energy available to humanity.

As environmental considerations have become a higher priority within the energy sector, new research has shown that nuclear energy, apart from being safe, has a lifecycle environmental footprint equal to or lower than technologies such as wind and solar. This makes its lifecycle environmental footprint among the lowest, if not the lowest, of all energy sources available today.

A number of countries which historically transitioned to nuclear energy also saw a transition of their existing fossil fuel energy workforce, this provided a ‘Just Transition’ for workers and their communities. Countries are again hoping to achieve this by using small modular reactors, which are capable of being located on the site of existing fossil fuel thermal plants, as a means for providing a ‘Just Transition’.

For these reasons, Pirate Party Australia supports the removal of prohibitions on nuclear energy (both fission and fusion), nuclear fuel fabrication and reprocessing, and uranium mining in Australia at all levels of government, while retaining prohibitions on weapons-grade processing and abiding by nuclear non-proliferation agreements.

References

Rationale

There is strong scientific consensus surrounding the safety and environmental footprint of nuclear energy. The challenge of moving away from fossil fuels is immense and leading organisations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) all point to the world needing to increase the use of nuclear energy as part of the move away from fossil fuels.

There is growing support within the Australian public for nuclear energy and Australia’s current prohibitions on nuclear energy and related activities is not in alignment with public opinion or scientific evidence. Pirate Party Australia should show leadership on this issue by adopting this statement.

Result

• Carried on the floor of Congress with 14 Aye, 0 Nay, 1 Abstain.
• Carried with 75% in favour in the online vote.

PM-4 GMOs and Precision Fermentation - Position Statement

Put by: Tyrone D'Lisle

Motion

Adopt the following as a Position Statement.

GMOs and Precision Fermentation

Statement

Pirate Party Australia is committed to Australia achieving net zero by 2050 and reducing our overall environmental impact whilst also ensuring we retain a high standard of living. This will require the adoption of new technologies across numerous sectors, including agriculture and food production.

Conventional agricultural practices, the farming of crops or livestock with the use of synthetic inputs, including synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, plant growth regulators, nanomaterials and genetically-modified organisms, has demonstrated that in a majority of cases provides higher yields and a lower environmental impact.

Genetically-modified organism (GMO) technology allows for scientists to produce crops that require less synthetic inputs such as pesticides and fungicides which further reduces the environmental impacts of conventional agricultural practices. Crops can also be produced that are more tolerant to extreme weather such as heat and cold or drought and floods, this will become more important as extreme weather increases as a result of climate change.

While the WHO has found that GMOs can be safe, Pirate Party Australia acknowledges the continued need for regulation of safety and environmental impact.

Precision Fermentation and "lab grown" meat are promising food technologies that will allow food production to be taken from the field and into a lab/factory reducing environmental impacts from agriculture and increasing food security by reducing the need for food imports. Food production currently accounts for over a quarter (26%) of global greenhouse gas emissions, half of the world’s habitable (ice- and desert-free) land, 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, and 78% of global ocean and freshwater eutrophication (the pollution of waterways with nutrient-rich pollutants).

The big challenge of a sustainable future food supply can only be achieved by pursuing a number of viable solutions that will only become effective when combined. GMOs, precision fermentation and lab grown meat are among the many possible factors that can contribute to solve the problem. Through greater use of these technologies, we can reduce the environmental impacts of food production which also ensuring we retain a high standard of living and improve food security. For these reasons, Pirate Party Australia supports removing any legislative bans on these technologies, a streamlining of regulations to support their adoption, and government investment into their research and commercialisation in Australia.

This is in the context of our general ban on patents on "naturally occurring living and genetic material" as per our policy A streamlined patent system.

References

Rationale

The current global food crisis caused by a combination of extreme weather events driven by climate change, global supply chain issues, synthetic input shortages and cost increases, and the war in Ukraine has shown the vulnerability of the existing global food production system. This crisis combined with the climate and biodiversity crises has put a renewed emphasis on finding alternative methods for food production. Pirate Party Australia should show leadership in pushing Australia to be a global leader in this field.

Result

• Carried on the floor of Congress with 14 Aye, 1 Nay, 1 Abstain.
• Carried with 73% in favour in the online vote.

Constitutional Amendment Proposals

Constitutional Amendment Proposals must be submitted to [email protected] before 9:00am AEST on Saturday 25th June 2022.

Proposals to change the Constitution are Special Resolutions under the NSW Associations Incorporation Act 2009.

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CAP-1: Casual Vacancies

Put by: Alex Jago

Motion

Add an Article 10.1(8)(e) as follows:

If the Annual National Congress is due in 90 days or fewer, the National Council may opt to leave the vacancy unfilled.

Rationale

To avoid a superfluous election when Congress is already pending.

Result

• Carried on the floor of Congress with 16 Aye, 0 Nay, 0 Abstain.
• Lapsed inquorate in the online vote (but with 91% in favour).