Policy briefs

Policy briefs

Civil liberties

One sentence summary

Civil liberties are the cornerstones of a free society, which is why people have fought and died throughout history to protect them.

Five point summary

• The government is in a position of power over individuals, so the power must be exercised transparently and fairly — it is vital for the government to trust its citizens and earn their cooperation.
• Freedom of speech allows the people to hold the government to account, and to express ideas that have a chance of progressing society.
• Good intentions are not enough reason to limit our rights and freedoms — no liberty should be curtailed without considering how it could go wrong in the future.
• Privacy is fundamental, both to protecting dignity and to setting boundaries on the government's exercise of power.
• Our bodies are inviolable — we should be able to put into them whatever we like, both for recreation, and for the ease of suffering.

Copyright

One sentence summary

Copyright is an artificial monopoly that needs to balance the rights of the creators with the rights of society, which can be achieved by providing an exclusive commercial right over content while permitting increased use of copyrighted material.

Five point summary

• Copyright was created to encourage creation and stimulate cultural production for the benefit of society.
• Copyright cannot adequately achieve this if it lasts for life plus 70 years because works take too long to be able to be used by the public.
• Copyright neither stimulates cultural production, nor benefits society, decades after the death of the author.
• There are privacy concerns when copyright industries decide to spy on people and sue them for downloading content.
• Copyright duration is best fixed at 15 years because this has been shown to maximise creative works and therefore cultural benefit.

Cultural participation

One sentence summary

Intellectual property laws have imposed a hierarchy on culture, squeezing out grassroots creators and failing to stimulate cultural development. Participation through outlets such as live music venues has been curtailed — this policy aims at addressing both issues.

Five point summary

• Intellectual property laws make a hierarchical culture that squeezes out the grassroots creators.
• While we plan to reform copyright, there is still a massive shortage of creative outlets and funding.
• We plan to support artists who adopt licensing models that give back to the community.
• Increase the funding for community programs and institutions such as libraries.
• Increase the venues available for cultural exchange, encouraging emerging artists particularly.

Patents

One sentence summary

Patents, as they stand, are no longer the best way to encourage invention and do not reflect the current rate of advancement adequately.

Five point summary

• Twenty-year patents were relevant when the time from design to production was small and ideas took a long time to spread.
• There is a trend toward purchasing a portfolio of patents and suing rather than using them, which works against the goal of patents.
• Patents on genes and organisms must be abolished to prevent private ownership of genetic material that is too vital to fundamental information such as breast cancer research.
• Pharmaceutical patents inhibit competition to provide medicines at affordable prices, and do not provide an incentive to cure diseases — quick fix solutions are offered.
• The solution is to restrict what can be patented and encourage research pooling, as well as stimulating public-funded research of medicines.

Education/skills

One sentence summary

Education in Australia currently does not provide vital practical and life skills from a young age, and has a range of inappropriate assessment that place students, teachers and academics under unnecessary stress.

Five point summary

• Education needs to focus on behaviour towards others, people skills, exploration of science and creative thinking, moving onto sex education, conflict resolution and ethics in the formative years.
• High school students will be taught civics and voting, budgeting, basic IT skills, careers and how to start a business.
• The influence of religion on education will be reduced, with properly trained counsellors replacing the chaplains program and confine religion to the context of history, culture and literature.
• Reduce bureaucracy in tertiary institutions and support academic autonomy by defunding unnecessary monitoring organisations.
• Make university spaces and public funded content more widely available to the general public, including increased provision of free online courses.

Political reform

One sentence summary

Australian politics suffers from a lack of participation and a lack of transparency, with governments keeping more secrets and shutting out contributions from citizens.

Five point summary

• Enhancing freedom of information laws to provide the public with more knowledge — no more blanket exemptions!
• Making it easier to identify and manage corruption — no repercussions for whistleblowers.
• Restoring candidate fees to a reasonable level and encouraging greater political participation.
• Create a setting in which politicians are obliged to communicate meaningfully and respectfully with everyone.
• Trial electronic voting systems to combat claims that ballot papers are too long

Digital liberties

One sentence summary

The Internet is one of the greatest inventions of recent times, yet the powers that be are seeking to censor and control it. To maintain a functioning democracy, we must fight back and keep the Internet open and free from governmental interference.

Five point summary

• Net Neutrality must be maintained, giving everyone the same free and fair access regardless of internet service required.
• Retention of telephone and internet metadata is a gross invasion of privacy. Although currently off the table in Australia, Pirate Party will remain vigilant in ensuring it remains this way.
• Internet filters amount to censorship and cannot exist if we are to have free and open internet. An internet filter as a means to prevent child pornography is an affront to such a serious issue, and resources must be funnelled into actual law enforcement rather than bandaid measures.
• Section 313 of the Telecommunications Act, which has been used by the government to block over 200,000 legitimate websites, must be deleted from legislation.
• Pirate Party supports a fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure model to help build a vibrant digital society.

Fibre

One sentence summary

The current copper network is not capable of producing competitive speeds required for Australia's economic, cultural and social growth.

Five point summary

• The copper network was installed at a time when the Internet was not foreseen and was never intended to be a high-speed data traffic.
• There is a need for a high-speed network as we become increasingly reliant on the Internet for commercial and social reasons.
• Australia needs a broadband network that can meet current demands and accommodate future needs.
• The best way to achieve this is through optical fibre.
• Optical fibre is not susceptible to the same degradation and interference as copper, such as water damage.

Bill of rights

One sentence summary

Pirate Party advocates for a national referendum to introduce a Bill of Rights. In a time of diminishing concern for fundamental civil liberties, a Bill of Rights will restore the balance.

Five point summary

• We currently have no explicit protection of the rights we all take for granted.
• The government frequently passes laws that curtail our fundamental freedoms, and the courts allow it.
• Without constitutional entrenchment, the government will override any declared rights.
• The courts should have the power to strike down any laws that are inconsistent with our rights.
• It is time to at least catch up to the protections in place in every country we think of as free.

Tax

One sentence summary

Tax in Australia is complicated and needlessly bureaucratic: Pirate Party Australia aims to make the process more transparent, fair, and innovation-promoting by simplifying the tax system, reducing income tax, and lowering company tax.

Five point summary

• The Henry Review, commissioned by the Australian Government, provides the model for tax reform.
• Replace the myriad of hidden taxes, special purpose payments, the GST and various other taxes with a cash flow that simplifies the system and has a fixed-rate.
• Reduction in income tax so that the majority of Australians pay less than 30% income tax and remove income tax for those below the poverty line.
• Provide tax exemptions based on proved community benefit and cut the company tax rate to 25%.
• Provide a more citizen-centric method of tax administration by increasing the available online services and providing taxpayers with an easy way to view their entire financial relationship with government.

Welfare

One sentence summary

The fundamental purpose of welfare (alleviation of poverty) is no longer being adequately served – This must be addressed and corrected.

Five point summary

• Introduce the 'Basic Income' – A safety-net payment which is not below the poverty line.
• Remove the tax burden from those below the poverty line.
• Index payments so as to stay above the poverty line.
• Address and remedy problems with existing ad-hoc, middle-class welfare
• There will be no age limit to receiving support via the NDIS.

Energy

One sentence summary

In 10 years Australia should not only say it has the greenest energy system on the planet, but that emissions are better than any target, and continue to plummet.

Five point summary

• Institute a 10-year construction project to build a renewable energy grid
• 195TWh/yr base-load power will be generated through construction of 12 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants.
• 130TWh/yr additional base-load power will be generated through deployment of wind turbines.
• Improve incentives to reduce electricity demand and increase efficiency.
• Phase out subsidies to fossil fuel industries.

Environment/animal welfare

One sentence summary

Our environment is a fragile balance of great biodiversity, and it maintains the health and equilibrium of the planet. Animals too are a part of this ecosystem, and it is of dire importance that we have protections in place for all species now to ensure the health of the world tomorrow.

• It is vital that a centralised management system is established to ensure adequate protection of places of ecological significance, both on land and oceans.
• Not only should we continue to provide protection to places already of national importance but we should identify further land and ocean areas to fall under a protected status.
• Research has shown animals are sentient beings, meaning they are able to feel and perceive.
• Animals, both domestic, wild and those used as a food source should be treated accordingly and not be subjected to cruel and inhumane practices.
• The live exporting of animals from Australia to trade countries is a practice that should end as soon as possible and the treatment of animals in Australia should be subject to transparent reporting and strict guidelines.

Marriage

One sentence summary

The Marriage Act of 1967 decrees that marriage in Australia applies only to a man and a woman, discriminating against those who identify as LGBT, unnecessarily abusing human rights, and causing detrimental psychological problems for a significant section of our society.

Five point summary

• Banning LGBT people from marriage vilifies them and only serves to continue to feed homophobia.
• Allowing civil unions for LGBT people while continuing to provide marriages for heterosexual people delegitimizes the civil union and further reinforces segregation.
• The only way to end marriage discrimination in Australia is to abolish the Marriage Act and to replace it with a Civil Union Act, available to all.
• Couples who enter into a Civil Union would be afforded exactly the same rights as available under the Marriage Act.
• Marriage should no longer be overseen by the State, rather it should be available from either secular or religious institutions, without government interference.

Drugs

One sentence summary

Australia must adopt proven, workable alternatives to the failed experiment that was the “War On Drugs”.

Five point summary

• Safe, non-addicting substances will be legalised.
• As with alcohol and tobacco, regulate the sale of newly-legalised drugs.
• Decriminalise the use and possession of drugs of dependence.
• Redirect savings from Police and Courts to rehabilitation, health and other services.
• Adopt all proven harm-minimisation techniques.

Asylum seekers and refugees

One sentence summary

A regional co-operative response – not fear or slogans – will finally give Australia a compassionate and sustainable path for people seeking asylum.

Five point summary

• Engage fully with our neighbours in the Pacific & South East Asian region.
• Actual cooperation - not just paying poor countries to hide the problem.
• Remove incentives to travel to Australia by boat, rather than increase any disincentives.
• Have processing completed as quickly as possible, overseen by the UNHCR.
• Along with regional neighbours, settle those who desperately need protection in Australia.

Foreign policy

One sentence summary

Pirate Party Australia aims to make the treaty negotiation process more transparent and consultative, and to limit the extent of foreign power of Australian territory.

Five point summary

• Ensure treaty negotiations are subject to oversight and public participation, making sure that Australians are properly consulted regarding potential changes to our laws.
• Renegotiation of or withdrawal from treaties that restrict law reform in areas of intellectual property reform and public health, and ensure Australia complies fully with treaties that protect individual rights.
• Begin negotiations on an international treaty for a free and open Internet.
• Increase foreign aid to 0.5% of our GDP to support equality, regional capacity building, emergency response and provision of generic medicines.
• Suspend extradition processes in cases where (1) only political offences have been committed, (2) the act is not an offence in Australia, (3) the death penalty could potentially apply, and (4) the nation involved has not ratified the UN Convention against Torture.