User:Brendan

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TODO

  • Formal responsibilities definition for election periods, and processes
  • Add something to preamble about principle of evidence based policy development

Constitutional Amendments

Typos and Grammar

Motion

  • Replace "meeting- however" with "meeting. However, " in Article 6(3).
  • Replace "unaffiliate" with "disaffiliate" in Article 6.1(4).
  • Replace "competing in" with "contesting", and replace "Such branches would" with "These branches", in Article 2.1(2).

Article 2 Reboot

Motion

  • Replace Article 2(1) with:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

The Party shall be governed at a Federal level by a body entitled the “National Council”. The National Council may create additional structures and subordinate organisations, such as committees, working groups or branches, as it sees fit.

  • Replace Article 2(5) with:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

  • The National Council, as the paramount governing body of the Party, has the authority to overrule or amend any policy or decision of any subordinate organisation (except the Dispute Resolution Committee), if it deems them to be inconsistent with or repugnant to the values, ideals or policies of the Party.
  • A two-thirds majority vote of the National Council is required for any action from paragraph (5) to be taken against a subordinate organisation or their decisions.

Justification

Clarifies that the NC has the power to create committees, working groups and branches, as it already has. It also clarifies that a branch is considered a subordinate organisation that can be overridden by the Federal Party.

Article 2(5) was a grammatical nightmare, so simplified it without changing its effect whatsoever.

Replace Article 9.1(5)

Motion

Justification

I think I'm going to motion that the voting system can only be changed by a majority vote of the National Congress in line with how the people are elected, and will not take effect until the next National Congress. It's not feasible to change the voting system model at the National Congress.

Amend Article 4.1

Motion

  • Delete Art 4.1(2).
  • Replace Article 4.1(1)(d) with:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

Have not been members of another registered or unregistered political party in Australia in the previous twelve (12) months, unless this is disclosed in the membership application by the applicant.

  • Add:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

  • A Member's Party membership will not lapse unless the Member resigns from the Party by writing to the National Council, or an applicable membership fee is failed to be paid up to ninety (90) days after their membership period has expired.
  • The National Council may at its discretion opt to waive membership fees on a case-by-case basis.

Justification

Relax the requirements regarding previous party membership, as this clause has never been enforced beyond requiring the knowledge of which party the new member has come from.

Clarify Article 6

Motion

  • Replace Article 6(6) with:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

  • The method of voting and the medium by which the meeting occurs is to be determined by the meeting facilitator, except where otherwise provided for by this Constitution.

Justification

It was a mess. Clean it up!

National Congress Online Voting

Motion

  • Delete Article 6(9).
  • Insert a subsection under Article 6.1 as 6.1.x as follows:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

6.1.x Online Voting

  1. Some elements of the National Congress are required to be put to a final vote on an online voting system.
  2. The online voting period must not be less than seven (7) days.
  3. Motions of the following types that carry at a National Congress will be put to a final vote on an online voting system for Full Members, where said motions will only carry if they pass by the threshold provided for by the Constitution, or where not provided, a simple majority:
    1. Constitutional amendments,
    2. Platform and policy amendments, position statements, or other documentation that guides party position or direction, and
    3. Party mergers, formal affiliations or disaffiliations with other organisations.
  4. Officer election requirements as provided for by the Constitution, including for the Dispute Resolution Committee, will be fulfilled by the online voting system.

Justification

More shine.

Dispute Resolution Committee

Motion

  • Remove Article 11(1)(a) due to weasel words
  • Amend Article 11(1) to:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

At the National Congress, members of the Party must elect three (3) members who will form the Dispute Resolution Committee, as per the requirements of Article 9.1.

Justification

Consistency.

Seconding for Candidacy

Motion

  • Add an item to Article 9.1:

Constitutional Amendment Proposal Text

All nominations of a candidate for an election must be seconded by another Full Member.

Justification

We have required that nominations for preselection require seconding, and I believe that this requirement should be extended to all elections for consistency.

Fix a poor proposal from last time

Motion

  • Art 3.1.1 becomes Art 4.5
  • Section "Powers" removed from NC

Justification

I don't know why I proposed this in the first place. It makes no sense in the context of the larger document.

Election of Registered Officer

Motion

  • Remove Article 3.3.7.1(3)

Justification

It does not make sense that this position is elected differently to the other candidates.

References to legislation to be put in italics

Motion

  • Italicise and correctly format all references to legislation in the Party Constitution

Section for Definitions

  • Define majorities, refer to the majorities in this section.

Procedural Motions

Withdraw from PPI

Motion

The National Congress directs the National Council to resign from Pirate Parties International as soon as possible.

Explanation

Pirate Parties International (PPI) started with the goal of being the political international of the Pirate movement. It has however entirely failed to live up to this expectation, becoming a very Eurocentric organisation, making contributes from outside Europe very difficult. The organisation itself makes it difficult to know when meetings occur, where minutes are located and other content one would expect to be able to find such as how many members are in the organisation or what the proposed amendments are for each annual conference.

The idea of PPI was rushed into drafted statutes being formed, and then registered as a formal organisation. For the last 3-4 years, much time has been spent attempting to rectify some of the deficiencies of the statutes, but fundamentally, they seem to be insufficient for the organisation as it needs to be.

There are major issues with how the organisation was formed, and how it has now panned out to be:

  • Pirate Party Australia has been unable to effectively represent its members at any PPI conference ever hosted for reasons including:
    • (insert a million reasons here)
  • The most recent PPI conference was not announced in the way required by the statutes, nor within the time period required by the statutes.
  • Of the two motions put, one to ensure there was a jury to determine results of CoA complaints, and one to ensure parties had representation on the organisation's board, both failed.
  • However, the motion to introduce fees claimed to have been passed in the minutes, even though according to the statutes a 2/3 majority is required for the motion to pass.

The statutes for the formation of this organisation are inconsistent, incongruent and generally unworkable. The organisation itself follows a failed paradigm of electing very few people to represent many, and ensures that only those who are geographically close to the location of where the PPI conference is held have a chance of being elected to any relevant positions whatsoever.

PPI struggles with one of the things that is meant to make our movement amazing: our ability to innovate and make the seemingly impossible possible, yet PPI struggles with something as simple as remote delegate attendance, something Pirate Party Australia has successfully implemented for the last several years at each of our Congresses.

Quite simply, PPI is a let down to the larger Pirate movement, which is itself beyond the confines of a failed bureaucracy, and will continue to grow strongly as it always has. The path to Hell was paved with good intentions, and this one has been quite a long path, but it is time we stepped off it and forged our own, together with the actual Pirate movement, not its bureaucratic Titanic.

We hope that in time PPI grows into an inclusive international organisation, that spends more time on the issues than it does debating what a majority consists of or whether or not a meeting was convened within the confines of the statutes.

Policy Proposals

Marriage Policy Amendment

Motion

  • In the preamble, replace all references to Civil Unions Act with Vicious Governmental Relationship Invasion Disestablishment Act
  • Replace the policy text with the following:

Policy Text

Replace the Marriage Act 1961 with a Vicious Governmental Relationship Invasion Disestablishment Act

  • Couples in a registered relationship under the Vicious Governmental Relationship Invasion Disestablishment Act will be afforded the same rights available under the current Marriage Act.
  • Registered relationships will be available to all consenting couples.
    • The legal age of consent for involvement in a registered relationship will be 18 years.
  • The Relationships Act will provide a state recognised relationship register with equivalent legal and monetary benefits to those provided currently within the Marriage Act.
  • Couples in legally recognised registered relationships from overseas will be recognised under this Act.
    • An exception will apply to forced unions instituted overseas, which will be considered invalid.
  • The institution of marriage will be removed from the purview of state authority and instead overseen by secular and religious organisations who will have freedom to offer ceremonies in adherence with their own beliefs.
    • No legal basis will be provided for any attempt to force any organisation to provide marriage services where such an act would be at odds with organisational values.
    • No part of this policy may be used to override or contradict freedom of religion as granted by the Constitution of Australia.
  • Forced unions will be banned.

If Vicious Governmental Relationship Invasion Disestablishment Act is not considered an appropriate name, here are a few alternative proposals:

Justification

There is some controversy with the use of the term civil union, and having looked at European immigration websites, almost all of them refer to registered relationships in order to cover all types of registered unions recognised internationally. It is also worth noting that NSW uses a relationship register for registering relationships in lieu of civil unions.

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