I am pretty solidly opposed to such a short time-line. There is an extremely high chance of a Double Dissolution on July 2. I don’t think that having a fight over names, that will necessarily be going on through the election campaign, is a good use of energy.
It will suck oxygen from issues we want to campaign on, it will suck energy from the campaign itself. Our candidates will most likely be quizzed about it when they should be talking about the right to privacy, the TPP and the need for government transparency. People feel passionately about what we are called (myself included) and will divert energy that could be put into getting our ideas and policies out, into arguing for whatever the hell they want the party to be called. Some people may also be reluctant to campaign while we are going through a high paced identity crisis that directly coincides with the election.
I personally would rather leave the debate until after Congress because there is so much on our plates between now and then. That said, if people are eager to have this sorted before Congress, we can push the name voting (assuming people want to change names) to the week before, and the final name can be discussed and voted on in Hobart (or online for those of you not traveling down). It wouldn’t create anywhere near as much noise as if the debate was in full flight during the election.
Hi Frew,
I totally agree with you. I think that we need a solid identity before an election and having this issue over our heads would prevent us from starting early on a campaign, because the name could change in the middle.
Even though I personally don’t like the Pirate Party name very much, it has still been good enough to bring us together.
It would be better for the party if we just totally ruled it out until after the election. I would even be inclined to put forward an early vote “should we put the name change issue off until after the election?”.
Unless we just do a change of name vote now of course.
The sooner we can agree to a consistent name before an election, the better. We can’t start campaigning until we know what our name during the election will be.
We won’t be changing the name before the election.
The only part of the debate that will be finalised by the election will be the vote on whether we should have the debate at all, which should happen in the next week or so.
We have Congress a few weeks after the likely election date, so assuming the first vote passes, it will be discussed further that the Congress and a final list may be drawn up then for a vote (it will depend on how the debate goes between now and the end of Congress for the exact timeline to be decided).
Assuming we settle on a new name, there will be a final vote between the proposed name and the Pirate Party sometime after Congress.
If the new name is to have an evidence-base beyond party members’ preferences, then sample the electorate to find which name works for them.
Proposed event-line:
A referendum of name change (without specifying a particular new name) to ensure the whole party is on-side with a rebrand, for the reasons you have outlined.
Development of list of acceptable names.
Survey electorate to gather evidence on voters’ views of names.
Announce top “new name” candidates for party vote.
Where can we get an understanding on the position of Pirate Party Australia in relationship to other Pirate Political organisations globally and any participation of global forums / groups / collectives etc. ?
This guy just clicked through each of the parties to make a short summary.
Here’s ours:
The nerds reading this are probably familiar with the Pirate Party – an Australian version of the Swedish and now global (but still pretty fringe) movement. In Iceland they’re actually one of the main political parties. Their main reason for being is copyright and patent reform and free sharing of knowledge. The heavy tech involvement also means they have a much stronger grasp on tech issues than most other parties. They don’t like data retention and really hate censorship. They love to arc up when these topics are talked about.
So I think that this guy is an excellent example of what “most” people (who are savvy enough but not looked into the party in great detail) think of the party:
Connected to Iceland/Sweden (i.e. not really Australian)
Copyright and patent reform, support free sharing (Which is true, among other things)
Only Policies that are in the interests of Copyright Infringers like data retention & censorship (Which is not true, we support Freedom, and would much rather fix copyright than to commit Copyright Infringement)
We will always have a legacy as part of the Pirate Party movement and core values from this, but we are as Australian as any other, and the Platform has clearly outgrown the “Pirate” moniker as it’s primary means of identification. It is mature enough to stand on it’s own.
This has made it clear to me that a name change is necessary to do, when the time comes after election.
I’m a firm fan of the Pirate name for a number of reasons:
The connection to the Scandinavian movement is a positive thing. To be blunt, I prefer being a part of something that is a movement, rather than a member of a fringe-y micro party. Particularly when the story of these parties, in the Nordic context, is the rejection of the parties that have dominated politics for the last few decades. What a great thing to be a part of! Especially given the success of the Icelandic Pirate Party.
Leading on from this point, the “Pirate” name says to me, given that the Icelandic party has a female leader, that the PPAU’s policies would tend to be progressive.
While ‘Pirate’ may currently have limited connotations (‘they’re only IT people’, for example), it needs to be remembered that this was a problem/situation faced by the Greens for many years - the perception of being a single-issue party. But this is something that can be redressed over time by gaining popular awareness of the movement.
As a general principle, I think it’s better to take a firm, fixed position and persuade people around to it, rather than trying to pick some “general” name that will sound appealing to as many people as possible.
Could this be made optional preferential? I suspect a significant number of people voting for “Left Libertarian” would prefer “Left-Libertarian” to “Libertarian Left”, but that’s just a hunch. Does this website allow automated optional preferential or round robin? Sorry if this is common knowledge, I’m new here.
A sort of odd idea, but we could always just combine the words to be ‘The Leftarian Party’, make our own word to suit our needs. A little more abstract but it’s original and sort of conveys the ideas.
I’m just so surprised that a name change is seriously being contemplated. “Pirate Party” links us to an international movement. I can’t see how it’s any more “silly” as a name than the Sex Party, or the Greens. Perhaps the Sex Party is a good comparison: the name could be criticised for being frivolous or unserious, but over time - combined with consistent campaigning - the fact that it stands out so much has provided an opportunity for that party to gain some very solid public awareness of their policies. I don’t believe that the sort of people who see “Pirate” and say, “what a stupid name!”, then think nothing more of it, would be the sort of voters who would vote for any non-conventional sounding party, even if it was called “Equality Party” or “Left Libertarian” or what-have-you. I just don’t think that we should be tailoring our name to dismissive, conventional voters like that, in the first instance.
I hate to bring in brand recognition to a political discussion, but “Pirate” is a much stronger brand than the vague (and contestable) descriptors of a party’s place on the political spectrum that have been suggested in the forums so far.
I am of the opinion that we will not garner any more ‘respectability’ with a name change that sounds like it was chosen through a focus group to please everybody. Better to stick with a name that has history and a philosophy behind it, then gain the desired trust and gravitas through the sorts of strategies that have been proposed and discussed in the Party Strategy thread.
Reflecting on my recent experiences HTVing, my preference is definitely to remain as the Pirate Party. The Pirate brand put HTVs in hands.
Several times people who’d refused all the HTVs before me said “No thanks… wait, Pirate!? Lol what’s that about?” I’d give a short spiel and the HTV and then “hey, these are actually good policies!”
I can’t see any generic sounding name creating such curiosity.
So… I will vote to remain a Pirate.
…Unless we rename ourselves the Troll party or something equally ludicrous.
While discussing who to vote for (she’s a public school teacher so mostly based on education funding) I told my girlfriend I was going to vote PPAU and she thought I was an idiot, and tried to make me not vote for the party. I had to spend an hour arguing to convince her otherwise.
Last night at a party The Pirate Party came up, and aside from us, the universal opinion was “Who the hell would vote for them? Haha”
When I chimed in “I do, every election” they were interested and asked what the party stands for. It was surprisingly easy to convince a few that PPAU has great policies but I doubt they will put any number on the ballot form next election unless the name is changed.
Also, I’d like a different colour. Blue feels “political right” to me.
I wasn’t participating in this campaign, in fact I only joined after. But at the polling station I convinced most people I talked to to vote Pirate. Turns out its a really easy talking point and gives you a great opportunity to deploy the policy. But I can see reasons people think we should change.
I would be pro change if it was something equally unique, as Hypershock said. But I am strongly opposed to any change to something that sounds like just another party.
My experience on handing out HTV cards is that it creates a hook, but I estimate conversions into getting someone interested in policy is 1/2 in those who find it funny, but 1 in 100 in those who I actually tell them the name without them laughing on the broader scale.
We have had the Pirate Party name for 10 years and it’s clear that in this country the name isn’t going to propel it into the spotlight through grass roots movement as originally intended, but it was enough to bring us together when Pirate movement first started. We will always be The Pirates and have relations with PP international movement no matter what name we use, that is our identity. Many people refuse to take a party seriously if it doesn’t have a serious name, point blank.
I’ll address the name in the other thread on party names but from my preliminary market research, current lesser “TLDR” just DOES NOT cut it for general voter resonance. The only practical name that I can think of is “The Freedom Party” (or to that effect about Freedom) there is just no other way to encapsulate everything of what we believe in a simple way that resonates with a popular value
Hooks could convert most of the time, but how did it compared to the times did you hand out a HTV with no strong reaction or did not laugh/engage/take a HTV without reacting to the name?
Of the name hook/conversions, we are already working on a subset group
edit: just to add more opinion:
Sex Party have more awareness than us even though they have been at it since 2009, the party is in the name of a controversial topic (not just a joke) whereas Piracy was never very controversial in the wider community (and now less so since the Music & Movie industry are improving their practices by making more digital commercial services available, which still aren’t great with all the DRM incompatibilities and very limited offline access, whereas initially the internet as a distribution platform was totally ignored by them).
Even with great awareness, The Sex Party have had limited success, only winning a seat in Victorian Parliament - No Federal success.
Let’s look at success stories: Nick Xenophon and Nick Xenophon Team. He doesn’t use a Joke/Funny/Witty name, just an exact representation of his views - his own views. Even Pauline Hanson, managed to get a lot of media attention/controversy through the media, without a joke name (her views however, well she has her audience).
