Monthly Brief - November/December 2014

Announcement
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Words from President

Hey there! Sorry about the lateness and the lack of a brief last month. Much of the National Council was either ill or unavailable, making the last two months very trying, but we’ve survived, and here’s the brief for the last two months!

We successfully had the Dutch Pirate Bay takedown trial translated into English, and we have released it into the public domain (using the Creative Commons Zero license). How timely given the news that the Government is moving forward with the futile policy of website blocking.

It is disturbing to see the Government press forward with SOPA-style policies given the lack of impact it will have, as the issues of access and affordability have not been dealt with. We will keep you up to date with campaigns that appear to counter this as they come to hand.

For those who have been wondering, membership renewals will begin some time at the end of January or early February. We will also (hopefully) accept Bitcoin for donations and membership payments at the same time, and members will have the ability to securely update their details at any time. :smiley:

I will be heading to Sweden in the middle of January, and where physical appearances are necessary, Simon Frew (Deputy President) and Daniel Judge (Secretary) will take up the presentation duties. Both of them are very strong and experienced public speakers, and I trust that they will do an excellent job.

As I will be in a timezone 7-9 hours ago for Australians, we will be the only Party in Australia with 24 hours per day support services! There are benefits to a president-in-exile. :wink:

We’ve made more submissions in the last 12 months than in the entire existence of the Party, so I thank everybody who has contributed to those submissions.

Thanks for your support during this extremely trying year. We could also do with a contribution to help us along with our projects. :smiley:

I would also greatly appreciate it if anybody was capable of writing some easy-to-read blog posts on our core issues when they have the time to do so to let me know. We are always looking to extend our reach, and the easiest way is to make easy to consume content for those who aren’t just journalists, which is the target audience of our press releases.

Rundown of recent happenings

In the Party

October:

  • Brendan was interviewed on ABC News Radio following the presentation of the Data Retention Bill. The relevant submission is due on the 19th of January
  • The Queensland branch has been making solid progress.
  • Plans for an online General Assembly for PPI have fallen through.
  • PPCZ received significant success in their local elections.
  • The National Council chose to disband the Congress Review Committee due to a lack of interest.
  • The General Tuesday meeting has become redundant due to the success of Discourse. Therefore it will be re-purposed to be a live, in-depth discussion rather than just updates.

November:

  • The crowdfunded translation of the Pirate Bay vs BREIN appeal has been completed.
  • Public and member interest in Pirate representation in state elections is increasing. However, before this can be achieved we need more complete state platforms. Platforms will be mostly consistent, but specific policies may vary. Progress on this is underway.
  • The NSW Coordinator position is being handed over to Daniel Judge because Brendan will be overseas.
  • Daniel and Brendan gave a presentation on mass surveillance and encryption to a group in Sydney
  • Simon gave a presentation on data retention to the Whistleblowers Australia Annual National Conference

In the World

One intelligent parrot this month:

See something in the world that you think should be listed here? Email secretary@pirateparty.org.au with your ideas and we might just add them.

Active campaigns

Recent meetings

Minutes for all official meetings of the National Council and Party Committees are recorded on the wiki.

National Council

Policy Development Committee

We’re a bit backlogged with minutes but they’ll appear on these pages:

Submissions

If you see anything you think we should be making a submission to, please let us know.

Press releases

Finances

The Party is currently using Xero to manage our finances.

As of December 11, 2014:

  • Transaction Account: $946.64
  • Savings Account: incoming $6,453.74

We are still in the process of opening a second transactions account for the purposes of safely paying for services such as our web hosting with a debit card linked to an account that will only have the bare minimum cash placed in it for these services.

Groups seeking volunteers

If you feel that you would like to be involved in any of these groups, or have any questions, please contact us.

Upcoming events and meetings

All official meetings and events are listed in the Party Calendar.

National meetings

  • General Meetings are now held once a month on the second Tuesday of that month. The next meeting is January 13 in #ppau on IRC.
  • The next National Council meeting will be on 29 December in #ppau-nc on IRC.
  • The next Policy Development Committee meeting will be December 17 in #ppau-pdc.

State/territory meetings

Keep your eyes peeled for meeting announcements for other states.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to reply to this post!

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