Words from President
It has been a busy month! The National Council has been busy representing the Party as much as possible, having attended an event or two and done quite a few radio interviews on copyright and national security.
Of course, it has been a rather bad month for Australian liberal democracy, with the introduction of draconian (and rather fascistic) “national security” legislation giving ASIO very significant powers, with the next two tranches coming very soon.
We launched a week of pay-what-you-want memberships in response to the passing of the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 in the Senate, and we received over 110 new members. People are not happy with the direction the Government are taking this country, and I look forward to repaying their confidence in us in the coming months as we fight this legislation, and the coming years as we continue to fight the recurrence of unthinking, digitally illiterate draconian responses by the government.
Check out the happenings below to get more information on what you can do to help. 
Rundown of recent happenings
In the Party
- Brendan did a presentation at the Greens Reboot conference in Sydney about national security and digital surveillance. He also had an interview with Radio Adelaide about the national security bills.
- He also spoke about file sharing on Radio National’s Drive show, and some other interviews that will be linked to if they surface.
- Simon spoke to Geelong Radio about the criminalisation of journalism.
- Fletcher spoke at a Perth forum about using technology in activism.
- Our Pozible campaign to get the Pirate Bay vs BREIN appeal case translated into English was successful. Contributors should keep an eye on their mailbox for rewards.
- We began a review of the Pirate Party International statutes.
- The National Council amended our civil liberties policy in response to the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill.
- Our members discussed 18C and a potential expansion to our Bill of Rights policy.
- In an effort to make information more accessible we’ve added info on our National Council members to the main site. The page for Committees, Teams and Working Groups is not yet completed but should be within the next fortnight.
In the World
- A WikiLeaks release revealed that the NSW police have used weaponised malware.
- Foxtel spoke out as their outdated business model continues to die.
- iiNet made a submission on the Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper.
- In a step towards a more secure world Cloudflare has introduced a new SSL service.
- Brandis claimed that increased powers for ASIO won’t lead to cover ups.
- The Australian Government committed further military resources to Iraq.
- Czech Pirate Party achieves over 20% in a local election, securing the most seats of any party contesting, and may result in a Pirate mayor!
And here’s two bird pictures this month:
http://i.giflike.com/DaBx7vY.gif
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
- Our ongoing petition against three strikes and Internet censorship
- The nascent Stop the Spies campaign that the Party is supporting, please do get involved. Write to Labor members specifically to convince them to not support data retention legislation. It is still possible to get them to block this if there is significant public support for it being blocked as they have no firm stance on this matter at this time.
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
- Review of Australia’s Welfare System - [PDF]
- Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper - [PDF]
- Inquiry into the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 - [PDF]
If you see anything you think we should be making a submission to, please let us know.
Press releases
- Consumers not the reason copyright discussion paper falls flat
- Federal Court allows gene patent cancer to spread
- Senate delivers blow to Australian freedoms
- Criminalisation of intelligence journalism and whistleblowing; introduction of data retention next
- Foreign Fighters Bill an affront to democracy
Finances
The Party is currently using Xero to manage our finances.
As of October 7, 2014:
- Transaction Account: $640.38
- Savings Account: $5,593.41
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.
Social Media
- Our Facebook page broke 8000 likes, we’re now at 8400.
- Our National Twitter account hit 7000 followers.
- This was our most popular Facebook post:
Groups seeking volunteers
- International Relations Team
- Party Constitution Review Committee
- Congress Review Committee
- Internet Engineering Committee
- Policy Development Committee
- Press Team
- Programming Team
- Social Media Team
- Design Team
Due to a lack of interest the Congress Review Committee may potentially be dissolved at the next National Council meeting. If you’re interested in this committee please speak up soon.
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 October 14 in #ppau on IRC.
- The next National Council Meetings will be on 16 October and 30 October in #ppau-nc on IRC.
- The next Policy Development Committee meeting will be 22 October in #ppau-pdc.
State/territory meetings
- SA Pirates:
- NSW Pirates:
Keep your eyes peeled for meeting announcements for other states.
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to reply to this post!