Words from President
The National Council recently resolved to provide a monthly briefing to the members as a means of communicating what has happened in the previous month and provide updated financial information. It is intended that these briefings will be provided on the first Tuesday of every month.
It has been a very busy month for the Party as you will see below. We have finally completed our handover from the old National Council to the new, and completed most of the administrative tasks that necessitates.
Rundown of recent happenings
In the Party
- If you were expecting a shirt or sticker/badge pack as a result of supporting recent Pozible campaigns, it should have recently arrived!
- Brendan represented PPAU at the Australian Internet Governance Forum (auIGF).
- Brendan and Mozart represented PPAU at the “Human Rights Symposium on Free Speech” in Sydney.
- A general call out for female members interested in taking part in the initial phase of the Women’s Engagement Strategy Working Group has been announced.
- Constitution has been updated as per the National Congress
- Lots of effort on documenting processes in preparation for state and territory branches to use.
In the World
In the future we’ll collate more interesting content, but for now:
- The ATO has decided on how cryptocurrencies (particularly Bitcoin) will be taxed
- Here’s a cockatoo doing awesome stuff (it made me happy 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
- Our ongoing petition against three strikes and Internet censorship
- Crowdfunding campaign to fund translation of Dutch Pirate Bay website block ruling to English (target: $3000)
- The nascent Stop the Spies campaign that the Party is supporting
Recent meetings
Minutes for all official meetings of the National Council and Party Committees are recorded on the wiki.
National Council
Policy Development Committee
Submissions
- Online copyright infringement—public consultation - [PDF]
- Inquiry into the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 - [PDF]
If you see anything you think we should be making a submission to, please let us know.
Press releases
- Data retention secrecy fundamentally undemocratic
- US certification provisions in the TPP would create copyright vassal states
- Pirate Party supports EFA/GetUp! petition against mandatory data retention
- Pirate Party denounces data retention plans of “digitally illiterate cabal”
- Brandis’ copyright proposals merely a big media wishlist
Finances
The Party is currently using Xero to manage our finances.
As at September 3, 2014:
- Transaction Account: $4,231.88
- Savings Account: $5,892.30
We are currently 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
- 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
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 September 9 in #ppau on IRC.
- The next National Council Meetings will be on 4 September and 18 September in #ppau-nc on IRC.
- The next Policy Development Committee meetings will be 10 September and 24 September in #ppau-pdc.
State/territory meetings
- SA Pirates: 3 September at Worldsend Hotel, Adelaide (7pm ACST)
- NSW Pirates:
- WA Pirates: 8 September in #ppau-wa (5pm AWST)
- Tasmanian Pirates: 11 September (7pm AEST)
Keep your eyes peeled for meeting announcements for other states.
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to reply to this post!