Party Update: Jan 2016. Pirate Party Australia

Ahoy

Pirate Party Australia has held our first strategy meeting last Wednesday the 13th of January. It was a successful meeting and we aim to hold another strategy meeting on Wednesday February 10 to discuss fund raising and anything else that people think we need to discuss.

We had a good discussion about our relations with other minor Parties and have a better idea what we should do going forward. We also discussed how to set up State branches, with the long term aim of participating in State elections. I will go into further detail below. Here are the minutes from the strategy meeting: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Minutes/Strategy_Meeting/2016-01-13

State Election Committees

To get the organisational experience to form State branches we have decided to form State based election committees. The aim is to get potential candidates and anyone else keen to help out working towards the Federal Election this year. It will involve fund raising, campaigning to spread the word about our general awesomeness and getting materials ready for the Federal Election. After the election we plan to use the State Election Committees as the basis of emergent State Councils. The draft terms of reference for State Election Committees is here: https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/State_and_Territory_Election_Committee

If you would like to participate in these Committees and maybe enter the election as a Pirate Party candidate please email the National Council as soon as possible at: nationalcouncil@pirateparty.org.au

Membership Database System

Late last year we put out a tender for a new membership database system. The winning submission was from ThoughtWorks, who are providing a massive discount due to their belief in what we are trying to build. The initial cost will be $10,500 (incluing Pozible fees) with a stretch goal of $21,000 for a membership database system with all of the trimmings. The completed system will be open source and useful to political Parties and non-government organisations well beyond our own Party.

We have approached the Alliance for Progress and plan to speak with NGOs and other minor parties to help raise the funds. We are also launching a Pozible campaign to assist in raising the money and we will need your help to contribute directly and to help spread the word on social media. We will link to the campaign in the next member mailout.

CS:GO

We held the Counter Strike: Global Offensive Tournament against r/CircleJerkAus last Sunday night. Sadly we were defeated, but we helped raise $609 for the Fred Hollows Foundation and had a good time. We’d like to thank everyone who donated and participated. Despite not winning the funds, it also resulted in some good publicity for the party. You can find links to more information about the tournament and the video replay in our discussion forums.

Treasurers Report

We’ve wrapped up an interesting year on the financial front - with highlights including an epic battle with paypal and a post-election submission to the AEC. Read all about it here: https://pirateparty.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Financial_report_Congress_2015_Final.pdf.
This report is later than usual - we have changed to a Xero accounting system and things should faster and easier in the long run.

Now we’re gearing up for another intense year, with an election to contest and lot of funds to raise. Big thanks to every past and future donor!