Do we have a structure to organize the imembers? And what the ideas about “how we can benefit from that”?
International supporters are welcome to assist with all the processes of the party including attending meetings and contributing to things like policies, press releases or submissions. There’s not much more to it 
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Great … But what about having a body which control this kind of members because I think that this kind can target different achievements
We have an international relations team which at the moment consists only of myself. It’s responsible for liasing and providing recommendations to the NC for overseas orgs. We don’t have a specific body setup to do more than that outside of Australia as we don’t have the resources.
What about building it ?
Yes. I would support and help in this project.
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A good way to kick start this would be by working with PPI and the international effort Pirate Party International General Assembly 2018 - call for PPAU observers
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Yes! Miles you are on the money.
Thus far Miles, my biggest slow down is working through how I can contribute into the Pirate Party machinery. Several of my new members are relying upon me to sort of advise them as well. I also have 5 new members all based in overseas locations who are very keen to help the PP. If we can get a little bit more organised then I’m sure that this would be a winner. Thanks.
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You should’ve gotten a link to the on-boarding page in your membership-acceptance email, which contains mostly links to relevant bits of the website.
Down the bottom of that is another link to another page we have which covers most of the things-that-need-volunteers:
Thanks Alex. I am a 60 y.o. trying to keep up with you Young Guns!
But I can help in different ways I think.
I am an old National Trade Union Leader from the Steam Era Union viz The Federated Engine Drivers & Fireman’s Association of Australasia (now CFMEU). I have some good old Blue Collar connections & organising skills.
I am at the service of the PP of A!
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One of our suggestions for PPI was that it become a common ground for sharing things like electoral strategy, campaigning, graphic design resources, organising methods, advocacy styles etc. As members of PPI we could vote and put forward volunteers to organise that platform
Remember that as an organisation, PPAU’s primary responsibility is advocacy and electoral activism within Australia. That’s that the National Council should and will focus on, barring a party referendum and constitutional change (which is possible).
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Miles, I am truly trying to follow the path set out by the Party’s Constitution and Policies. I have put on the record that my central policy concern is the massive job losses and social disruption if there is an uncontrolled release of Robotics and AI. But I have gone over the broader policies of the Party and all of which I fully support. Miles because all of my Communist Party & ALP political training, I am used to getting policy outcomes by serious biff & barge. But this is entirely inappropriate here in the PP of A. I am now working with young people who are brought up with a different mind set. If I request that you help me with getting familiar with how to go about business, then I will work very hard to do so on behalf of the Party. Again, I am at the service of the Party.
Hey now @John_Wilson, what’s your thinking regarding the general implosion of the union movement since Howard scuttled things?
PPAU policy never really took a position on unions or much on trade relations at all, but I often though we should have some vaguely positive position, just not sure what the position should be like in 2018.
Go crazy - tell us what you really think.
Wow. Where would you like me to start. To be contemporary, the big fracture and heated division within the Trade Unions and the ALP is over the issue of signing the TPP Trade Deal. This will cause tremendous friction between the Shorten Leadership Team and the big Left Unions - and rightly so in my view. The TPP is a trade of Australian Sovereign Rights for International Corporate Rights. John Howard is just history.
Yeah, the ISDS clauses are atrocious. We obviously oppose the TPP. In fact, we object to the whole way that trade agreements get backdoored into legislation.
What do unions need in 2018?
Andrew, job insecurity (Robotics, AI, TPP Trade Deal) + a deepening Income Disparity (families are being squeezed financially) are the Headline trigger points.
But there are some deep fractures within the Unions themselves (read Retail & Fast Food Workers Union - v - the SDA viz Shoppies Union). But also between the Union Movement and the ALP.
The Shorten Leadership Team are still captured by the Globalist Agenda viz China’s rise. Whilst the average Union Member is shit scared about being tossed on the job scrap heap by an overwhelming Chinese economic juggernaut (read the Trump blue collar base).
My honest opinion? The gates are wide open for the PPAU to slice off big pieces of the ALP / Union voting base. Wide Open.
John, I hear what you’re saying.
If you read through our policies, you may notice a trend of not just taking a stance for/against some trend. They’re usually more of a lateral rethinking of the playing field.
Robotics and AI are not going to go away. If Australia somehow managed to hold it back here, we would become globally uncompetitive and the result would be an economic dive that fucks it up for everyone here.
Another subtle point is that automation increasingly creates a trend away from offshoring because labour costs stop being a big factor and the benefits of local manufacturing (reduced transport costs & local support) start to win, but with less staff.
This still leaves the inequality, labour and job security issues unresolved though.
I think the answer has to be something like changing award conditions to require corporate equity being granted to workers in addition to their existing pay.
It locks in a long, slow but cumulative shift towards worker influence over corporate interests, without dismantaling the corporate competition that tends to drive innovation and value creation.
It also aligns the interests of corporations and workers. People don’t object to inequality anywhere near as much if they see a solid way toward reducing it that is accessible to them.
What do you think?
Andrew, no the AI & Robotics are here to stay. But the question is who owns them and how will they be unleashed. Either for - or against - humanity.
Now at the moment the psychopaths own it i.e. the Military Industrial Complex. This means humanity is under threat. Not just going to be disrupted - but under threat of existence.
The PPAU must be able to articulate this threat to Australia’s Working & Middle Classes. If they can do this - accompanied by some solutions - then then game is ours to lose.
The PPAU are not there yet. They are full of ideal young people - Australia’s future in fact - but not yet able to cut through in their message to the Working & Middle Classes.
I’m here to help with this
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As Yuval Harari noted in his latest book, the problem is not worker exploitation but worker irrelevance. Paradoxically, by improving workers rights, conditions and pay we accelerate automation for reasons of financial expediency, but as has been pointed out, AI and robotics aren’t going away.
I’m not sure that working conditions will matter, futuristically speaking, if half the population don’t have a full time job. This is where a UBI becomes a key social policy and it will impact industrial relations by taking people out of the (full time) job market and that will be good for workers, hopefully.
And yet…what will we get from Lib/Lab at the next election? Jobs and growth (and law and order). Someone needs to stop and say, ‘hang on, what will happen when there are no jobs? What’s your policy then?’
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Hi Pip. Yes you hit the nail on the head mate. The existing Political Paradigm is not based on reality. It’s simply not.
I am the former President of Trades Hall in Canberra (3 years) and do you know what my old Trade Union mates are waffling about?
“Apprenticeships and Traineeships.” They are still waffling on about pay inequality or goodness sake.
I mean, can you believe it? They are going to be walking into a BIG HIGH TECH SWINGING DOOR here. And they cannot see it coming.
My view. The Working Class of Australia very badly need a 'Switched on" PPAU going Full Tilt on these issues.
If we do and execute well, then we will win Parliamentary Representation.
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