Pirate Party Australia

Pirate Party Australia
President Simon Frew [1]
Secretary Daniel Judge
Founded 2008
Legalised 17 January 2013
Membership  (2015) approx. 1300
Ideology Pirate politics
Colours Black   Blue  
Website
https://www.pirateparty.org.au

Pirate Party Australia is a political party in Australia that has traditionally represented civil liberty issues, but has also expanded into more traditional areas of policy.[2] It is a Pirate Party which is based on the Pirate Party of Sweden, and has continued to develop a comprehensive policy platform since its formation based on the Pirate ethos.[3]

History

The Pirate Party was founded in 2008 by Rodney Serkowski with the launch of a website and a wiki, and a request for contributions.[4] In 2009, the first National Council of the Party was elected. Pirate Party Australia was formally registered as a political party by the Australian Electoral Commission on 17 January 2013.[5][6]

In late 2009, the party announced its intention to contest the 2010 federal election[7] and recruited the 500 members necessary for registration. The party was expected to mainly compete with the Australian Greens and the Australian Sex Party.[8]

By 2009, it is understood that the party had over 1100 'preliminary members', members who had not completed the necessary paperwork to be considered a member for registration purposes but listed as an interested person. The party sent a call-out for leadership positions, with leadership elections held on 7 October. David Crafti was elected the party's first president. Rodney Serkowski, the founder of the party, took over the position of president in late July 2010, at the party's National Congress, to be followed by David Campbell for the following 2 years. At the National Congress in July 2013, Simon Frew took on the position of president. At the National Congress in July 2014, Brendan Molloy took on the position of president. Simon Frew is the current president, elected at the 2015 National Congress.

Due to registration requirements, the party was not able to contest the 2010 federal election [9] but it registered in January 2013, enabling it to contest the 2013 federal election.[10]

Platform and policy

The Pirate Party's platform is developed collaboratively and democratically, and hosted on a wiki on the Party's website.[11] All policies are required to meet the principles and objectives as set out in the Party's constitution and be supported by a two-thirds majority vote of all full members of the Pirate Party at a relevant meeting.[12][13] Policies will also only be adopted after the completion of an online seven-day voting period, where all full members may take part.[14]

When founded in 2009, the Pirate Party's platform started off limited to a series of core policies: civil and digital liberties, government transparency, personal privacy, and copyright and patent reform. By 2013, the platform and policies of the Pirate Party have expanded significantly into a comprehensive policy set that competes with the major parties and larger minor parties in detail and breadth.

Most policy is adopted and debated at a National Congress, which meets annually in July.[15] The meeting is hosted physically, but also simultaneously broadcast live via a web stream with interaction tools, allowing participation for all members and the public regardless of physical proximity from the meeting. Another type of conference called a Policy Meeting can also be hosted specifically for the adoption and debate of policy and platform amendments, which did happen once in April 2013.[16]

In July 2012, the platform saw a very minor revision, introducing protection of quotation rights, unrestricted format shifting, policy specifically geared towards supporting 3D printing, mandatory privacy breach disclosure, protection for whistleblowers, political donations and transparency treaty making.[17]

Since 2013, the Party set off to rapidly expand its platform and policy set, expanding into more traditional areas of political discourse such as education, the environment, energy, welfare, taxation and asylum seeker policy.

In April 2013, a Policy Meeting was hosted in order to deliberate on significant amendments to the platform and policy set. For the first time in the Pirate Party's history, the meeting resolved to introduce platform amendments outside traditional Pirate political areas and introduce detailed policy texts to complement the platform, including: clean energy, a moratorium on coal seam gas extraction, taxation reform, welfare reform, drug reform, marriage reform, the introduction of a bill of rights, and improving the electoral process.[18]

The National Congress in July 2013 saw the introduction of further policies, including: civil liberties, cultural participation, education, democratic institution reform, animal welfare, asylum seekers and refugees and foreign policy and treaty making. The welfare policy was updated to include support for the NDIS and other minor changes.[19]

2014 saw fewer amendments than the overhauls of the previous years, introducing policy amendments relating to constitutional reform, copyright, education, energy, the environment and climate change, privacy law, and tax and welfare.[20]

The Pirate Party has a strong focus on evidence-based policy development, listing just under 200 references on their platform as of July 2015.[21]

Euthanasia

At the request of Exit International, Pirate Party Australia member David Campbell[22] conducted a series of information sessions as part of Exit International's workshop for seniors who wanted to know how to by-pass the Australian Internet Filter so that they can access information on safe euthanasia techniques.[23]

Pirate Party Australia has adopted Euthanasia rights into their party policy platform.[24]

Party structure

The Pirate Party is a federal political party, structured with an executive organ called the National Council, which undertakes the day-to-day management of the Party and representation activities.[25] The National Congress is the paramount decision making body which is composed of all full members and meets at least annually.[26]

The Pirate Party has provisions for the creation of state and territory branches as subordinate organisations to the federal party. All members of the federal party are required to be—and automatically are—members of their local branch.[27] The party currently does not allow members to hold membership of other Australian political parties.

In line with the principle of participatory democracy, there are several committees, working groups and teams that exist for managing party activities. The most prominent committee is the Policy Development Committee, which is tasked with developing detailed policy documentation for consideration for adoption each year. The chair of the committee, the Policy Development Officer, is appointed by election each year at a National Congress.[28]

National Council

The National Council is the executive governing body of the party, with 9 members directly elected by all full members at each annual National Congress. The council consists of a President, Deputy President, Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer, Registered Officer, and 2 Councillors.[29]

Elections

Australian Capital Territory General Election, 2012

In 2012, members of the Pirate Party's ACT branch ran as independent candidates in the Australian Capital Territory elections.[30][31] The Pirate Party endorsed three ungrouped candidates in the election, each of whom received 0.4-0.5% of the primary vote.[32]

Australian Federal Election, 2013

The Pirate Party was approached by Glenn Druery to be a member of the Minor Party Alliance, but chose to eschew membership of the alliance due to the membership requirement of preferencing far right parties highly, and instead chose to base preferences upon a democratic vote of its members along policy lines.[33] Democratically deciding their Senate preferences is now standard practice for Pirate Party Australia. It did so in the 2014 Western Australia Senate Rerun.[34]

Pirate Party Australia ran eight candidates for the Senate in the 2013 Federal Election: two candidates each in the states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.[35] The best result was in Tasmania with a 0.6% primary vote. The party was unique in its approach to preference deals with other parties in that they are professing to eschew the secret deals that typify preference negotiations and instead are conducting all such activities openly and transparently and putting all decisions to a membership vote.[36][37]

Griffith by-election, 2014

Melanie Thomas ran for the Pirate Party at the 2014 Griffith by-election and finished fourth out of 11 candidates with a 1.5% primary vote.

WA Senate Special Election, 2014

In the 2013 Senate election, Pirate Party Australia did not run candidates in WA. However, due to certain issues with the results of that election, there was a special WA rerun election, where the party did run two candidates. The party preferenced Scott Ludlam of the Australian Greens as their next highest preference.

Pirate Party Australia ran two candidates on the Pirate Party ticket in the special election: Fletcher Boyd and Michelle Allen. Pirate Party Australia received 0.49%[38] of the first preference group ticket votes.

Canning by-election, 2015

Michelle Allen contested the Canning by-election, 2015 as the Pirate Party candidate and won 775 first preference votes or 0.92% of the total.

2016 federal election

In the 2016 federal election Pirate Party Australia fielded two senate candidates in each of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and a candidate for the House of Representatives in the Division of Bennelong.[39]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Council". Pirate Party Australia. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Spandas Lui (12 May 2010). "Pirate Party to become formal political party". IDG Communications. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "FAQ". Pirate Party Australia. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "History - Pirate Party Australia". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Application for registration approved - Pirate Party Australia". Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "@AusElectoralCom - The Pirate Party Australia was officially registered on 17 January 2013.".
  7. ↑ "Pirate Party to contest next Federal election". iTNews. 2009-09-29. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
  8. ↑ John Ozimek (2 October 2009). "Australian Pirate Party sets sail". The Register. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
  9. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia: Moving Forward". Pirate Party Australia. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  10. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Successfully Registers for Federal Elections". Pirate Party Australia. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Platform - Pirate Party Australia". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 5.2(3)". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  13. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 6(3)". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  14. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 6.4". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 6.1(2)". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 6.3". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "Pirate Congress 2012 Results". Pirate Party Australia. 2012-08-01. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "Policy and Preselection Meeting 2013 Results". Pirate Party Australia. 2013-04-17. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Pirate Congress 2013 Results". Pirate Party Australia. 2013-07-26. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "Pirate Congress 2014 Results". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "Platform - Pirate Party Australia". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "Beating The Filter Masterclass Photos". ZDNet Australia. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  23. ↑ Bella Counihan (4 May 2010). "Government tries to net votes in Howard's domain". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  24. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia: Policies/Civil Liberties: Enshrine freedom over the body in law".
  25. ↑ "National Council". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-08-01. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  26. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 2". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  27. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 2.1(5)". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  28. ↑ "Policy Development Committee - Terms of Reference". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  29. ↑ "Pirate Party Australia Constitution, Article 3". Pirate Party Australia. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  30. ↑ "Pirate Party ACT will be contesting the 2012 ACT elections as independents". Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  31. ↑ "Pirate Party to run Independent Candidates in Upcoming ACT Election". Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  32. ↑ "Elections ACT". Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  33. ↑ Preferencing Statement for Federal Election 2013
  34. ↑ Preferencing Statement for WA Senate Election 2014
  35. ↑ "Pirate Party announces Senate candidates". Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  36. ↑ "Pirate Party leads the way with transparent preferencing". Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  37. ↑ "Party profile: The Pirate Party, SBS, World News Australia Radio". Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  38. ↑ AEC Virtual Tally Room - First Preference by Group - WA
  39. ↑ "Candidates for the 2016 federal election". Australian Electoral Commission. 12 June 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
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