6 March 2011 meeting minutes

This article details the proceedings of the PPNZ Special General Meeting, 6 March 2011.

Here is a summary of the proceedings:
 * Tommy is appointed by the Executive Council as the interim President of the Party. Another meeting involving more members will be held as soon as possible to make an official election of the position.
 * Position of the Auckland regional chapter President is now vacant.
 * Clarification regarding regional chapter Presidents and the executive council will be revisited in another meeting.
 * The results of the Botany by-election, in which Hussain took part in for the Pirate Party of New Zealand, are discussed.
 * We will be affiliating with Pirate Parties International.
 * We will be registering our logo with the Electoral Commission.

Actionables

 * Arrange another meeting, or correspond via email to discuss the left over agenda items 4 - 9, an election on the position of the President, and a discussion about regional chapter Presidents having a seat on the executive council. Item 9 (broadcasting allocation) is especially urgent - due on 17 March.
 * Tommy to work on, or delegate someone to work on affiliation with the Pirate Parties International by 13 March.
 * Noel to register the party logos with Electoral Committee.

Agenda

 * 1) Botany by-election results and debriefing
 * 2) Decide whether to join PPI before the conference 1 week later
 * 3) Organize logo registration
 * 4) Whether to create a position for a memberships officer on the executive council, separate from the secretary and treasurer. If passed, we would require someone to be elected
 * 5) Decide whether to apply to become a Non-Profit-Organization
 * 6) Update from Young Pirates NZ and regional chapters
 * 7) About the Party registration process
 * 8) Members used to register other parties
 * 9) Applying for a broadcasting allocation

Present

 * In Auckland’s physical location:
 * Tommy, Noel, Hussain


 * Via IRC:
 * Carl, James G, kiwipeso, Jake, Matt, Peter,


 * Late:
 * Bruce, Lukas (non-member)

Minutes
The minutes for the meeting were recorded by Noel and Tommy.

Tommy declares the meeting open at 3:47pm.

Nomination for Presidency
[Tommy] proposes that we discuss the nomination of a president before we discuss any other items on the agenda. Nomination for a president is called.


 * James G nominated by kiwipeso, Tommy nominated by Noel. Tommy nominates pj.
 * James G rejects nomination.
 * Tommy’s nomination seconded by kiwipeso, Carl. Tommy accepts nomination.
 * Matt seconds pj.
 * Matt asks for clarification of a president’s responsibilities.
 * Tommy proposes delaying this until pj responds.
 * pj responded - he rejects nomination. Leaving Tommy as only nominated.
 * Noel proposed to make Tommy provisional president, and make a motion via forum/mailing list to get other people’s approval and/or alternaive nominations.
 * kiwipeso seconds, motion carries.
 * pj proposes to make Tommy president instead of just provisional. kiwipeso seconds.
 * Disputes as to whether this is constitutional arise (constitution here: ); pj says this was not on the agenda. James G points out clause 4.1, pj points out clause 4.4, which permits a vacant position to be filled by a ⅔ majority vote of the Executive Council. Bruce points out that a replacement should be voted in by members “as soon as possible”.
 * Everyone on the EC is here. So votes to appoint Tommy as interim president are under way. pj says that Tommy, currently on EC, should not be able to vote.
 * pj, Noel, Bruce and Matt voted Tommy as the interim replacement of the position of President, previously occupied by Jason.
 * Tommy is now the interim president.
 * pj proposes another SGM that would declare Tommy officially president. Various methods of voting are proposed.
 * Tommy now takes the Chair, replacing pj.

This causes the position of the Auckland regional chapter president to be vacant, being previously occupied by Tommy.


 * Tommy points out that one member can only occupy one position as officers.
 * pj disputes that it doesn’t need to be vacant, and that Auckland chapter president is not an official position on the Exec Council.
 * Tommy says in January 30 meeting, an ordinary resolution was passed that the Auckland Chapter President be a position on the Executive Council. James G agrees after looking at minutes at the meeting.
 * Kiwipeso suggests the minutes are saying that all regional presidents should be on the Executive Council. Tommy says that it was the intention before the constitution, and is not in the minutes of the meeting or constitution. So Exec Council will have to approve new chapters?
 * Pj is worried that any regional chapters, regardless of size could have officers on Exec Council. Tommy suggests that one restricts it only to regional chapters that have positions of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer elected. Kiwipeso suggests restricting to cities and regions.
 * Pj says that if presidents of each regional chapter automatically become officers on Exec Council, would bypass the election process by all PPNZ members.
 * Tommy says that all PPNZ members were given chance to vote on the PPAk presidency, cites minutes:.
 * Pj says that shouldn’t happen, as regional chapters should elect their own presidents, and PPNZ should elect their own Exec members. He says regional chapter presidents can be on exec council, but just not automatically, and should be separate from their role as regional chapter presidents. He motions this. Tommy agrees, saying that this was the case for the last election of the Auckland regional president to the council. Jake agrees with pj.
 * The motion that regional chapter presidents be separate from being on exec council is proposed by pj, seconded by kiwipeso, but objected by Tommy.
 * James G says that minutes from October 2010 already says there was a national election of the regional president to executive office, and suggests the motion may not change already.
 * Pj suggests that’s not exactly true - most non-Aucklanders abstained, and it was an Auckland meeting.
 * Pj withdraws motion, but moves to revisit at another meeting. kiwipeso seconds. Motion carries.
 * James G suggests that whether or not regional chapter presidents should have positions on the Exec Council should be put on the agenda of another meeting.
 * Tommy suggests we leave PPAk without president for now. That if the Auckland chapter elects a president, they do not automatically fill the vacant seat on the Executive Council.

Botany By-election Results and Debriefing
(First item on the Agenda)

Hussain Al-saady, who was our candidate in the Botany by-election, has an interim vote of 28, placing him tenth out of ten contesters.


 * kiwipeso asks whether that’s more than PPAk membership. Tommy confirms.
 * Tommy suggests the votes came from reputation of overseas Pirate Parties rather than us.
 * Tommy reports that PPAk did not do any campaigning until 6pm the day before, when PPAk visited shops to hand out fliers. O-week at University of Auckland was priority.
 * Pj suggests we could have done better.
 * Kiwipeso suggests we could work on more promotional material, Tommy suggests this is already possible by editing on wiki.
 * Tommy says that policies on wiki are not our official policies unless went over.
 * Pj asks whether we have any motions on this item. Proposes to move general discussion related to this item to after the meeting and get to next agenda item.
 * Kiwipeso proposes creating a brochure, Tommy and pj say there are procedures on the wiki already that enable this.

Whether to Affiliate with Pirate Parties International

 * Pros and Cons of joining?
 * Pros:
 * Tommy: Reputation/telling media about it. Publicity may mean that we could have more members.
 * Tommy: Easier to co-ordinate global efforts, such as the Tunisian letter
 * Matt: adds credibility
 * Cons:
 * More work for Exec Council.
 * Tommy: may start charging fee for affiliation next year. (PPI currently asks for no fees when joining, but reviews this every year)
 * pj: Expensive to attend PPI conferences/impractical.
 * Tommy says we could ask PPAU reps to speak on behalf.
 * James G suggests we should join PPI to influence the global organisation's policies to match ours.
 * Tommy asks who will go to PPI conferences
 * Kiwipeso moves for PPNZ to join PPI.
 * Tommy proposes to call PPI PPEU, Hussain seconds. Tommy also suggests sending a full time emissary to EU just to attend conferences.
 * Tommy asks what the responsibilities are being in PPI? Consult with PPAU
 * Tommy moves this to a vote.
 * 6 Votes. Votes: Jake, Matt, James G, Hussain for affiliating PPI. Tommy, Noel abstain. 5 needed to meet simple majority of all attending, or more votes than those against it. Tommy created arbitrary rule for this motion to pass within two minutes.Time expired, motion passed.
 * We will now work towards affiliation, which is due by next week (13 March). Tommy suggests that Matt be in charge of it. Matt says he’s overseas so may not be available.
 * pj, Bruce, Noel may not be available either. Tommy wishes to delegate to a volunteer.
 * Tommy wants it to be in on Friday night.
 * Tommy to announce this on mailing list over the next few days.

Logo Registration
(Third item on the agenda)


 * Tommy delegates task in relation to logo registration to Noel.
 * Things needing decision:
 * Exact version of the black/white, colour logos we will be using?

Tommy proposes meeting adjourned at 6:02pm due to secretary Noel leaving. pj seconds.

Outstanding agenda items will be added to a future meeting.

Meeting closes 6:07pm.