Talk:Constitution

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The following are suggestions for the minimalist constitution based on the draft Alternative Constitution

Contents

Proposed Minor Changes

  • Article 2.3 - spelling - change "surveilance" to "surveillance" (Pervach, 19/10, 1520h)

Articles of the Constitution

Article 1: Name, Principles and Constitution

  • Keep in full (Pervach, 19/1, 0040h)

Article 2: Principles

  • Shorten dramatically, make it look more like the core policy (Pervach, 19/1, 0040h)
    • The Pirate Party only has three issues on its agenda:
      • Reform of copyright law
      • An abolished patent system
      • Respect for the right to privacy
  • My suggestion:
    • We consider it to be the role of government firstly to secure individuals' moral rights, including the liberty to do anything which does not infringe upon the rights of others, and secondly, to promote the greater good, in so far as the people democratically decided to forgo their rights to this end.
    • We do not consider copyrights or patents to be moral rights. Further, we consider New Zealand copyright and patent law, at the time of writing, to be more restrictive than is necessary or helpful for promoting the greater good. We believe the New Zealand public has been stripped of their rights under false pretences, and we aim to challenge these ideas, and ultimately to implement legislative reform to address this issue.
    • james g
  • Imo, the constitution should not read like an ad. James g's suggestion to me sounds like something we would say to "outsiders" explaining our position. As i see the constitution as basically preaching to the converted, it should be something simple like:
    • "The purpose of PPNZ is:
      • To oppose the legislation permitting copyright and patents and the perceptions of copyright and patent privileges as being moral rights or as beneficial for the common interest.
      • To promote the right to privacy for individuals and openness in government, especially in electronic media." (Pervach, 23/1, 0020h)

Article 3: Administration of the Party

  • Remove mention of subordinate bodies (Pervach, 19/1, 0040h)
    • I disagree, I think they may be needed later on and don't see any reason why the executive shouldn't be able to create subordinate bodies (ie committees) and we probably need to have that language in there in order to facilitate that. (Peter, 20/1, 0054h)
      • Put it back in when we first review the constitution, in any case. Low priority at the moment. (Pervach 23/01 0040h)
    • I'm happy to leave them in, removed the <?> (Pervach 27/01 0230h)

Article 4: The Executive Council

  • Simplify to 4 positions "and those created by the executive council" (Pervach, 19/1, 0040h)
  • Extend the maximum term beyond 12 month (maybe 13?) to allow some leeway for holding elections. (james g 21/01)
    • Good point. Maybe a "nominal" 12 month term and new elections must be held within 15 months. (Pervach 23/01 0040h)
  • Don't allow people to nominate themselves, if someone can't find another member willing to nominate them, then they're not likely to get many votes. I think it's the purpose of nominations to avoid this issue. (james g 21/01)
    • Agree (Pervach 23/01 0040h)
  • Clarify that each candidate for Party Agent that receives 10% of the votes after votes for eliminated candidates have been redistributed will be presented to the Council (assuming this is what is intended, rather than just first-choice votes). (james g 21/01)
    • Note that Party agent would be removed by the 1st discussion point (Pervach 23/01 0040h)
  • Remove or make less specific the requirement for optional preferential voting. E.g. "The method for voting will be any method which requires majority support for the winner". Remove the clause about only voting once as it is stating the obvious and unnecessary. (Pervach 23/01 0140h)
    • No objection received, removed. (Pervach 25/01 1540h)
  • Duties for secretary (According to Electoral Act 1993) seem to include
    • Keep copies of: constitution (including membership rules and candidate selection rules), logo, membership list, candidate list, auditor details
    • keep records of: party advertisements and the related expenses, invoices and recepits, donations
    • accept donations (where appropriate) and deposit in party account
    • authorise party advertisements (where appropriate)
    • cooperate with the auditor
    • perform correspondence, including with Electoral Commission (james g, 23/01)

Article 5: Membership

  • Simplify requirements for membership to simply "eligible to vote in NZ and fills out a membership form"
  • Remove additional categories of membership
  • Specify the length of membership to be 12 months
  • Change the executive council powers to simply:
    • Accepting memberships is at the discretion of the recipient (i.e. Bruce, who receives all our mail. This is primarily for when no payment is received)
    • The executive council may, upon unanimous agreement, suspend or void (or extend by up to 6 months) the membership of any member. (Pervach, 19/1 2330h)
  • I think there is a requirement that members be financial members for a political party so I think it would be good to keep this as an official requirement, and I also don't think it would hurt to have applicants agree to the rules of the constitution, and align with the principles of the party (although asking for agreement with the constitution sounds like it requires agreeing to the letter of the stated principles, which is probably overreaching). (james g, 21/01)
    • Ok, maybe include the membership fee. Also, maybe add that "in signing the membership form, applicants are agreeing to abide by the constitution." I don't think we should make everyone actually read the constitution though, we don't want to scare everyone away from joining. (Pervach 23/01 0040h)
      • I've had another look at this--rules for membership (of registered parties?) are required by the Electoral Act 1993 Section 71B. I think it's probably worth putting some effort into this clause. (james g, 23/01)
        • Added General meeting recommendation: members have the right to ¨participate in selection of candidates for elections.¨ (Pervach 23/01 1940h)
  • Remove the clause about policy amendment proposals, as they are not described.
    • No objection received - removed (Pervach 25/01 1530h)
  • Remove specific descriptions of the officer roles. (Pervach 23/01 0140h)
  • Propose to remove "participate in any bodies of the party" (this would mean anyone can participate in ANY regional chaper, and things like that, and it's not really necessary anyway. (I don't think chapters were what they meant) (Pervach 25/01 1530h)
    • removed it (Pervach 27/01 0230h)

Article 6: Policy Decisions

  • Remove this Article entirely (Pervach, 19/1 2330h)

Article 7: Meeting Procedure and Requirements

  • Remove this Article entirely (Pervach, 19/1 2330h)
  • I think something about democratic selection of candidates is required for political parties. (james g, 21/01)
    • Point 1: While some major parties do (Nats, Labour) others don't. The main reason i want to remove it is that it will take too long to do now, and we will be having democratic selection in the mean time anyway. (Pervach 23/01 0040h)
      • Looking at this again, the Electoral Act 1993 Sections 71 and 71B talk about democratic selection of candidates. I think it could be worth keeping. (james g, 23/01)
        • Renamed "Candidate Selection" and added General meeting recommendations:
          • "the executive council must select candidates in a manner which includes participation by current financial members of the party who are or would be entitled to vote for those candidates at any election.¨
          • ¨the executive council must by special resolution declare that the candidate has been selected, that financial members have had reasonable opportunity to participate, and that the candidate is eligible under electoral law.¨ (Pervach 23/01 1940h)

Article 8: Financial Structure

  • Remove this Article entirely (Pervach, 19/1 2330h)
  • Incorporated societies aren't allowed to 'distribute profits to members', so I think it would be good to have that bit about use of assets (or something similar) in there when it comes to thinking about this. I'm not sure if this is an issue at the moment, but I thought it might be worth mentioning. (james g, 21/01)
    • The main reason i want to remove it is that it will take too long to do now. I agree that we should eventually add something to it, but later when we have time and people prepared to actually write it. (Pervach 23/01 0040h)

Article 9: Amendments to the Constitution

  • Reduce the requirement to "a simple majority of voting members, with votes in favour exceeding 15% of the Party membership"
  • Remove the other clauses (we would have trouble contacting "all members")
  • Include dissolution in this article (Pervach 20/1 0000h)

Article 10: Dispute Resolution Committee

  • Remove this Article entirely (Pervach, 20/1 0000h)

Article 11: Dissolution

  • Remove this Article entirely if it is included in Article 9: Amendments to the Constitution (Pervach, 20/1 0000h)
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