Sunday, September 01, 2013

Party Games 37/54 Pirate Party Australia

Inspired by the Pirate Party in Europe, Pirate Party Australia is for copyright reform, strong civil rights, and transparent government. This last they put into practice within their own party, having publicly released information on their policy development and preference deals for this election.

In addition to copyright reform, they also advocate for intellectual property reform in general including patent reform. To improve transparency in government they want stronger freedom of information laws, greater whistleblower protection, and fixed terms for parliament.

They are strong defenders of civil rights, opposing censorship, promoting privacy in the real world and online, opposing data retention of users activities without a warrant, and they want to have a bill of rights added to our constitution.

Their asylum seeker policy is one of the few I've seen who recognize that any solution is going to be an international one that requires us to cooperate with neighboring nations rather than just paying them to take on our burdens. I do have concerns about tying foreign aid to the process (less so if we offer more aid rather than putting new conditions on existing aid).

They want to increase the use of renewable energy, have good environmental policies (finally a party that says they care about the scientific consensus who doesn't then go on to disregard the scientific consensus).

 I think I have a new favorite party (sorry Future Party and Bullet Train Australia).

The Pirate Party Australia has senate candidates for Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria. 

website: http://pirateparty.org.au/
twitter: @piratepartyau
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piratepartyau

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