Pirate Party Unites In Australia 173
bennyboy64 writes "iTnews reports that the Pirate Party has opened a branch office in Australia and is recruiting office bearers and supporters. The group updated the Australian website it registered last year and advertised for a president, treasurer, secretary, and supporting positions. A party spokesman, Rodney Serkowski, said the group was close to establishing a beachhead in Australia. He said that with 300 supporters it was on its way to signing the 500 it needed to become an official Australian political party. 'We are currently an online community, working together with the intention of becoming a registered party, and we're coming closer to reaching that goal,' Serkowski said. 'If we can get the required 500 members, and be registered by year's end, I think it is highly probable that we will contest the next Federal election in Australia.' At the weekend about two percent of Germans voted for the Pirate Party, although it needed five percent to gain a seat in the Bundestag."
In other news.. (Score:4, Informative)
During the elections on Germany the Pirate Party there could rake in 2% of all the votes: almost a million people voted for them! Kudos, and keep going!.
Website link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Website link (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yarr (Score:4, Informative)
...and if you are not in Australia, sign up to your local party! [pp-international.net]
The Pirate Party will only become a major force in politics if people are prepared to put in the time, effort and cash needed to make it work. Here in the Pirate Party UK [pirateparty.org.uk], we are facing a huge challenge to raise enough money to put up a significant number of candidates in the next general election. We have 650 constituencies, each requiring a £500 deposit before we can give voters the chance to vote pirate.
Re:Piratenpartei got 2.0% in german elections (Score:4, Informative)
Exactly - the PP pulled past the rightwing extremists with flying colors and taken on the title of the "biggest of the small parties". The news agencies moved them out of "Others" into their own column. To compare, the Greens got 1.5% when they first ran, and "save the Earth" sounds easier to convince people of than "copyright needs to be revised". This was a grand success! :D
Yes, they are expending fast (Score:4, Informative)
German Pirate Party gets some attention, though it could be more. They have been successful this far, because they address topics that major parties ignore (internet cencorship, civil rights, privacy, government transparency, open access, copyright, patents, ...). They got 0.9% at European Parliament election in June and now they got 2% in federal elections. Their membership number is exploding (currently almost 10,000 [piratenpartei.de], graph [piratenpartei.de]).
Even though some pirates hoped for a better result, 2% is absolutely astonishing. If their success continues (and polls show that PP has 13% of all first-time voters, some time is working for us), they may very well be in the Bundestag (parliament) in four years. By comparison, Green party had 1.5% in its first federal election in 1980 and since the following election, they are represented in the Bundestag with constantly over 5%.
Re:Not 2 percent in Germany (Score:4, Informative)
There are two tables for the results of Berlin. The first one shows the results for the 'Erststimme' (first vote) which is used to elect a direct candidate for your district. Since there were no direct candidates from the pirate party for Berlin, the number of votes is 0. The second table shows the results for the 'Zweitstimme' (second vote), which is used to assign the seats in the 'Bundestag' proportionally to all parties that gained more than 5%. As you can see, the votes for the pirate party do appear in this table.
I hope this helps. But mind you, the German election system is extremely complicated.
Greetings from the Germany.
Re:Yes, they are expending fast (Score:2, Informative)
13% of all first-time voters, some time is working for us
I heard that it was 13% of the male first time voters.
Re:Great... (Score:5, Informative)
I want a British pirate party now. We need one :/
That's okay, because we've got one [pirateparty.org.uk]! Just passed 500 paid-up members, too.
Re:In other news.. (Score:3, Informative)
There were over a dozen parties on the ballot that couldn't.
They may just get a seat. (Score:3, Informative)
One of our current federal senators is Seven Fielding, of the christian political party called Family First. http://www.stevefielding.com.au/ [stevefielding.com.au]
That fool got his seat with only 1.8% of the primary vote. The remainder were on preferences.
Re:Freedom is born where oppression reigns (Score:3, Informative)
In Australia when the iPod was released there was no legal way to get popular music for it.
There was no iTunes or equivalent here, and it was illegal to copy your own CD collection. Yet iPod and other mp3 players sold like hotcakes.
Just like copying your CD to tape to play in the car was illegal. Time-shift recording on your VCR was illegal.
But nobody gave a damn. The laws have changed a little since, but since thy were never enforced, few people noticed.
So frankly, and sadly, I don't see the Pirate party getting much attention.
Re:In other news.. (Score:2, Informative)
Same as in the US
Hell no, not at all. There are two votes in each German federal election. The first vote is about electing a majority candidate to represent your district in parliament - which certainly resembles the US "winner-takes-it-all" system, but on a finer scale as about 299 seats in parliament are assigned that way. The second vote is about electing a party (usually) nationwide, which is where the Pirate Party gained 2% of the share. This vote gives all parties with more than 5% of the votes a proportional share of another 299 seats.
The important difference is that with the German system it's much much more likely for a small party to be represented in parliament. In the US however, third parties have essentially no chance whatsoever.
Re:Could there be a more supid name (Score:2, Informative)
"No, the name is a reference to fighting global warming!"
Re:Piratenpartei got 2.0% in german elections (Score:3, Informative)
If the FDP has to chose between tax cuts for a few and civil rights for everyone, they'll chose the former. And they usually have to chose, since they can't govern alone. Also, not everyone buys into their libertarian agenda.