The Structure of the Federal HEMP Party of Australia
The HEMP Party of Australia is an ethical and non-discriminatory political entity, encouraging all Australians of all shapes, sizes, ideologies, spiritualities, and cultural backgrounds to join with us in lobbying for the re-legalisation of cannabis in Australia.
The HEMP Party is a single issue Party devoted to re-legalising cannabis.
There are no fees payable on joining the HEMP Party.
No member of another political party registered in Australia will be considered for membership of the HEMP Party.
The HEMP Party has three layers: the Federal Executive > State Branches > Branches (called ‘sub-branches’ in this document).
The Federal Executive
The Federal Executive of the HEMP Party is the central organising body. Although the Federal executive is based in NSW its focus is nationwide.
The Federal Executive is made up of the elected Federal Officers of the Party along with the President of each State branch.
The elected officers are:
The President, the Vice President, the Secretary, & the Treasurer.
Other office bearers include:
The Head of the POLITE Bureau, the National Campaign Officer, the Federal Compliance Officer, the Federal Membership/Donations Officer.
The Federal Executive meets at least once a month and is principally engaged in:
- Acting as a central resource for HEMP Social Media, HEMP online memberships applications, and HEMP online donations,
- Ensuring the Federal HEMP Party remains compliant with all Federal and State legislation,
- Assisting State Branches in maintaining compliance,
- Acting as the central liaison and resource office for all of the HEMP Party Branches and Sub-branches.
- Developing national policies for the HEMP Party, Developing and implementing a Federal Campaign Strategy,
- Developing and maintaining the Australian HEMP Party Social Media Network,
- Developing and servicing the online membership and donations facilities for the HEMP Party in Australia.
State Branches (Affiliate Entities)
The State Branches of the HEMP Party are where the real action occurs. Each State Branch is made up of local activists who are passionately engaged in the issue of cannabis law reform.
State Branches are where members join together to lobby their local community and politicians regarding the need to re-legalise cannabis.
Each State Branch has its own schedule of meetings but usually get together at least once a fortnight.
The elected officers are:
The President, the Vice President, the Secretary, & the Treasurer.
Other office bearers include:
The Federal Party Agent, the Donations Officer, the Membership Officer, and the Finance Officer.
State Branches of the HEMP Party:
- Act as the central resource for HEMP Sub-Branches in each state,
- Compile and consolidate the donations and financial records for all of the sub-branches in each state, and then pass them onto the Federal Executive,
- Preselect the State Candidates for the HEMP party Hold fund raising events and stage political rallies,
- Develop State Campaign Strategies, Run membership drives, Hold HEMP Party Parties!
Branches (State Sub-Branches)
The State Sub-Branches of the HEMP Party are either located outside of the capital cities or are suburban outposts of the HEMP Party. Sub-Branches are the easiest type of Branch to run as their compliance bookwork is overseen and largely undertaken by the State Donations & Finance Officers.
Because Sub-Branches only undertake a limited amount of bookwork this form of branch is the easiest type to set up and run.
There is no need for an election to set up a State Sub-Branch of the HEMP Party. All you need is at least four people who are registered members of the HEMP Party.
If you would like to set up a Sub-Branch in your State then you need to contact your State’s Federal Party Agent.
The officers are:
The President, the Vice President, the Donations Officer.
Other office bearers might include:
A Membership Officer, an Events Officer, a Four-Twenty Timekeeper, and a Finance Officer.
State Sub-Branches of the HEMP Party:
- Hold fund raising events and stage political rallies,
- Run membership drives,
- Hold HEMP Party Parties!
Donations
The following guidelines are designed to ensure that all of the required steps are taken when a HEMP Party Donations Officer receives and then notes down the particulars of a donation.
In short
As far as federal legislation is concerned (i.e., The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918) in regard to donations to political parties:
There is there is no limit on the donations that can be made.
Donations can be made by:
- natural persons,
- corporations,
- trusts,
- unincorporated body’s, or
- unions.
A donor does not have to be on an electoral roll.
We cannot take donations from overseas or anonymous sources.
For every donation received we must be able to demonstrate to the Australian Electoral Commission that:
- we have determined the source of the donation
- we have determined that they are an entity or person from whom we can take a donation
- and we have provided that donor with a receipt (if appropriate)
All donations must be recorded and the provider of every donation must be given a receipt.
All donations must be handled in a manner that will enable the HEMP Party to demonstrate to the AEC that we are not taking donations from anonymous sources.
The Donations Officer
Every State Branch of the HEMP Party must appoint a Donations Officer.
No sub-branch of the HEMP Party will collect donations until such a time as the State Donations Officer is assured that:
- The sub-branch has on-hand the materials required to record any donations received in accord with these guidelines.
- The sub-branch has one officer appointed and nominated as a Donations Officer (Sub-Branch) who understands these guidelines and who is willing, able, and capable of recording the details of any and all donations received.
A Donations Officer has four principal tasks:
1) Ensuring that each State Branch or sub-branch has the records required for accepting donations.
2) Enuring that each State Branch or sub-branch is complying with these rules.
3) Tabulating records at the end of each month (or at such other time as has been arranged) and sending these off to the State (sub-branch) or Federal (branch) Donations Officer.
4) Ensuring that HEMP Party Officers are aware of these guidelines.
This manual describes each of these tasks in detail.
Types of Donations
The HEMP Party sorts its donation into two types.
Individual donations
Donations that are received from a natural person, a corporation, a trust, an unincorporated body, or a union we describe as individual donations. All individual donations are linked to a particular receipt number as every individual donor must be issued a receipt.
Events donations
Donations from individual fund-raising events or from static donations jars are described as events donations.
Each of these types of donations are described differently when they are entered into our records.
The records required for accepting donations.
Each HEMP Party Branch and sub-branch is required to keep certain records. The records which concern the Donations Officers of the HEMP Party are described below.
1) a receipt book
Every Branch and Sub-branch must have a receipt book.
The form of the receipt book is not specified as long as it fits with these guidelines.
Receipt books must collect:
- The name of the donor,
- The address of the donor (at least the city, town, or village)
- The date of the donation,
- The amount of the donation,
- The name of the HEMP Party Officer accepting the donation,
Every Receipt issued and recorded must display:
- A unique receipt number
- A tax declaration
- The Australian Business Number (ABN) of the HEMP Party
The HEMP Party ABN is 75964710260
The receipts can be pre-printed with this information, can be stamped with this information, or the information can be printed onto a sticker that is placed on the receipt. The following illustration indicates an acceptable declaration:
Retain receipt - donation tax deductible
Quote HEMP Party ABN: 75964710260
2) a working Donations Database
Every HEMP Party branch or sub-branch must record all donations in a digital Working Donations Database at the soonest practicable opportunity following the receipt of the donation.
This database must contain the fields indicated as appropriate in Table One. This table also provides information on the information that must be entered into the Working Donations Database relative each field.
If the overseeing Donations officer approves, a sub-branch may keep its Working Donations Database in paper form as long as every entry contains all of the required fields.
Every Working Donations Database must be totaled and merged with a Master Donations Database at the close of every month or as soon as is practicable upon completion of any fund-raising event.
All donations information submitted by a sub-branch of the HEMP Party must be retained in archival from that sub-branch for at least four (4) years.
3) The State Master Donations Database
Every HEMP Party branch must consolidate all donations received by all sub-branches, and the branch, into a Master Donations Database once a month.
Within two weeks of the close of every month all sub-branches of the HEMP Party are required to provide the State Branch with a copy of their Working Donations Database. These Databases will be merged into a State Master Donations Database.
Following the consolidation of the Master Donations Database each month this database will be archived to at least two different geographical.
Following the consolidation of the Master Donations Database each month this database will be submitted to the Federal Donations Officer of the HEMP Party.
All donations information submitted by a branch to the federal party must be retained by the branch in archival form for at least seven (7) years.
Table 1. The donations database.
-
#
Field NameField Description
*Required fields are marked with an asterisk
1
*Officer
The HEMP Party officer entering the data should commence by supplying their initials(i.e. James Moylan = JM).
2
* Date
The date of the donation.
3
*Amount
The amount of the donation.
4
*Individual or Event
Either ‘I’ or ‘E’.
Donations made by a natural person, a corporation, a trust, an unincorporated body, or a union should be described as an individual donation (= I).
Donations that arise from donations jars, outings, or HEMP Party Events, should be described as an event donation (= E).
5
*Event receipts
Every Event donation should be accompanied by a short entry in this field describing:
-
the nature of the fundraising,
-
where the event took place (or exactly where the donations jar was placed),
-
approximately how many people donated.
If it is impossible to approximate the number of donors then simply write in ‘sundry’.
6
*Receipt
Every Individual donation requires that:
If the donor is a person then the number of the receipt that was issued must be entered in this field; then please fill in as many of the following fields as possible. A first and last name are required.
If the donor is a corporation, a trust, an unincorporated body, or a union, then the name of the donor should be entered in this field.
7
Prefix
Mr, Mrs, Ms (etc)
8
*First Name
Required
9
Middle Name
Or initial.
10
*Last Name
Required
11
Address (Address)
Street address and number.
12
Address (Address2)
Suburb
13
Address (City)
Town, Village or City.
14
Address (State)
State
15
Address (Postcode)
Postcode.
-
Financial disclosure
The Federal AEC disclosure scheme requires candidates, registered political parties, their State Branches, local branches/sub-party units and their associated entities, donors and other participants in the electoral process to lodge annual or election period financial disclosure returns with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
Political parties registered with the AEC and their state or territory branches are required to lodge an annual Political Party Disclosure Return by 20 October each year.
The appropriate form for State Branches of a political Party can be downloaded from: http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/financial_disclosure/guides/associated-entities/index.htm
For the purposes of disclosure, organized state or territory branches of registered political parties are treated as being separate to the registered party and must complete their own annual return form.
If each State branch keeps the records indicated as required in these guidelines then this process of financial disclosure will be relatively easy to undertake.
The financial disclosure guide released by the AEC is available from: http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/financial_disclosure
The Federal Office of the HEMP Party will assist all of our State Branches during the process of Financial Disclosure.
Nominations, Candidates & Preferences.
The HEMP Party is a single issue party and we demand candidate solidarity. All of our candidates will act as a team and will only offer up policy positions which have been arrived at corporately and approved by all the HEMP Party.
At the upcoming Federal election the HEMP party plan to field at least two Senate Candidates in each state. State Branches need to keep in mind that a bond of $1000.00 must be posted for each candidate.
Nominations
The HEMP Party encourage each State to undertake their own pre-selection process.
The Federal Executive must approve all candidates. A candidate cannot be announced until they have been presented to the Federal Executive of the HEMP Party and their candidature has been endorsed. This is to protect the HEMP Party brand and to protect all HEMP Party Branches and Sub-Branches from any of our groups going ‘rogue’.
Candidates
If you’re thinking about standing as a candidate for the HEMP Party there are a number of things you need to know.
The Electoral Commission produces a pamphlet that will provide you with information regarding most of the official steps you will have to take when nominating. This pamphlet is available from:
http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/candidates/candidates.htm
http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/candidates/files/nomination-guide-candidates.pdf
Preferences
The Federal Executive of the HEMP Party allocates the Federal preferences following consultation with all of the Branches and Sub-Branches. No candidate or State Branch should discuss preferences with any outside group until advice has been sought from the Federal Executive.
HEMP Party Record Keeping
Each State Branch shall appoint a Finance Officer.
Banking and record keeping
Each State Branch of the Party will be provided with a Commonwealth Bank State Account and the Donations Officer for the State shall be an Authorized signatory to that Account.
One other Officer of the State HEMP Party will also be nominated at a meeting of the State HEMP Party to be an Authorized signatory to the State Account. This person shall be known as the State Finance Officer.
All monies that are recorded in the Master Donations Register shall be deposited into the State Account.
Expenditures from the State Account shall be by way of an EFTPOS card attached to the account or by way of a cheque book attached to the account.
Every deposit of funds into a State Account will be entered into a State Ledger by the Compliance Officer or the Donations Officer of the Branch.
Every expenditure of funds will noted in the Branch Diary by the HEMP Party Officer delegated with this responsibility.
Every month the Financial Officer of the State Branch download a digital extract of Financial Statement for the State Account and will merge this statement into a State Finances Database.
Upon merging this information into the Finances Database the Finance Officer shall append to the database notes regarding each input and expenditure sufficient to describe that expenditure (as per the example immediately following).
-
2012
sum
balance
description
type
authorised
AUGUST
brought forward
$210.00
14/08/2012
40.00
250.00
Rec: Z234-013 - cash deposit
DONATION
JM
15/08/2012
100.00
350.00
Rec: Z234-014 - cash deposit
DONATION
JM
15/08/2012
25.00
375.00
Rec: Z234-012 - personal cheque
DONATION
JM
21/08/2012
-2.00
373.00
PP*2344CODE 4029357733 AU AUS Card xx8147 Value Date: 17/08/2012
FEE
29/08/2012
-60.00
313.00
Stamps from Nimbin Post Office.
OFFICE
29/08/2012
-36.00
277.00
Petrol for Brisbane Meeting
EVENT
JM
31/08/2012
-0.20
276.80
International Transaction Fee Value Date: 28/08/2012
FEE
JM
31/08/2012
-6.76
270.04
FORMSTACK, LLC 800-8456697 IN USA Card xx8147 USD 7.00 Value Date: 28/08/2012
DATABASE FEE
JM
31/08/2012
789.00
1,059.04
Northern Rivers sub-branch: 420.00; NSW Branch Events 369.00
Monthly Consolidation.
Note that in this example the entries in BLUE represent information drawn from the Branch Diary that has been entered into the Finances Database. All the rest of the information is already in the statement extract.
Every State Branch will be provided a commencing blank Finances Database.
The Diary
The Officers of any Branch or Sub-Branch of the HEMP Party will keep a diary for the Branch or sub-branch in which will be listed all events and expenditures associated with those events. This diary should contain notes on all the activities of the group.
The Ledger
The State Ledger is the primary Account Book for the Branches and the Sub-Branches. Each month when the State Finances Database has been archived then the month’s financial details should be printed out and stapled to a page in the ledger. Any matters that are at all unclear regarding expenditure or inputs into the State Account should be noted in the ledger.
The State Journal
A copy of all advertisements should be stapled into the Journal along with details on where and when the advertisement appeared and how much it cost.
Any interaction with the Federal Party or with the AEC must be noted in the Journal.
All State Branch meeting Minutes will be entered into the Journal.
Any matters of official significance to the Branch should be recorded in the Journal. By noting and describing these matters in the journal it protects officers from faulty memories or institutional BS.