How to hold an initial HEMP Party Meeting.
You will need:
- HEMP Party members + pens and paper and someone to photograph the momentous occasion.
- To name a chairperson who will conduct the meeting. [It is best if you can find someone who is familiar with meeting protocol.]
- To name a ‘returns officer’ (someone trusted and generally not wanting to run for an office).
The Agenda.
- The proceedings of the meeting must be documented in Meeting ‘minutes’
- Begin your meeting minutes under the Headings:
- on [insert date] under the auspices of the Federal Hemp Party of Australia, as authorized by
- Graham Askey, the Secretary of the HEMP Party, and in due accord with the rules of the Federal Hemp Party of Australia.
THIS IS A MEETING BEING HELD TO ELECT OFFICERS TO POSITIONS IN THE _________________ BRANCH OF THE FEDERAL HEMP PARTY.
1. Commence with an acknowledgement to the traditional owners of the land.
2. Introductions should be formally engaged. Anyone who wishes should be urged to stand and introduce themselves.
3. Applications should be invited from the floor for individuals interested in standing for the position of:
a) President
b) Vice President
c) Secretary, and
d) Treasurer of the State Branch.
(One of these officers also has to agree to be the federal party agent for compliance for your state branch.)
4. Those who nominate should have their names noted down.
5. A vote should be taken for the positions named above. The results of each vote should be noted down in the minutes by the secretary as reported by the returns officer.
6. Each of the new officers of the State Branch of the Party should be invited to inscribe their Name, Position, and Address, on the final page of the minutes, then affix their signatures to the document.
7. The returns officer should then affix their name, address, and signature to the document.
8. The Chairperson should then affix their name, address, and signature to the document.
9. The new secretary of the branch should then note the new State Branch Postal Address on the document.
10. You then burst into applause and have a HEMP Party Party.
Remember to scan all these documents into a digital file and send it to [email protected]
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The Federal Party Agent, Jim Moylan will go through all the meeting minutes, match them up with the correct pile of official forms, and then fill in all of the forms. There are some forms that will have to be signed by all of the new state officials and these will be posted back to the address provided so everyone can affix their signatures (these may have to be witnessed by a Justice of the peace but I’ll get back to you on that).
Then these forms will be submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The AEC will write to many of the officers to check that the details provided are correct and to make sure that we have dotted all of our ‘i’s and crossed all of our ‘t’s. The Party Agent for each state will be supplied with detailed instructions on how to record any incoming donations and how to ‘keep the books’ for your branch.
As soon as your branch is registered you will have your own bank account and will be able to take in donations. All online donations (which should be the bulk) will be split up equally amongst all the state branches except for those that have been donated to a particular State Branch.
Financial disclosure
The 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.
For the purposes of disclosure, organised 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.
All forms linked from the page;
Financial disclosure: http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/financial_disclosure
Political parties: http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/financial_disclosure/guides/political-parties/index.htm
Associated entities: http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/financial_disclosure/guides/associated-entities/index.htm
More ‘Financial disclosure’ information on the Branch Manual page.
Nomination Guide for Candidates
If you’re thinking about standing as a candidate for the Commonwealth Parliament, this pamphlet outlines the steps you will need to take when nominating for the Senate or the House of Representatives.
http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/candidates/files/nomination-guide-candidates.pdf