A party leader

Ethics is one key to a good leader, I don't think the ethical code of the person needs to be complex, just being a general good person and most importantly not allowing money or corporate to corrupt the persons integrity. Cunning would be helpful to stand ground if other politicians start to question you in debates though if we reach that point.

I feel like I need to play the political game a bit before going for a high leadership position (that and im only 22 :sweat_smile: ). Martyn sounds like a viable candidate for leadership from what I have seen so far, I don't think a 100% comprehensive analyzed understanding is necessary but the leader should know everything about what the policies are and what our views are.

This is a start, and I like where this going :thumbsup:

Thanks @daymondgoulderhorobin! Just to be clear with everybody I most definitely didn't pay Daymond for his post! And it's definitely not me posting as somebody else! :thumbsup:

I agree with what you are saying Daymond, I'm not sure I agree that your age should restrict you from attempting to stand for a high leadership position though.

I also want to make it clear that I would definitely not be the perfect leader for the party, I'm definitely not a perfect person and I'm probably to honest for my own good but I would always tell as much of the truth as I could and my goal would always be to ensure that the Internet Party developed into an organization that we could all be proud of.

A party leader is, IMO, a full time position.

• They need to be on call for the media 24/7 so as to be able to answer questions and to give statements.
• They need to be going around the country giving speeches, meeting people and explaining our policies to the populace.

This is a full time job and needs to be paid as such and they're going to need an aid or two which will also be full time jobs.

So, how's our financing? Can we, as a matter of fact, afford to employ three people full time on reasonable salaries and pay for their expenses as they travel the country?

If we can't do that then we need to come up with a plan to do so.

I think closer to the election then certainly it will end up being a full time venture for the party leader. Fred would probably know about the financing situation.

Would be happy myself to take at least a part time to full time role on myself since i'm just a student doing his masters thesis at the moment. Till then i'm just gonna focus on policy analysis on our end.

If we are going to seek funding from private corporations let it be known that we should not compromise our values and visions for the sake of extra funding, it sounds obvious but even goodwill donations often carry a will that we align with the donor, so we should be careful where we get our funding from.

I think if we are going to have paid positions then the NZ Living wage may be a good reference, not sure how you guys feel about the accuracy of it but its there.

Yes the leader will need to commit lots of time and it is agreed Executive Committee policy that those who work for the party should be paid... FINANCES PERMITTING. currently we have a trickle of donations and subscriptions. as we move into 2017 memberships which were for 3 years will come up for renewal, depending on our profile more or less of these members will renew (at $10 pre annum as agreed by exec) currently donations and membershipd are just keeping up with web fees ... I hold a few invoices for audit, SSL cert and back webhosting but the donations/subs are whittling away at those presently.

Be all that as it may we are the INTERNET PARTY and apart from the webhosting etc the internet is essentially free! We wont get general donations unless we make noise and we have the internet at our disposal so we have the ability to make the presence felt that will bring in the donations that will get things moveing. I think it is fair enough to state that our failure in 2014 was partly because having money at hand we ignored and did not utilise the power of the internet as we should have. so my stance is raising our profile can and should be done sans funds and the funds will follow. if we think that we have to get funds first we are arse about.

So if funds are not the prerequsite what is ??.... MANDATE .... we need to have people who are empowered to speak on behalf of the party . which is why a leader is an important thing to get sorted ASAP. HOWEVER we do have people mandated NOW to speak on behalf of the party and that mandate is clearly defined and useable it is YOU as MEMBERS you being members are mandated to promote any agreed policy and the Party vision whereever existing policy does not cover the discussion

MEMBERS ARE MANDATED TO PROMOTE THE PLATFORM SET OUT AT
https://internet.org.nz/policies.html
FURTHER MEMBERS ARE MANDATED AND EMPOWERED TO PROMOTE THE PARTY VISION also set out at https://internet.org.nz/policies.html and pasted below

"The Internet Party was founded on the spirit of the Internet, to get an open, free, fair, connected and innovative society. This is a party that will give you faster, cheaper Internet, create high-tech jobs, protect your privacy, and safeguard our independence."

This is the starting point that will untangle the gordian knot and unlock the funding stream.

so my stance is raising our profile can and should be done sans funds and the funds will follow. if we think that we have to get funds first we are arse about.

Oh, it's definitely a chicken/egg scenario.

We do have the internet and all we need to do is make a noise well enough to let people know that we're still here. A large reason for a leader is to make that noise, to put a face to the party.

As for funds, I've mentioned this before. Instead of having a yearly fee, make it a low weekly fee. Even at minimal member levels $1 per week from each member can achieve a significant cash flow.

After having read through some of, but not all, the policies I have some reservations about supporting our policies verbatim. My main issue is that they don't come across as a comprehensive whole. For instance we've got Dolphins and SOCIALLY JUST AND INCLUSIVE (which is in all caps I'd like to point out) as separate policies. Dolphins should be part of our Environment, Animal Welfare policies as well as covered in Criminal Justice in a relevant policy. It looks like SOCIALLY JUST AND INCLUSIVE only refers to cannabis which should really be under our Better healthcare policy and also Criminal Justice.

I also can't find a policy listing our stance on National Defence or Space. Do we have one somewhere on loomio?

I agree we should be making some noise online, do we have posters or images that we can post? A good meme proves the old adage a picture is worth a thousand words. :smiley:

Also I like Colin Englands idea of a weekly contribution but I don't think everybody in the party should be forced to make it. A lot of people may not be able to afford that extra couple of bucks over time. I definitely think a voluntary weekly donation is a good idea. I'll have a chat to my wife and see if I can afford to donate $20 a week, no guarantees though seeing as she is in charge of the finances.

I definitely think a voluntary weekly donation is a good idea.

It has to be everyone paying in a small amount each week and thus it must be compulsory. The reason being is that that fixed amount coming in every week allows planning and paying for research, elections and advertising.

I agree that it would be helpful to have a fixed income for the party but I'm in two minds as whether it would be detrimental to our ability to attract and retain members if we force all members to do so. On the one hand if you are willing to pay a small weekly amount then you are probably pretty committed to the Party, on the other hand it does mean that people with low or no income will look at it as a barrier to entry and if it's a choice between having bread on my table or putting money into the party I know which way I'd be going and it's not towards the Party.

@colinengland I think this probably deserves it's own thread and it's definitely worth discussing more fully, has this come up before?

As an IP Exec I have asked that Dr Pani Farvid 2014 candidate for Palmerston North electorate be added to the leader list as a potential. This recommendation is based upon her performance in the 2014 elections and what I believe she can bring to the party in this coming and future elections.

One of the things I considered before making this recommendation was that we now have a base party in place, a grass roots party to build upon so we should draw from what we have rather than introduce new unknowns into play. This approach gives us credibility rather than always having the press asking us why.

I have not discussed this proposal with her and she may yet say that she is not interested but suffice to say that this is my recommendation for IP Leader.