Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party (AFLP) - Application For Registration

[kc]

OK back on the horse for a brief moment. Typically all this is going on during my 2 biggest working weeks of the year....Airlie Beach Race week. 1000 hungry and very very thirsty sailor in town......Oh & did I mention they were thirsty? & don't they hate a RUM!

To work!!

TFPQ will within 24 hours lodge a series of detailed objections to the TFP registration...based on barristers advice.

I will, for the sake of accountability, make these available in full within 24 hours of lodgement.

I am not surprised at Dickos experience and I will post below the 2 constitutions TFP has operated under since our involvement and it will be clear to all why we formed our own.

The issue of plagerism is clear but not one we have persued, at this time.

First the original constitution...a shocker. Dated at some time around 2003/4 and valid (I think) until the second one came my way in earely 2006..

THE FISHING PARTY

CONSTITUTION

THE AIMS OF THE FISHING PARTY ARE:

1. To represent and fight for the rights of the community on matters concerning fishing and the associated interests.

2. To represent and consult with the community on Family rights and everyday injustices.

3. To keep the community aware of matters concerning their fundamental rights

4. To decide matters covered by the Policies

THE ORGANIZATION

The leader and chairman of The Fishing Party will be
Robert Arthur Smith or his appointee.

The Fishing Party will comprise of a central committee made up of
The Chairman
The Registered Officer
The Secretary
The Agent
The Deputy Registered Officer and General Committee duly elected and determined at a General Meeting.

In the event of Party Leader becoming deceased the Central Committee shall elect a leader.

The Fishing Party will endorse candidates in electorates where selected at Federal, State and Local Government.

The Central Committee will select candidates.

The Fishing Party may create and maintain branches if requested by Party Members or Candidates.

Amendments may be made and added to the constitution at a General Meeting with a 70%, of the meeting, majority vote, to include Party Policies.

If The Fishing Party is disbanded all debts are to be paid from Party Funds and any remaining moneys will be distributed to selected charities.

The Fishing Party Policies, which may be added to, are part of this constitution.

The Central Committee will call general meetings as and when required.

Voting may be by postal votes on required form.

Robert Smith
Chairman


.

POLICIES

The Fishing Party wishes to:

Adopt a responsible approach to the Management of the Fishery.

Recognise the need for all stakeholders to co-exist in a well-managed ecologically sustainable saltwater fishery.

Recognise the sporting, economic and social values of the recreation industry.

Represent the WHOLE fishing community at Government level with any Policymaking or Policy changes.

Represent the interests of freshwater stakeholders on the continuing improvement for the inland fishery.

Continue to push for Environmental reform, Pollution and Habitat restoration.

Encourage all to be Responsible for sustaining this resource.

Push for a WHOLE OF GOVERNMENT approach for the management of this resource.

Keep the Fishing community well informed on issues affecting this resource.

Seek to have Fishing community input to any Resource Assessments.

Fight for ACCESS to Waterways.

Robert Smith
Chairman



Yep guys...that's it. The whole, lot with a chairman for life

Now the "2nd" constitution


Constitution

Of

The Fishing Party

· The name of the party will be “The Fishing Party”

· The Fishing Party may have Branches and Sub-branches in each State and Territory of Australia

· The aim of The Fishing Party is to contest State, Federal and Local Government elections

· The Chairman of The Fishing Party will be elected by the Federal Executive Committee

· The Federal Executive Committee will be elected at a general meeting and consist of The:

Chairman (elected by the executive committee)
Advocate (if deemed necessary and will be appointed by the committee)
Secretary
Treasurer
Registered Officer
Deputy Registered Officer
Ordinary Committee Member (minimum of five)

· The Fishing Party will appoint a Party Agent

· The Fishing Party executive committee may appoint further positions as deemed necessary for fulfilling the aims of the party

· The Fishing Party will concentrate its efforts towards representing the recreational fisher and community, and that effort will be reflected in its policies




Objectives;

· To fight for the rights of the recreational fisher and the everyday Australian

· To insist that Governments take into consideration the rights of the recreational fisher, and such rights are reflected in their policies

· To fight for access, and to maintain access to recreational areas across Government owned or controlled land

· To insist on the creation, and maintenance, of boat ramps

· To oppose all manner of excessive fees and charges

· To fight for appropriate fish stocking, habitat and environment policies and outcomes


& yep. You guessed it. That's it again.

Now we have them lodging an ammended version of the TFPQ constution, which has never been to an AGM to be ratified...in fact there has not, to our knowledge even been an AGM...to our knowledge and certainly, if there was one, we were not notified or invited.

[Derek Bullock]

So what we have now if AFLP and TFP are successful in their endeavors to stop each others registration, is no party to vote for at the next Federal Election who represent fishing. Sigh ! ! ! !


Derek

[Adamy]

Wow... Both of those are fairly comprehensive documents!!

I'm no legal eagle... but I do know that a constitution embodies a "set" of rules or principles that guides the actions of the organisation or governed body and I suppose that the TFP "constitution" does achieve that purpose.... So long as the organisation or body doesnt really want to achieve anything - because that constitution (above) doesnt provide a decent framework for anything to get done. Just lists a set of blind ambitions - with no metrics or performance indicators of success. The AIMS of TFP are "to contest federal state and local Gov. elections"... then what????

So you COULD say that TFP has achieved everything they have set out to achieve (within their constitution)... which is NOTHING!!

The 2nd doc also contradicts itself wherein it states that the federal executive will be elected at a General meeting (which includes a chairman) which will then elect a Chairman. Thats strange enough - but if the general meeting elects the exec - which then elects the Chair - then does that mean that the Chair then holds 2 positions or declares one vacant while accepting that Chair? followed by another election to fill the vacant position... its all very strange!!!

Adam

[Adamy]

So what we have now if AFLP and TFP are successful in their endeavors to stop each others registration, is no party to vote for at the next Federal Election who represent fishing. Sigh ! ! ! !

Derek

Yes Derek - thats the way I think it will all go down - its the equivalent of both teams claiming the bat and ball as theirs and going home - problem is - while they fight over the bat and ball (which never really belonged to either of them in the first place - the "bat and ball" being the potential block of votes) the game is being played without them (different team - different game - different players).

The thing I find interesting and the catalyst which started this whole power play was the resignation of the former Brisbane South Chairman.... he resigned for a number of reasons - principle of which (besides personal ambition reasons) was that TFPQ was backward in the one spokesperson policy (which has been debated here many times) and the preselection policies. I am not discussing private business here because it is a matter of public (Ausfish) record.

YET he was all too willing to run into the warm embrace of an organisation who are even more backward in their spokesperson and pre-selection policies. I do note in the plagerised version of TFPQ constitution, that TFP NSW has the right of veto over ANY state based preselection. (and to replace ANY democratically preselected candidate - with a candidate of their own choosing).

Call me cynical - but theres something smelly in Gotham City!

Adam

[Derek Bullock]

that TFP NSW has the right of veto over ANY state based preselection. (and to replace ANY democratically preselected candidate - with a candidate of their own choosing).

Adam

Have you had a look at any other political party constitutions. I think you will find that a power of veto is there.

For example this is direct from the Liberal Party Constitution

The Constitution of each State Division shall provide for selection of candidates for the Senate and for Federal and State electorates within that Division, but subject always to the powers reserved to the Federal Council and the Federal Executive by this Constitution.

By the way, I doubt the resignation of anyone has anything whatsoever to do with all of this. This was all brought about by the deregistration of minor parties by the AEC followed by TFPQ not agreeing with TFP on a range of issues and deciding to break away and go on their own and create the AFLP.


At least thats how I see it.




Derek

[Adamy]

Adam

Have you had a look at any other political party constitutions. I think you will find that a power of veto is there.

For example this is direct from the Liberal Party Constitution

By the way, I doubt the resignation of anyone has anything whatsoever to do with all of this. This was all brought about by the deregistration of minor parties by the AEC followed by TFPQ not agreeing with TFP on a range of issues and deciding to break away and go on their own and create the AFLP.


At least thats how I see it.

Derek

Hi Derek,

Yes, I am well aware how other parties operate and how recently they have threatened to intervene....(however compare the wording of the documents!! My point was to highlight this particular addition to the TFP constitution - which has been plagerised from the existing TFPQ constitution - tailored to suit their own purposes - with the design in mind of selecting their own "preferred" candidate despite the wishes of the state party and their members.

Following are the additions from the TFP document:

5.85.1If the National Executive Committee believes that it would be of significant benefit to the Party to do so it may, without prejudice, intervene in a State-Branch’s preselection process. 5.95.2Should the National Executive Committee without prejudice, intervene in a State-Branch’s preselection process the decision of the National Executive Committee will be final and no further discussion or correspondence will be entered into.


If you have a deeper look into the objections raised by TFP to AFLP registration and put those together with the emails KC has posted between him and BOB regarding Shane tipping his hat into the ring - it starts to paint a picture of an organisation eyeing off the spoils of war - even before the battle and making its moves to lay claim to those spoils.

Yes the registration issues were started by party deregistration by the AEC - and from the perspective of an outsider looking in I can see how you might perceive what you perceive. But those within know this is about a three way power struggle and not much else - with fishing in the middle. There was a lot of ground played out before the deregistration and reregistration process and certain parties who choose not to "contribute" further to the debate know what they have done and now will await nervously the findings of an AEC investigation - probably into the inner workings of both parties!

Adam

p.s I think its quite funny - people bandy about this "without Prejudice" term all the time - they have no idea what it really means - and its not what they think! I think they have seen it on a legal document sometime (probably when they were about to be sued) and thought - gee that sounds "official" and so use it without knowing what it really means. Goes to show - the NSW boys are a bunch of amateurs!

[craftycarp]

think I will vote green this year.

[Greg P]

I'd like to see a response from Shane - there is always 3 sides to any story but some actions portrayed look a little disappointing to me.

I hope there is resolution Kev as I appreciate all your efforts from the start.

[kc]

Thanks Greg, and as usual Derek manages to cut to the chase and I admire his ability to sort through the mire and see the simple issue. I wish some times I could do so in a less wordy way....I can't help running off at the mouth/keyboard

I guess from our perspective however his observations lack a bit of detail.

We tried and tried and tried to get NSW to adopt a more democratic constitution and failed.

In good faith we could no longer operate under a federal constitution like the ones posted, in large part because after slipping under the media radar at the last election we will not do so again and the constitution as posted would have made us a laughing stock.

We made a decision to register as TFP (or try to) and by getting our house in order first it would force NSW to the table...failed .

We also offered NSW, in writting, to leave them go their way and we would go ours, each respecting each others "turf" and this was how we made the undertaking to register TFPQ as AFLP, even though the letter to NSW never attracted a response...(as usual) Happy to post this letter if anyone wants to see it.

The first we knew of any real issue was the NSW objection to our registration and their annoucement that they would select and run candidates of their choosing, in our state.....the Shane factor.

It amazes me that after 3 years of trying to get them to consider adopting a better constitution, they would do so, plagerising the TFPQ constitution and in co-operation with Shane...all out to shaft the existing TFPQ organisation and with little or no consideration of its work, achievemements or potential to actually make an impact on behalf of our members and support base....just amazing.

Personal ambition to win a senate seat (an absolute pipe dream), being put ahead of what is best for recreational fishing!! I don't get it and frankly, don't really want to "get it".

The one comment which seems to be a constant in this thread is....the silence is deafening.

Not a real surprise and Dicko now understands why. They read all this post, over and over again, but won't come out to play because they are in an undefencable position and don't believe Ausfish is really that important.

I have to say, in the grand sceme of things the Ausfishers are not important...in terms of numbers BUT they are very important in terms of a representive group, a generally well considered and educated group and to us, this website has been invaluable.

I committed to being an open book and remain that way...some times work keeps me off line too long but this site and those who use it will remain at the forefront of shaping our party.

I have had some scraps with a few guys like Derek & Pinhead over time but always we can debate issues openly, honestly and with the best interests of fishing at the heart of every discussion.
This debate has been about dirty laundry and that is a pity but I have the background evidence of 3 long years trying to fix this "thing" in house and the evidence of 3 years of TFP NSW neglect.

An upside to this, now that the "gloves are off" is that the Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party, will, if the registration is successful, run in a number of states and with the support of the industry which lives of "us"...the break from NSW, while painful, may just be the best thing that ever happened, particularly in terms of gaining industry financial support.

This has a way to go yet. I accept that there may end up being no fishing type party to vote for at the election, and that would be a tragic waste fo 3 years work.
The alternative, a vote for an organisation like TFP NSW and its stooges is equally a tragic waste....a waste of your valuable vote (IMHO).

Anyhow, hang in a little longer...a few more twists and turns no doubt and our objections notice will certainly ruffle a few feathers....it may even bring them out of hidding.

Regards

Kev

[Derek Bullock]

I see TFP Draft Constitution is now available on their website at http://www.thefishingparty.info/wst_page17.html

It's due to be ratified at a General Meeting in November. Interesting to that it will backdate until 27 December 2006

Some very interesting clauses. For example:

Preselection of candidate(s) to stand for Federal Parliament, State Parliaments and Local Governments including Senate seats are made by a Selection Committee consisting of no less than three (3) members of the: National Executive members for Federal Elections: three (3) members of the registered State Party Executive for State and Local Elections

8.1The National Executive Chairman is the only person authorised to act as spokesperson for the TFP including its State-Branches.
8.2All National press releases, advertising and media interviews are expressly to be authorized by the National Executive chairman.
8.3The National Executive Chairman may however nominate any person, as spokesperson in general or limited to a specified issue or for a limited time. This would normally be restricted to the State-Branch chairman or a senior candidate who would be restricted in his activities as directly specified by the chairman, or an expert limited to a specific issue.

[Adamy]

Hi Derek....

What you have found there is the TFPQ constitution that TFP NSW has plagerised!! As I had previously mentioned (see page 6 of this thread). What you have quoted there is almost word for word from the TFPQ constitution - very little variation... only customisation. (funny how SOME individuals who objected to those exact bylaws in the TFPQ constitution are'nt protesting them in the TFP constitution... weird huh! - kind of makes you wonder!!)

AND as mentioned by KC:

It amazes me that after 3 years of trying to get them to consider adopting a better constitution, they would do so, plagerising the TFPQ constitution and in co-operation with Shane...all out to shaft the existing TFPQ organisation and with little or no consideration of its work, achievemements or potential to actually make an impact on behalf of our members and support base....just amazing.

KC also seems to infer that TFP obtained the constitution with Shane's co-operation.... I suppose it makes sense - I wouldnt know. But it is a public document so it doesnt matter - what does matter is they didnt have the originiality to make their own - they had to steal someones elses - and doctor it for their own devices. I too believe that A vote for them is a wasted vote IMO!

They seem to think that everything is theirs for the taking - what came first the "chicken" or the "egg"? Stealing the TFPQ constitution or stealing TFPQ members and rights to preselect their own candidates??... whats next?

Question.... Can you backdate a ratification? IF you did - does that mean then that you would have to disicpline for past breaches of bylaws that weren't previously in effect? Nah... I dont think you can... but am open to argument for the contrary - if you are willing for me to test your theory!

Adam

[Derek Bullock]

If you want to use the chicken and the egg principle then fine.

What came first was The Fishing Party, a federally registered political party. Then came a State Branch of that party called The Fishing Party (Queensland)

Members of that State Branch of The Fishing Party are technically members of the federally registered The Fishing Party.

I am unsure of the ratification.

Here's an intersting clause in the constitution

A State-branch may be wound up at the National Executive Committee discretion without compensation or recourse, should the National Executive Committee decide that the State-branch be no longer effective or capable of supporting the goals of TFP.

Not seeing to much support at the moment from TFPQ for the goals of TFP

[Adamy]

Not seeing to much support at the moment from TFPQ for the goals of TFP

Thats because they dont have any!! (not unless you count usurping the efforts and direction of TFPQ).

AGAIN... The section you quoted comes directly from the TFPQ plagerised document... wherein it concerned the winding up of any branches and subbranches.

I get your point tho - you seem to be saying that TFP are asserting - via a plagerised and stolen document- that they can threaten TFPQ and get away with it - because they are the boss. Well I think they'll have a hard time - because the document is yet to be ratified and can only be done so at an AGM - with the full confidence of the TFP membership - which you so rightly point out MAY (or may not) include TFPQ membership - that being the case - I doubt whether TFP has the numbers to ratify such a document - given its intentions and document origin. Unfortunately TFP cant have it both ways - they cant claim TFPQ's membership - and then exclude them from having a say at any proposed AGM.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Adam

[FNQCairns]

I am politically daft but dam cranky over all of this, I direct it at the those NSW tossers, fair dinkum they need to pull their heads in from what I have read, how does one come back from something like this unless it is with a clean slate from amends, the honor has paled I am afraid.

I am not a member.

If I filled out the TFPQ member form today - who am I really joining?

If I filled out the TFPQ member form in 5 weeks - who now will I probably be joining?

cheers fnq

[kc]

Cutting to the chase as usual. & a clean slate will be the only way this can now be fixed.
TFPQ needs to become to totally seperate entity, as we have proposed with Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party. It undoes a lot of good work over 3 years establishing our "brand" but this can be overcome with $$ and it is becoming increasingly likely that the industry will provide the support we need.

All it takes then is manning the polling booths.

One thing to come out of this debacle is an overwhelming show of support from Qld members and the Australian recreational fishing industry.

I am on the coast on Monday to do a formal adress to a major industry conference and again the following weekend at the boat show to adresss more industry heavy weights.

Doors are opening as a direct result of dissassociating ourselves from the NSW organisation.

KC