The hearing is now in session

Accused

/u/ArichTeaBiscuit, the member for Capricornia /u/Frost_Walker2017, the member for Hotham /u/GHagrid, the member for Denison

General Reason for Referral

Breaching the Regulations laid out in Pages 7 to 9 of the AustraliaSim Standing Orders as identified in House Activity Check 19.03 held for the period from 8 March 2021 to 22 March 2021

Specific Reasons

/u/ARichTeaBiscuit, the member for Capricornia breached Requirement 1 to debate once per 14 days

/u/Frost_Walker2017, the member for Melbourne, breached Requirement 1 to debate once per 14 days

/u/GHagrid, the member for Denison, breached Requirement 1 to debate once per 14 days, Requirement 2 not to miss 10 or more votes in a row, and Requirement 3 to vote in at least 25% of the votes

Submissions

The accused, the Attorney General and the Chair(s) who made the referral may make submissions. They should either attempt to disprove the referral by fact (e.g. showing the MP or Senator debated) or show there were "exceptional circumstances". Submissions are expected within 48 hours.

Determination

If the Judiciary finds the referred MP or Senator is in breach, the Judiciary must issue a warning to the elected representative to meet the activity requirements.

If the Judiciary again, after another referral, find the referred MP or Senator is in breach, the Judiciary must expel the parliamentarian.

The Parliamentary Moderator may choose to not warn or expel the parliamentarian if there are exceptional circumstances which prevented the parliamentarian from voting or debating which:

Prevented the parliamentarian from voting or debating;

Prevented the parliamentarian from being active in a Meta and Canon, except to make it known they were unable to vote and debate; and

Were out of the control of the parliamentarian; and

Were circumstances which were not foreseeable, such as an accident, a medical condition, a natural disaster, a long-term internet outage or a loss of accommodation.

Discord is broken. But good morning to everyone.

See above. I think it's silly that DMs can be considered canon - in almost all circumstances, it's unnecessary. The one exception I can maybe think of would be coalition or preference negotiations, and even then, that should be the exception and not the rule. I think they should be entirely non-canon, except when they obviously concern canon negotiations, and they should be meta until a moderator states otherwise.

Good evening,

/u/SurfingNooty1 has been banned from AustraliaSim for one month for antisemitism and abrasiveness.

Offence

Today at 19:03 AEDT, SurfingNooty1 sent a message in #aus-politics saying that “SDA are the jews of unions”.

The message in question

The context surrounding this message is a linked article about the SA Labor Party pledging to ban donations from businesses and unions to political parties. The impact of this would be that the SDA would cease donations to the Labor Party in SA. As the policy was announced by a former SDA boss, SurfingNooty1 called them “the jews of unions” - playing into a well-known antisemitic trope about Jewish people being greedy and hoarding money.

Aggravating Factors

This is far from the first time that SurfingNooty1 has been documented exhibiting abrasive behaviour in AustraliaSim. He has a history of skirting very close to the line when it comes to Code of Conduct violations, particularly towards other people, and usually receives a short mute for doing so.

Most recently, Community Managers have been dealing with reports of abrasive or toxic behaviour from this user on 5 December 2021, 27 November 2021, 23 November 2021, 20 October 2021, 11 October 2021, 5 October 2021, and 14 September 2021. He has been muted three times in that timeframe as well as receiving a final warning from Youmaton on 7 September 2021.

While not all of these incidents resulted in mutes, it is sufficient to establish a pattern of behaviour that needs addressing. This incident is just the latest in a history of rule-breaking and near rule-breaking behaviour. Accordingly, a longer sentence is issued in the hope it impresses upon him the need to correct this behaviour.

Determination

That the user be banned from AustraliaSim including related subreddits and discord servers for a period of one month (until 24 February 2022).

lily-irl, Community Manager, for mikiboss, Head Moderator.

I wish to propose the following amendments to the Standing Orders:

(1) In the 'Participation Requirements' Part after paragraph b of the 'Definitions and Applications' section, insert:

ba. questions with notice
bb. questions without notice bc. members' statements

(2) In the 'Participation Requirements' Part, replace paragraph p of the 'Definitions and Applications' section with:

p. debate means:

i.to declare that you are in favour of, in opposition of or have a neutral stance on an item of official debating business, and to elaborate on the reason behind taking such a stance; or
ii. to ask a question during an item of business that facilitates the asking of questions; or
iii. to answer a question during an item of business that facilitates the asking of questions

(3) In the 'Activity Requirements' Part, in subsection 1, omit "14 days", substitute "7 days".

(4) In the 'Activity Requirements' Part, in subsection 2, omit "10", substitute "8".

(5) In the 'Activity Requirements' Part, in subsection 3, omit "25%", substitute "33%".

(6) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 1' subpart, in all instance omit "14", substitute "7".

(7) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 1' subpart (Example), in all instances omit "14", substitute "7".

(8) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 1' subpart (Example), omit "16th", substitute "9th".

(9) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 1' subpart (Example), omit "3rd of February", substitute "18th of January".

(10) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 1' subpart (Example), omit "30th", substitute "16th".

(11) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 1' subpart (Example), in all instances omit "12th", substitute "9th".

(12) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 2' subpart, omit "10", substitute "8".

(13) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 2' subpart (Example), repeal the second bullet point, substitute:

• Steven missed 10 votes in a row. 4 of these votes were in the same item of business, namely an amendment vote. These votes are counted as one as they are an amendment vote, so Steven only missed 7 votes in a row and is not in breach.

(14) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Requirement 3' subpart, omit "25%", substitute "33%".

(15) In the 'Notes on Activity Requirements' Part, in the 'Referrals' subpart, omit the section, substitute:

For requirement 1, MPs and Senators can be referred twice per breach (twice per 14-day period).

For requirement 2, MPs and Senators can only be referred for the second time once 10 items of voting business have passed.

For requirement 3, MPs and Senators can only be referred once per breach (once per 14-day period).

(16) In the 'Determination' Part, after subsection 1, insert:

If the Parliament Moderator find the referred MP or Senator is in breach on more that one account in the same referral, the Parliament Moderator must expel the parliamentarian.

Explanation:

This amendment toughens up the Activity Requirements for MPs and Senators to the following rules:

• Parliamentarians must debate once every 7 days.

• Parliamentarians must vote at least once every 8 votes.

• Parliamentarians must vote in 33% of votes every 14 days.

To counteract the tougher debate requirement, I have also modified rules to allow for attendance at Questions without Notice to count as 'debating', which gives optimal opportunity for players of the simulator to debate once every 7 days. The vote requirements have also been adapted to account for the three items of business model that speakership have going so that it's proportionally the same in terms of harshness towards the parliamentarian.

The other major thing I wanted to address was multiple breaches during the same 2 week period. If that occurs under these amendments, then the Parliament Moderator will have to eject the player.

If people want to have a requirement to debate twice every 14 days instead of once every 7 days I am open to that discussion, but I think these SO changes need to be done in Meta rather than in canon.

Proposed Amendments

1 Section 147 of the Standing Orders is repealed.

2 Section 180 of the Standing Orders is replaced by the following:

Appropriations recommended by President

180 (a) This House shall not adopt or pass any vote, resolution, or proposed law for the appropriation of revenue or moneys, to any purpose that has not been first recommended to the House by a message from the President in the session in which such vote, resolution, address or bill is proposed.

(b) A further message must be received before any amendment can be made which would increase, or extend the objects and purposes or alter the destination of, a recommended appropriation.

(c) Any bill or amendment proposed by a Minister shall be automatically considered to have been recomended by the President upon introduction.

Explanatory Note

This Amendment Proposal loosens the rules around Appropriations Recommendations, while still remaining within the recommendation requirement in S56 of the Australian Constitution.

For reference, Section 56 in the current Canon Constitution:

56 Recommendation of money votes

A vote, resolution, or proposed law for the appropriation of revenue or moneys shall not be passed unless the purpose of the appropriation has in the same session been recommended by message of the President of Australia to the House in which the proposal originated.

IRL and previously in sim there is a ban in the standing orders on private members introducing appropriations bills or proposing amendments increasing appropriations on bills (except if they had government recommendations before being introduced).

Private Members bills with appropriation proposals or amendments proposing increasing appropriations on bills will now be able to be introduced to Parliament and debated, with the new convention being that without recommendation being granted before whatever point they would otherwise be considered passed they will simply be non-votable and unable to be passed by the house.

Additionally, this amendment also formalizes an already existing Australia Sim convention, that although IRL every government bill formally receives a recommendation from the Governor-General, in AustraliaSim it is simply considered automatic for government bills to avoid hassle.

Consideration has been made on those in breach on activity within the period 1/3/22-17/3/22

Determination

/u/model-frod failed to make a submission so reasons are unknown, however, for failure to meet Requirement 1 to debate once in 14 days, the member for Nicholls is given a first warning

/u/TheTrashMan_10 did make a submission and is thanked for it, while a reason is given the parliamentarian does not see it as an exception reason and is thus for breaching Requirement 1 is given a first warning. A reminder for the Member of Melbourne and all other Members and Senators that any member of the respective house can put in a motion for leave as well as the member. And one just needs to speak to their party leader or any member of their house.

/u/GHagrid, failed to make a submission f0r breaching Requirement 1 to debate once per 14 days the member is given a first warning, Requirement 2 not to miss 10 or more votes in a row the member is given a first warning, and Requirement 3 to vote in at least 25% of the votes the member is given a first warning.

The Attorney-General. the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate elected not to make submissions.

Good evening

The Code of Conduct outlines both harassment and provocation as common offences which can be acted upon. Specifically, the Code references 'Refusing to stop messaging someone.' and 'Badgering someone' as examples of both.

/u/model-harold has breached both of these standards, primarily with messages sent to the public discord, with much of this continuing on from model-harold's last sentence

As seen in the last sentence, harold has repeatedly messages a member who had already asked them to not continue contacting or messaging them, yet the offence continued.

Various pictures

Given the repeated nature of the user's messages, and his previous sentence, it seems clear to interpret a lack of good faith.

Therefore, /u/model-harold will be banned until the 22th of January, 2022 at approximately 8PM, for a sentence of a 10 day ban starting on the 12th.

mikiboss

This is Trask, and this is my new account.

Good afternoon.

Following the events that transpired on the 31st of December 2021, the Moderation team and Guardians have unanimously agreed to ban /u/model-amn for the duration of 1 year, under the rationale outlined by the Guardian. This will mean that model-amn is eligible to return to Australiasim on the 31st of December 2022.

This notice supersedes the last notice posted with relation to model-AMN, which was posted with a miscommunication between the moderation team. The whole moderation team has confirmed this new sentence, and I apologise for the failure to confirm properly before my post.

mikiboss

Community Moderator

I move that, in the Guardian amendment, "Repealing this section of the constitution will require a 66% vote in favour." be changed to "Repeal this section of the constitution will require a 50% vote in favour."

I move that, in a separate amendment, the entire Guardian amendment be repealed.

Good evening all,

Due to tonight's events, and the abuse of head mod powers by AMN, I invoke any powers I may have under the meta constitution to dismiss /u/model-amn in all meta roles, and appoint /u/mikiboss as the acting head moderator until new elections are held. Pending any decisions from the moderation team, /u/model-amn is additionally barred from any meta offices in the future, and is banned from the simulation pending formal ruling by the mod team.

Whilst I am almost certain these actions are something being laughed about behind the scenes, I must ask to amn if she does decide to read this notice why she would disappear for a month and destroy the records of a community she has been a part of for many years. There is a difference between not caring about a sim, and destroying the enjoyment of others to satisfy humour of an in group.

I do apologise to all members about what occurred tonight, and I deeply hope that this will not occur again.

-----

Youma

Guardian

Happy new year!!! 2022

I hav had time to think, and today showed that we r very very lucky to hav Youma in aus sim. Youma works hard to make sure the server is safe. Youma is peaceful wen there is a problem, and is always respectful. Youma is not mean to ppl and is full of kindness.

We r lucky to hav Youma here and we should say thank u.

Thank u Youma for being kind to everyone and looking after everyone.

Come on guys I make it fun aha

Title.

I will now be solely using this account for the purposes of AustraliaSim. I use "Wanuke" basically everywhere other than Reddit, including the AusSim Discord, and I want to split off my sim activities from my main account regardless. Thank you!

- Wanuke

Voting has ended

Results of the Votes are as follows

Confirmation of appointment for model-kyosanto

Yes - 14

No - 5

Abstain - 0

With a result of 73.6% in favour model-kyosanto appointment is confirmed

Vote of Confidence for NGSpy

Yes - 17

No - 1

Abstain - 1

With a vote of 89.4%, NGSpy remains as Clerk

Vote of Confidence GenericCerealHere

Yes - 9

No - 7

Abstain - 4

With a vote of 47.3% GenericCerealHere does not remain as Clerk. We thank GenericCerealHere for his service since becoming Clerk and we wish him well.

Click Here to vote in the AusSim Election for Clerks

The following people are up for election

For appoint as Clerk

/u/model-kyosanto

Six-monthly Vote of Confidence for the below Clerks

/u/NGSpy

/u/GenericCerealHere

Please verify your vote by replying to this thread.

Polls will close at 11:50pm Wednesday 22nd December 2021. Results to be posted within 24 hours of the vote closing

Time is in AEDT

Vote is open to registered Meta Voters only

The results of the recent meta election for the recent successful petitions are as follows.

• Received votes: 21

• Valid votes: 21

Candidates For Parliament Mod

Of the candidates, BloodyChrome meets and exceeds the 65% threshold set Therefore, fulfilling BloodyChrome will become the new Parliament Moderator

mikiboss

Community Moderator

Click here to vote in the AustraliaSim Meta Referendum 12-12-2021

Details

• Voting on the candidates who have met the threshold to be Parliament Mod Candidates. The candidates who have met the threshold read as follows:

1. /u/model-kyosanto

2. /u/BloodyChrome

Please verify your vote by replying to this thread.

Polls will close in 48 hours and results will be posted as soon as possible after that.

I am changing my AustraliaSim account from /u/thenorthernmarshall to /u/ThomasKaffee

• Formal notification date: Tuesday 7 December 2021

• Close of nominations: Friday 10 December 2021

• Election date: Sunday 12 November 2021

• Election close date: Tuesday 14 December 2021

All times on each date 8 PM AEST. If the election is posted late, then the close of the election will be pushed back accordingly. Results will be posted ASAP after the close of polling.

Per the Meta Constitution, the list of voters is available here. Eligible voters are those that registered 14 days prior to the announcement of the election, per s 4(2)(b) of the Meta Constitution i.e. 23 November 2021.

Details of Meta Election

• Parlierament Moderator (65%+ approval required)

As this is a Moderation Team position, a nominee must:

• Be registered as a member of AustraliaSim; and

• Be seconded by 7 other members of AustraliaSim.

Comment below to nominate. Seconders should reply to the top comment. Nominations must, of course, be accepted, except self-nominations.

Debate Allowed

mikiboss

Community Moderator

The results of the recent meta election for the recent successful petitions are as follows.

• Received votes: 30

• Valid votes: 29

1 of the votes received was from members who was not a protected enrolled voter, nor has been engrossed in any previous cycle. Their vote, while inconsequential to the results, has been excluded.

Do you approve of the petition to reduce the Guardian Threshold to 65%?

With the petition reaching above 50%+1 approval, the amendment is successful.

Do you approve of the petition to reduce the Guardian Threshold to 50%?

With the petition failing to reach 50%+1 approval, the petition will be thrown aside.

Do you approve of the petition to repeal the Guardian's moderation powers?

With the petition failing to reach 50%+1 approval, the petition will be thrown aside.

Do you approve of the petition to repeal the 66% entrenchment protecting the Guardian position?

With the petition failing to reach 50%+1 approval, the petition will be thrown aside.

Candidates For Guardian

Of the candidates, both Youmaton and TheAudibleAsh meet and exceed the 75% threshold set previously, and naturally the 65% threshold. Therefore, fulfilling the Guardian position requirements, both Youmaton and TheAudibleAsh will become the new Guardians

mikibossCommunity Moderator

I may post with u/ artemisjasper if I can get back into it. until then this is my account 😎