Constitution Submission #812
Section 14. CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENT
Title: EDA Role in Candidates Approval And Fairness To Applicants
Each electoral district association (EDA) is constitutionally “the primary organization through which the rights of members are exercised” (Article 5.1) and each local candidate nomination committee (CNC) is constitutionally the body responsible “for the administration of the candidate selection process in the electoral district” (Article 14.2). But these rights require explicit constitutional elaboration and protection.
Constitution Submission #813
Section 17. ENFORCEMENT AND INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION
Title: Enforcement Of The Constitution
It is clear from the heading to Article 17 of the Constitution that the Conservative Party already recognizes the need for “Enforcement … of the Constitution” – that there is indeed little point in having a constitution unless there are also rules about what happens when people fail to abide by it.
Constitution Submission #909
Section 4. Membership
Title: Eligibility Check after Application for Party Membership
At present, individuals applying to become new Conservative Party members are required to declare that they are eligible for membership, but it is unclear how the Party knows that such declarations are true. This leaves the Party wide open to infiltration by persons who are in fact ineligible for membership, but keen to gain access to positions of influence – to vote in nomination contests, for example, where the documentation typically accepted as proving identity (e.g., a driver’s licence) does not settle the question of eligibility one way or another. It only demonstrates that the person seeking to vote is indeed the person on the membership list. If the Conservative Party is truly sincere about preventing foreign interference in Party affairs, in particular, it needs to ensure that only demonstrably eligible persons appear on its membership list. This proposal does not specify how the Party achieves this goal. It insists merely that it must achieve it.