Conference Agenda Oct 2021 PRINT - Flipbook - Page 14
is identified and SOC have had it confirmed by DC that
there are no procedures in place for advertisement,
recruitment and appointment to these roles. At SOPD 6.1,
the investigators are explicitly excluded from the ‘quorum’,
implying that they could otherwise be part of the quorum
as committee members. Although this appears to create
an ambiguity, SOC are of the view that as supernumerary
investigators could not form part of the quorum this sub
clause applies only to elected members of DC acting as
investigators.
of those in attendance? He announced this for the
entire plenary, ahead of debates and votes on motions
to be taken, and refused to counsel points of order
regarding the same.
SOC Reply:
A card vote is taken by collecting card voting cards.
A card vote shall be taken if requested by ten Green
Party members holding up their voting cards. A
card vote may be taken at the discretion of the
Chairperson.
SOC however confirm that the ruling from 2015 specifically
excludes members of DRC from membership of DC, and by
extension acting as part of DC.
Following Spring Conference 2021, and the formal
separation of DRC from the Disciplinary process it
is important to reiterate that as noted above DRC is
independent of other party groups, and the separation
of DRC from the DC process has been confirmed by
Conference. This excludes close or joint working between
the bodies on any aspect of the disciplinary process apart
from those included within SOPD.
SOC would advise DC to develop procedures for the
recruitment to these roles and to ensure that these
investigators have the same training as members of DC.
Further harm to the Party
DF asked who determines that there is likelihood of further
harm to the Party, in the case of Regional Council being
requested to make a no-fault suspension? If an individual
Complainant says that harm has been done to them
personally, does this count as harm to the Party?
SOC reply was as follows:
1.
If ten members request it, in which case it ‘shall’ be
taken and is not at the discretion of the Chair.
2.
At the discretion of the Chair.
In this case the Chair, using their discretion, decided that
they would take all votes on items on the Agenda as card
votes. The Chair was acting within their discretion although
SOC agreed at the time that this did not apply to items not
on the Agenda such as procedural motions, as those giving
proxies would not have been aware in advance that their
vote might be used in this way.
Votes of No Confidence in a Chair
SA asked:
“Was Standing Orders Committee correct in allowing
a Vote of No Confidence in the Chair of a Plenary
without Giving the Proposer of the Vote an opportunity
to state Reasons?”
SOC reply was as follows:
4.8 of the constitution provides for a member to be
suspended temporarily whilst the member is under
investigation “where necessary to avoid or reduce
the likelihood of further harm to the Party.” The
requirement in 4.8 is that suspension should relate to
the likelihood of further harm in addition to any past
harm, and that the harm must be to the Party.
1.
Votes of No Confidence in a Chair are a customary
procedure used at Green Party Conferences. The
only reference to them in Standing Orders is that
Conference will use customary procedures. Exactly
what these procedures are and how the are to be
used is therefore not codified in official constitutional
documents.
It is for Regional Council to determine what evidence
they require of the likelihood of future harm, that the
harm is to the Party as a whole, and that the evidence
presented to them about future harm to the Party is
valid.
2.
SOC issues three documents that give advice on the
use of customary procedure but which have no official
standing. These are:
Card Votes at Conference Plenaries
SA asked:
Was the Co-Chair of Sunday plenary (7 March 2021)
acting beyond their authority by imposing card votes
instead of allowing votes, in the first instance, only
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This makes it clear that there are two ways in which a
card vote is arrived at:
a. SOC Advice Sheet to Chairs –“CHALLENGE THE
CHAIR. Very rare. The procedural motion to
challenge the chair aims either to challenge any
ruling by the chair or to remove the chair. If you
get this one, ask SOC to explain the procedure to
Conference. A key point is that you do not have to
accept a procedural motion for debate (except for a
challenge to the chair).