The all powerful TOP Board
Pleased to see at least one journalist asking tough questions of TOP. It is alarming that the party leader doers;t even know her own party’s rules, especially one as important as the board being able to over-rule the caucus. I guess this is what you get when a party leader is not a long-standing member, but someone who applied for it as a job,
The TOP Board is more powerful than any other party’s board. One of the board members is also a major funder of TOP. The powers of the Board include:
- Selecting the Leader
- Appointing all Electorate candidates
- Ranking the Party List
- Can over-ride the decisions of the caucus
- Appoints the policy committee which sets policy for the party
I know of no other party where the board can over-ride the caucus. This means that if they are part of a Labour-led Government, the board, not the caucus, will have the final decision on every bill and policy.
The caucus will be salespersons for the Board. The caucus will not have the power to elect its own leader, or decide without over-ride on how they will vote in Parliament.
UPDATE: The Board has announced it will ask for an SGM to remove its power to over-rule the caucus,