So, WTF is the Aussie Senate doing with its time?

Day 903, 07:31 • Published in Australia Australia • by Aeros

I’ve not written in awhile about military affairs, mainly because I just flamed out over having to put out an article every day. As consequence, the quality really dropped and it got to the point where it seemed I would be better off just not bothering to write. However, during that time I also managed to get elected to the Senate (Thank you) and found it a really great outlet for my “doing stuff” drive. This particular Senate term was enormously busy, and I felt you all would be interested in a detailed run down of just what we’ve all been up too. Local news for now, sorry to my international subscribers. I do intend to get back to military issues in the near future. Just enjoying my break : )


Death and Taxes

This portion here is a response to an article posted by mjdiv.

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/on-the-backs-of-the-australian-worker-1361423/1/20

Australia has always had a highly protectionist economy. Before the Brazilian invasion that brought this country out of Isolationism, our import taxes were at a “stay out” 99%. The end result was that the weapons were all bought up within the space of a day. The only Q5 Weapons company selling guns in Australia by the time the Brazilians advanced on Queensland was an importer from Estonia, at a comfortable 160 some odd AUD per gun. At that point, our Allies brought intense pressure on Australia to reduce import duties so they could get some ammunition on our market. And thus began the steady journey to our current rate of 10% for all imports on manufactured goods.

The arguments against a more liberal import tax rate are the same now as they were back in December. If we lower import taxes, local industry will be out competed by foreign companies. This is a common fear, and one I could almost believe if it were not for the issue of Australia’s enormously high price differential for manufactured goods to median wage. As an example, I am a skill 8 manufacturing worker, who gets paid on average 40 AUD a day. With guns well over 7 AUD, I don’t make enough in a day to buy 5 in one go. Furthermore, the best paying jobs that get me 40 AUD are also high quality, which means I also have to budget for more expensive food and the occasional gift. This problem I face comes down to a simple issue of Supply and Demand.



This is the classical S&amp😉 graph to show what I am talking about. I want Guns. In fact, I am willing to buy guns because I am getting close to Field Marshall, so I do it every day. Fortunately for the economy, I am also a manufacturing worker, so I make Guns too. This does not hurt our national supply. At issue is the large hoard of Land Workers we possess. They ALSO want to reach Field Marshall, General, or some other rank, and they also wish to do damage for Australia in our battles. They want to buy guns too. However, our Land Workers do not make Guns, and so they quickly buy up the national supply without putting back. As supply decreases, price increases. When the major fighting first kicked off in Europe, our Guns were around 5 AUD. Since then, they have increased to over 7 AUD, even as wages have been cut as part of the regular economic cycle. This is a classic example of demand far outstripping supply. People want to buy guns in Australia, but our local industry does not have the manpower to keep up.

That is why I felt the argument that our local business would be killed has little merit, since they themselves are not meeting the demand of the end consumer for their product. There is an untapped economic potential, especially among our well paid land workers, that is not being accessed because of the horrendous supply problem in manufactured goods. This hurts our countries security, it hurts the Governments tax income, and it hurts the Australian citizens in the form of over priced items and chronic shortages .That is why I have argued for a cut to import taxes.


Indonesia and PTO’s

Another major problem we are facing as a country is the dedication of our good neighbors to the North to pull off a coup and destroy our nation. The fight in the Senate in the lead up to the Presidential election was nothing short of a blood bath, with some Senators arguing that special circumstances required extraordinary measures, while others were keen to defend democratic principles at all costs. The end result was Government ATO efforts were moving like molasses due to the gridlock. In fact, nobody had even mentioned to the outside world that their was a problem, with the election only days away. That was why I started banging the gong in this paper, though in my opinion, it was probably too little too late. Had Sandygee not been removed from the ballot, we would have lost the country.

At issue is that Australia does not have a cohesive plan with launching an ATO. In order to stop a foreign coup, there are some well known strategies that are used around the world. First and most obvious, do not let a PTO candidate on the Ballot. Failing that, you encourage your citizens not to vote for said person. If you do not have enough citizens to win, you bring in foreign “mobile voters”, who are usually members of the countries military and vote for a chosen candidate. When that happens, you also encourage the regular citizenry to vote for the chosen candidate.

You can see that this is where a lot of Senators began to get upset. The thought of choosing the Prime Minister ahead of time and then bringing in foreigners to vote for him or her was (and is) a highly undemocratic move. The counter argument though is that the enemy had already subverted democracy and there was no point in trying to pretend the election would be anything but fair. Two days before the election, we did begin to get the ball rolling on implementing this drastic step, though as I said, it was probably too late, and not without intense resistance.

In my capacity, I argued that there was no point in trying to hold a democratic election while the Indonesians were launching a coup, so I came down firmly with the ATO camp, as you no doubt may have noticed in my articles on this matter. I also introduced legislation in the form of the “Political Security Act” which would serve as Australia’s plan for countering PTO’s. My original measure was a bit draconian I will admit, and was the product of my own concerns at the time. Thankfully, the Senate is a deliberative body and it got watered down quite a bit before it went to a vote. Of course, we lost the forums shortly after, so I’m going to have to rewrite the bill and resubmit it. Thank you Internet gods.

With regards to Indonesia itself, I am 100% supportive of any plan that involves wiping them off the Map of eRepublik.


Current Speaker Crisis



No doubt you all read the article the ANP posted with regards to Binda33 being found guilty of a minor infraction, that was a third offense and thus a major infraction. Several Senators then stated they wanted to have Binda33 removed as Speaker of the Senate. At which point other Senators pointed out no such law existed to permit a Speaker to be removed, only appointed. The debate swiftly devolved into a bloodfest, with accusations of favoritism on one side, and a witch hunt on the other. The most intense fighting came from the usual suspects in the ANP and AMP, where the debate swiftly became a fight between the two parties.

Thankfully, I am an Australian Independent so I could stay above that particular mess to a large extent, though since I am also one of the Deputy Speakers I had to try and find some way to resolve the mess. In the end, I differed to the Senior Deputy, and it was decided we would accept the Inspector Generals decree that removing Binda33 was not an intended punishment, and also had no basis in law. My own thought on the matter was that removing her would have been a bit extreme, considering all she did was put Government Owned Diamonds for sale at a good rate. The only problem was that she did it a few hours BEFORE she became Industry Minister. Had she waited those few hours until day change, this would have been a non-issue. I did however, feel that the Senate should have the authority to remove a Speaker, even if I did not agree it was necessary in this particular instance. We've introduced legislation to close the loop hole, and I did argue for a time to hold an informal vote anyhow, just so everyone could get their cards on the table.



Well, I think that just about covers it. If you are curious what all goes on behind the scenes in the country, you can find plenty of information on the National Forums, Found here: http://72.52.142.23/~auserepu/community/index.php

Or on our IRC room at #Ausrep on the rizon.net server.