Inside Politics - Patti11
Day 690, 23:36
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Published in Australia 
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by
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by Brenflakes
Inside Politics Format Changes
After last weeks issue i got quite a few comments from different people here and on IRC about the content of the article being more than just an interview. With this in mind, over the coming week's i'll be looking at adding in one opinion piece each issue, Red Tape and Game Mechanics is the first new sub-article. as the weeks go on i'll be introducing more themed sub-articles and rotating them on a weekly basis, so instead of talking about the same thing week in week out, i hope it will add a bit more variety to my articles and keep them to a reasonable length.
PP Elections
I had planned on doing a short Q&A with both Melchizedek Smith and H.Nelson for this, to get both their sides of the story of what happened with the AI CP nominations. While H.Nelson was quick on getting back to me, unfortunatly there was no response from Mel . I had hoped to print both Q&A's at the same time and to be fair, im not going to run the article with only H.Nelson's response. Mel, if you would like to participate in this please dont hesitate to contact me, and i can run both responses in next week's issue.
Red Tape and Game Mechanics
After reading through the last few months of senate proposals, a question kept popping into my head. What is the point of legislating something that cannot be enforced? The most stand out obvious example of this is the Senate Impeachment Act. The senate is currently debating the revocation of this act, it basically says that if a senator breaks any number of rules set out in the act, another senator can call for the impeachment of the offending senator. That in itself isnt a bad idea, senators should be accountable for their behaviour, But if you look at the in game mechanics only the president can be impeached in game, senators remain senators until the end of their term, or until they resign.
If a senator is impeached by the senate, they lose their forum privledges, and the senate doesnt recognise them as senators, Yet the game still does. They can still propose things, vote, and even accept citizenship requests. Forum membership is a must, but there are some senators (indeed many citizens too) who never register on the forums, so for these people, impeachment means absolutley nothing. It basically makes the entire act a moot point.
To me what would make more sense is to expand the code of conduct clause of the senate protocol act to include the actions a senator can currently be impeached for and if they commit these acts they lose senate forum access which as it stands is the only real effect of impeachment. It should also include something along the lines of until a senator registers on the forum and signs this protocol they do not recieve senate forum privledges, and any proposals made by said senator must be immediatley voted NO. Its not a massive change, but adding a few lines to an existing act, rather than an entire bloated act which basically has no penalty makes more sense, cutting down on the amount of legislation we have, and not legislating on things that cannot be done with current game mechanics. We cant force any senator to join the forums, luckily the majority of those that get into the senate do. Reducing red tape around things like this, means those that do join the forum arent going to fall asleep reading dozens of different acts.
Every few weeks, i'll be picking one piece of legislation to review, and i encourage senators and citizens to share their opinions in the comments box.
Inside Interview
With the CP elections finished for another month, it was only fitting that we sit down with the new PM, Patti11. This will be his third term as PM after previously being voted in with 63% of the vote back in May. The October result, a little closer taking 40.73% and only 19 votes in it. Patti11 has been involved in all aspects of eAus politics, ranging from Minister for Defense, Minister for Finance, Minister and Deputy Minister for Industry and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, he would have to be one of the country's most experienced and well respected citizens. So without further ado, i present our Prime Minister, Patti11.
Brenflakes: Congratulations on the win, there was huge buildup to this election and you just made it over the line. How does it feel to hold the top job for the third time, do you think there is more pressure on you this time around?
Patti11: Thanks mate, my heart stopped a few times during the race. As for the pressure, I don't think so, like you said its my 3rd term and I know what I got to do to get the job done.
Brenflakes: Running against the incumbent PM was always going to be tough, but with the controversy around the AI CP nominees splitting the voters it made things a bit more complicated. Did this affect your campaign at all?
Patti11: Not at all, I focused on getting my articles out and speaking to the people I had to speak to. I think it had a negative effect on Mel more, as he lost a lot of AI 2 clicker votes. If Mel ran from AI I think it would have came down to 1 or 2 votes.
Brenflakes: You've been for the recent tax increase passed by the senate, there is no easy way to put this, 60% of the votes went to Mel and H.Nelson, both from what i can find were against the increase. Do you think this reflects the opinion of the public on this issue?
Patti11: I don't think people based there votes on the tax rise to be honest, but it may have played some role. The truth of the matter is it was necessary, and I stand by my decision to support it.
Brenflakes: I wanted to ask about the discussion on the senate forums at the moment about the so called "lulz" proposals. What do you think, is it just a bit of a laugh and some extra xp, or is it unbecoming of a senator and a waste of time?
Patti11: The xp gain is so small, I think it isn't worth it as it can potentially clog up other proposals. If they want to waste some of their proposals towards the end of term fine, but as long as everyone knows to vote no its no problems.
Brenflakes: Amongst your many roles in eAus, you've also been Party President of ADSP, what kind of work goes into managing australia's largest political party?
Patti11: Trying to get people on our forums, is our main concern right now as we truly want to be democratic, and hear every members say. We make new members have a goal for politics in Australia (if they have one) and we then help them to achieve them. Its never a dull moment in the ADSP
Brenflakes: The ADSP has strong support, with most of the candidates in the senate elections getting a good number of votes, what is it that sets the ADSP apart from the other parties?
Patti11: I think its a trust thing. ADSP has had 8 terms as CP and countless cabinet ministers and senators who know what they are doing. It seems like a vote for a well known ADSP member is a vote for Australia.
Brenflakes: As i mentioned before, you've had many cabinet positions in your time, which one was the most challenging and why?
Patti11: I think Defense, due to its hands on nature and the fact you have to be active and alert all the time. Its probably the most rewarding though, as you get to work with the soldiers, which is pretty exciting
Brenflakes: Sounds like it would take a lot of co-ordination, and would be pretty time consuming?
Patti11: You bet, just speak to Timeoin and srg91 who spend at least 2 hours each day doing MoD work.
Brenflakes: How did you first get involed in politics and working in the cabinet?
Patti11: Good question, I started off as a Senator back in December, and that is were I got noticed by Cottus Arci to be in his cabinet as Minister for Finance (and asked a bit
Brenflakes: What advice do you have for anyone who aspires to reach the top job?
Patti11: I think the best way now, is through the Senate, or as an intern to our current cabinet ministers. You need to get noticed, and these are the best ways.
Brenflakes: What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge facing you this term as PM?
Patti11: I think working out the next step with Indonesia as Australia is definately divided on the issue. I start talks with Indonesia on Monday, and we are going to attempt to sort out our relations as soon as possible. Ultimately, I will do what is best for Australia.
Brenflakes: There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about WA recently, with very strong arguments for and against. Under what circumstances do you see us getting it back, and how do you plan on pointing the country in the right direction?
Patti11: I think it will eventually be returned to us, but at what cost is the issue at this stage. Does Australia even need WA right now and can our economy support the 200+ companies it will bring? These are the questions I am looking to get answered in the coming weeks
Brenflakes: And finally, what's your reaction to the current situation in eVictoria?
Patti11: I'm an Victorian in RL, so I have to support the Cozlam army
Brenflakes: Thanks very much for your time Patti, its good to see our country is in good hands
Patti11: Thanks for the interview mate
Inside Politics On Leave
Next week will be our last issue for a few weeks as im moving house and will have limited net access. For next week's interviewee, i thought i would do something different and throw it our to the readers, who would you most like to see interviewed? Simply send me an in-game message by wednesday midnight erep time and include 3 questions you would ask the person you nominate. The only condition to this is the person you nominate must be a current senator or cabinet member.
Thats it for another week, Thanks for reading, vote and sub if you like it
After last weeks issue i got quite a few comments from different people here and on IRC about the content of the article being more than just an interview. With this in mind, over the coming week's i'll be looking at adding in one opinion piece each issue, Red Tape and Game Mechanics is the first new sub-article. as the weeks go on i'll be introducing more themed sub-articles and rotating them on a weekly basis, so instead of talking about the same thing week in week out, i hope it will add a bit more variety to my articles and keep them to a reasonable length.
PP Elections
I had planned on doing a short Q&A with both Melchizedek Smith and H.Nelson for this, to get both their sides of the story of what happened with the AI CP nominations. While H.Nelson was quick on getting back to me, unfortunatly there was no response from Mel . I had hoped to print both Q&A's at the same time and to be fair, im not going to run the article with only H.Nelson's response. Mel, if you would like to participate in this please dont hesitate to contact me, and i can run both responses in next week's issue.
Red Tape and Game Mechanics
After reading through the last few months of senate proposals, a question kept popping into my head. What is the point of legislating something that cannot be enforced? The most stand out obvious example of this is the Senate Impeachment Act. The senate is currently debating the revocation of this act, it basically says that if a senator breaks any number of rules set out in the act, another senator can call for the impeachment of the offending senator. That in itself isnt a bad idea, senators should be accountable for their behaviour, But if you look at the in game mechanics only the president can be impeached in game, senators remain senators until the end of their term, or until they resign.
If a senator is impeached by the senate, they lose their forum privledges, and the senate doesnt recognise them as senators, Yet the game still does. They can still propose things, vote, and even accept citizenship requests. Forum membership is a must, but there are some senators (indeed many citizens too) who never register on the forums, so for these people, impeachment means absolutley nothing. It basically makes the entire act a moot point.
To me what would make more sense is to expand the code of conduct clause of the senate protocol act to include the actions a senator can currently be impeached for and if they commit these acts they lose senate forum access which as it stands is the only real effect of impeachment. It should also include something along the lines of until a senator registers on the forum and signs this protocol they do not recieve senate forum privledges, and any proposals made by said senator must be immediatley voted NO. Its not a massive change, but adding a few lines to an existing act, rather than an entire bloated act which basically has no penalty makes more sense, cutting down on the amount of legislation we have, and not legislating on things that cannot be done with current game mechanics. We cant force any senator to join the forums, luckily the majority of those that get into the senate do. Reducing red tape around things like this, means those that do join the forum arent going to fall asleep reading dozens of different acts.
Every few weeks, i'll be picking one piece of legislation to review, and i encourage senators and citizens to share their opinions in the comments box.
Inside Interview
With the CP elections finished for another month, it was only fitting that we sit down with the new PM, Patti11. This will be his third term as PM after previously being voted in with 63% of the vote back in May. The October result, a little closer taking 40.73% and only 19 votes in it. Patti11 has been involved in all aspects of eAus politics, ranging from Minister for Defense, Minister for Finance, Minister and Deputy Minister for Industry and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, he would have to be one of the country's most experienced and well respected citizens. So without further ado, i present our Prime Minister, Patti11.
Brenflakes: Congratulations on the win, there was huge buildup to this election and you just made it over the line. How does it feel to hold the top job for the third time, do you think there is more pressure on you this time around?
Patti11: Thanks mate, my heart stopped a few times during the race. As for the pressure, I don't think so, like you said its my 3rd term and I know what I got to do to get the job done.
Brenflakes: Running against the incumbent PM was always going to be tough, but with the controversy around the AI CP nominees splitting the voters it made things a bit more complicated. Did this affect your campaign at all?
Patti11: Not at all, I focused on getting my articles out and speaking to the people I had to speak to. I think it had a negative effect on Mel more, as he lost a lot of AI 2 clicker votes. If Mel ran from AI I think it would have came down to 1 or 2 votes.
Brenflakes: You've been for the recent tax increase passed by the senate, there is no easy way to put this, 60% of the votes went to Mel and H.Nelson, both from what i can find were against the increase. Do you think this reflects the opinion of the public on this issue?
Patti11: I don't think people based there votes on the tax rise to be honest, but it may have played some role. The truth of the matter is it was necessary, and I stand by my decision to support it.
Brenflakes: I wanted to ask about the discussion on the senate forums at the moment about the so called "lulz" proposals. What do you think, is it just a bit of a laugh and some extra xp, or is it unbecoming of a senator and a waste of time?
Patti11: The xp gain is so small, I think it isn't worth it as it can potentially clog up other proposals. If they want to waste some of their proposals towards the end of term fine, but as long as everyone knows to vote no its no problems.
Brenflakes: Amongst your many roles in eAus, you've also been Party President of ADSP, what kind of work goes into managing australia's largest political party?
Patti11: Trying to get people on our forums, is our main concern right now as we truly want to be democratic, and hear every members say. We make new members have a goal for politics in Australia (if they have one) and we then help them to achieve them. Its never a dull moment in the ADSP
🙂
Brenflakes: The ADSP has strong support, with most of the candidates in the senate elections getting a good number of votes, what is it that sets the ADSP apart from the other parties?
Patti11: I think its a trust thing. ADSP has had 8 terms as CP and countless cabinet ministers and senators who know what they are doing. It seems like a vote for a well known ADSP member is a vote for Australia.
Brenflakes: As i mentioned before, you've had many cabinet positions in your time, which one was the most challenging and why?
Patti11: I think Defense, due to its hands on nature and the fact you have to be active and alert all the time. Its probably the most rewarding though, as you get to work with the soldiers, which is pretty exciting
Brenflakes: Sounds like it would take a lot of co-ordination, and would be pretty time consuming?
Patti11: You bet, just speak to Timeoin and srg91 who spend at least 2 hours each day doing MoD work.
Brenflakes: How did you first get involed in politics and working in the cabinet?
Patti11: Good question, I started off as a Senator back in December, and that is were I got noticed by Cottus Arci to be in his cabinet as Minister for Finance (and asked a bit
😛). I then wanted to broaden my knowledge, and served as deputy Minister for Industry under arguable the best MoI ever, corny-ratbag. I never looked back from their, and then went MoD, dPM and finally PM.
Brenflakes: What advice do you have for anyone who aspires to reach the top job?
Patti11: I think the best way now, is through the Senate, or as an intern to our current cabinet ministers. You need to get noticed, and these are the best ways.
Brenflakes: What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge facing you this term as PM?
Patti11: I think working out the next step with Indonesia as Australia is definately divided on the issue. I start talks with Indonesia on Monday, and we are going to attempt to sort out our relations as soon as possible. Ultimately, I will do what is best for Australia.
Brenflakes: There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about WA recently, with very strong arguments for and against. Under what circumstances do you see us getting it back, and how do you plan on pointing the country in the right direction?
Patti11: I think it will eventually be returned to us, but at what cost is the issue at this stage. Does Australia even need WA right now and can our economy support the 200+ companies it will bring? These are the questions I am looking to get answered in the coming weeks
Brenflakes: And finally, what's your reaction to the current situation in eVictoria?
Patti11: I'm an Victorian in RL, so I have to support the Cozlam army
😛
Brenflakes: Thanks very much for your time Patti, its good to see our country is in good hands
🙂
Patti11: Thanks for the interview mate
Inside Politics On Leave
Next week will be our last issue for a few weeks as im moving house and will have limited net access. For next week's interviewee, i thought i would do something different and throw it our to the readers, who would you most like to see interviewed? Simply send me an in-game message by wednesday midnight erep time and include 3 questions you would ask the person you nominate. The only condition to this is the person you nominate must be a current senator or cabinet member.
Thats it for another week, Thanks for reading, vote and sub if you like it
🙂
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Comments
Good interview!
An issue that you have to consider with your proposed replacement for the Senate Impeachment Act is that not every impeachable act should be punished in every case. For example, we recently had a case of senators approving citizenship requests without authorisation, including our most esteemed speaker AV, because they were unaware of the legal requirements. It was breach, certainly, but not something they should be automatically removed for. The other option, of course, is to get the Senate to vote on the matter, which is what the current Impeachment Act does.
Great article. Looking forward to the next one.
@AjdAu - I can see your point, provisions for voting and what constitutes an serious offence could still be written in to the senate protocol act, the only reason i suggested it be in the senate protocol, is then nobody has an excuse for not reading it/ not knowing they couldnt do whatever it is, and they are responsible from the minute they join the senate forum, rather than from when they read the act, which in the excitement of being elected may not be the highest priority. Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Great work!
Yeah, it is rather like trying to excommunicate an Athiest. Such an act is only binding on people who care about our entire legislative process. And thus is only places restrictions on those of us who are really involved in the community. It can't do what we'd really like to keep from happening, which is keeping such people who're inactive on the forums from getting elected to the Senate in the first place.
@CQL - lmao that is it in a nutshell, very well put 🙂
Great aritcle!
One question though (and this will probally make me seem very newbish), if the senitors can resign from their post, why aren't they simply forced to resign if they are impeached?
Well, that was a load of piffle. What's the URL to the forums? And why aren't we focusing on taking back Western Australia?
@Medrolke - The current senate impeachment act does have provisions to "encourage" impeached senators to resign, but there is no in-game way for the senate to force someone to resign.
@Lex - http://forum.auserepublik.com/index.php" target="_blank">http://forum.auserepublik.com/index.php
as for the answer to your question on WA, its more complicated than you think, i suggest you read up on the forums as to why 🙂
@Brenflakes - then why don't the government make a contract that senitors automatically agree to when they are voted in. If it says that impeached senitors must resign then, if they don't, the admin will get involved.
@Medrolke - i had considered that when i wrote my article, but again it comes down to game mechanics. Anything the senate introduces to try and combat this is only going to work for those who join the forum. Contracts would take more time, and could only be enforced by those who sign it, again the senate wouldnt be able to force people onto a contract if they are voted in. I like to think of it in the same aspect as a padlock on a gate, its only going to keep an honest person out 🙂