Chapter 252 Goodbye Grant Wilson

1. Arthur had a happy birthday party at Sydney Palace, and at the same time announced that his age had come 2

It seems like it was just yesterday that I came to Australia. I never imagined that eight years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Arthur had nothing to do with the passage of time. He could only focus more attention and energy on the development of the country and devote his life to creating a powerful country. At least it would not be in vain.

Congratulations from all the officials have been pouring in these days. If Arthur's banquet had not been of such high standards, those who wanted to attend would have struggled to find a way to join.

At least in Australasia, the royal family is the most dazzling existence. It is the family with the most power, the most noble status, and the largest assets in Australasia.

On January 7, Arthur met with Grant Wilson, the leader of the Fine Gael Party, at Sydney Palace and asked about the current size and plans of the Fine Gael Party.

Grant Wilson was also an acquaintance, a person Arthur met when he first went to New Zealand for political purposes, and Grant was the head of the New Zealand Union Party at the time.

The current political parties in Australasia have gone through many years and are no longer the seven major parties in Australia.

After the integration of Australia and New Zealand, the parties between the two regions also experienced large and small integrations.

The Australian Labor Party and the New Zealand Labor Party have integrated very smoothly. They are also the fastest parties to merge and there is no opposition.

The merged party was called New Labour, and its platform was to unite workers and build a better Australasia.

Speaking of which, the Labor Party's program can be regarded as having twists and turns. The initial program to promote Australia's establishment of a unified federation was realized by Arthur, and then the program to protect the interests of the working class was also realized by Arthur. This was also an important reason for restricting the development of New Labor.

After all, what you want to do has already been realized by Arthur. Doesn't this mean that this party has no practical effect?

Another political party that has experienced great integration is the newly established Fine Gael Party.

The Fine Gael Party is a fusion of the original Australian Independence Party, Endeavor Party and New Zealand Alliance Party. It is also the political party with the most fusion of parties since the establishment of Australasia.

Precisely because of the combination of three political parties, Fine Gael is currently the largest political party in Australasia, and Grant Wilson successfully sat in the position of leader and became a member of the House of Representatives.

Fine Gael's party platform combines the characteristics of the three political parties and appears to be somewhat unique.

The summary of the party platform can be summarized in one sentence, which is to safeguard the unity of Australasia and safeguard the Kingdom and Royal Family of Australasia.

Therefore, the Unionist Party can also be regarded as the royalist party, and it is also the political party closest to the royal family.

It was also thanks to this relationship that Grant Wilson was qualified to be received by Arthur. After all, all political parties were controlled by the Royal Parliament and the Electoral Commission, and there would be no trouble in Australasia.

In addition to New Labor and Fine Gael, there are currently three political parties in Australasia, namely the National Party and the Democratic Party, which are relatively evenly matched parties, and the Countryside Party, which mainly favors rural and low-income populations.

There is basically a relationship of survival of the fittest between political parties. After all, the political arena in Australasia is only so big, and there are only so many MPs and people that can be won over.

If it cannot gain too much support, the political party will sooner or later dissolve due to lack of funds or various reasons.

Among the five political parties currently in Australasia, they can basically be divided into New Labor, which represents the working class, the democratic Democratic Party, the centrist National Party and the Country Party, and the Fine Gael Party, which stands for the royal family.

Although it seems to be on four sides, in fact the battles between the political parties are basically under Arthur's control. It is like Arthur drawing a chessboard for them. The size of the chessboard is determined by Arthur, and the political parties are destined to jump. Not going out. new

These parties were also the greatest democracy Arthur gave to Australasia. On the premise of not harming Arthur's interests, the people of Australasia can elect their favorite MPs, and then let the MPs they support elect a new government.

This rule applies not only at the national level but also to the states and territories.

After all, for Arthur, even cabinet ministers and prime ministers are only equivalent to working for him.

As long as he can complete the plans and tasks he deployed, the candidate for the specific position is not important to Arthur.

In a small banquet hall at Sydney Palace, Arthur met Congressman Grant Wilson again.

Compared with a few years ago, Grant Wilson was obviously more mature and humble. After meeting Arthur, he lowered his attitude. His face was full of humility and respect, and he greeted: "Your Majesty!"

At this time, Arthur's identity also experienced tremendous changes, from a little Duke of Australia to the King of Australasia.

Although it seems to be only a level difference, in the European aristocratic system, the gap between the duke and the king is very large, and the influence of the royal family in Europe is naturally different.

As a king, Arthur can be said to have reached the top of the aristocracy. Even King Edward and William II were actually the same as Arthur in terms of status.

It's just that the countries where the two of them live are very powerful, which also makes Edward's title of Emperor of India and William II's title of German Emperor highly recognized.

If Australasia could one day develop to the present strength of the British Empire, Arthur's holding of an imperial title would not have been too objectionable.

After all, in the current international status, fists are far greater than legal principles, and the strength of oneself and the country is the last word.

"Long time no see, Congressman Grant." Arthur nodded and returned with a slight smile.

Grant Wilson quickly bowed slightly and said very sincerely: "Thank you Your Majesty for being able to receive him in person. As the head of the United Party, we are honored."

"How is the development of the Unionist Party now? I remember when I was in New Zealand, your Alliance Party did very well." Arthur asked with interest.

New Zealand's integration into Australasia was so smooth, and the Coalition Party's propaganda in New Zealand at that time made a big contribution.

This also gave Grant Wilson a little impression in Arthur's mind, and Arthur still had a good impression of Grant Wilson.

Upon hearing Arthur's inquiry, Grant Wilson quickly replied, "Your Majesty, since the establishment of the Federation, the Union Party has set its sights on the entire country. After reorganization and integration with the Independence Party and the Endeavor Party, we formed the current Fine Gael.”

“I know very well that if the country wants to develop stably and steadily, the close unity between the various regions of Australasia cannot have any surprises. Therefore, I made a bold decision to set the party platform of the new Fine Gael Party as the maintenance of the Australian University. The unification of Latin America, and the maintenance of the status of the Kingdom of Australasia and the Royal Family. Australasia can develop to the present point, and can go abroad to pursue a higher status, a larger sphere of influence and greater power, All of this is inseparable from your Majesty's leadership. If the kingdom wants to continue to develop and realize its greater dream of rising, it is absolutely inseparable from your Majesty's command and leadership."

As early as in New Zealand, Grant Wilson was clearly aware of the political landscape after the merger of Australia and New Zealand.

Whether in Australia or New Zealand, Arthur held an absolute position and had sufficient popular support and support.

Judging from the previous development speed of Australia, Arthur is definitely not an incapable monarch.

The status of a capable, popular, and well-supported monarch will only become higher and more stable. Therefore, Grant Wilson has long made up his mind to stand in the team and use another way to get himself into the top. .

Although Grant Wilson's words were somewhat flattering, Arthur didn't blame him too much and continued to ask: "Congressman Grant, what do you think of the current political parties and election laws?"

The Political Party Law and the Electoral Law are laws about political parties and elections that were established as early as the Australian period. They are also the fundamental laws followed by the current Australasian political party system and the electoral period. New ℴ𝓂

The reason why these two laws are mentioned is that these two laws greatly strengthened Arthur's royal power. At the same time, they also greatly weakened the rights of political parties and placed them under the rule of the Royal Parliament, even if During the selection period, it is also subject to the supervision of the royal family and the government.

Although Australasian political parties gained legal status through the Political Parties Act, they also successfully lost the opportunity to gain greater power.

Although development so far, the development of Australasia is still very smooth. But Arthur decided to listen to other opinions and see how other political parties responded to the electoral law and political party law.

"Your Majesty, the Political Party Law and the Electoral Law regulate the political parties and electoral system in Australasia. At the same time, they also weaken the influence of large political parties on the situation as much as possible. I think such a system is different from Europe, but it is very suitable for Current Australasia. For Australasia, what is needed most now is to unite to develop the country, not to have new voices." Grant Wilson thought carefully for a while before speaking.

"As for the reaction of other political parties, it is actually not too important. Your Majesty, as long as the people support it and the government supports it, the reaction of the political parties is nothing. And as far as I know, none of the five major political parties in the country have explicitly opposed the political party law and elections. Even the Country Party and New Labor are very supportive of the electoral law."

The biggest feature of the Political Party Law and the Election Law is that it eliminates any political donations and brings the income of political parties to almost the same level.

Political parties want to obtain higher income not by wooing capitalists and executive aristocrats, but by relying on popular support to win seats in the House of Representatives and allocate more funds in proportion to the number of seats in the House of Representatives.

1 Various donations amounted to more than AU$1.2 million. According to the provisions of the Political Parties Law, 30% of the donations were evenly distributed among the five major political parties, with each political party receiving an average of AU$72,000.

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The remaining 70% was allocated to each political party according to the proportion of seats in the House of Representatives. Grant Wilson's Unionist Party received a full 30% of it, which is 360,000 Australian dollars.

These two incomes gave the Fine Gael Party a total of A$432,000 in activity funds. The current smallest Liberal Party has received more than 120,000 Australian dollars in funds.

If we look at the European situation, the party that receives the least funding for its activities must be the Country Party.

Why? Because the main audience of the Country Party is rural people and low-income people, it is already difficult for these people to take care of themselves and their families, so they naturally have less funds to donate to the Country Party.

If it develops for a long time, a political party like the Countryside Party that truly cares about rural areas and low-income people will definitely go bankrupt and even risk disbanding.

But it was also the political party law enacted by Arthur that allowed political parties to divide all remaining political funds according to their respective levels of support on the premise of obtaining a minimum income.

This is not very friendly to those larger parties, but for rural parties and small parties, it is the key to maintaining the survival of the party, and it is also the real reason why the political party law has not encountered much opposition.

After all, the largest party at present is the Unionist Party, and the Unionist Party's platform is entirely for the royal family, and it can be said that it is the royal family's own people.

Arthur nodded, looked at Grant Wilson, and asked seemingly unintentionally: "Congressman Grant, what do you think of the current development of the country?"

Grant Wilson was shocked and quickly organized words in his mind, but he did not dare to delay for too long. After thinking for a while, he said: "Your Majesty, I do not dare to make any presumptions about the development of the country. Speech. But some small issues may be more clearly seen outside. I think there are two problems exposed in the current development, almost both of which are related to population."

Arthur smiled, became somewhat interested, and continued to ask: "Oh? About the population problem? If it is the population size, this problem is already known to everyone, so there is no need to repeat it again."

"It's not the size of the population, Your Majesty." Grant: Wilson explained: "Although the size of the population is a big problem for us, after the efforts of your Majesty and the government, we can have hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year. The issue of scale has been gradually resolved. What I want to say is actually related to these immigrants. Regarding the resettlement of these immigrants, I think the current government is doing something wrong. Looking at the entire Australasia, most of our immigrants are distributed in In the southeastern part of Australia and the North Island of New Zealand, more than 60% of immigrants have chosen to immigrate to large cities in these areas."

"There are good aspects to this situation. Our capital Sydney already has a population of more than 900,000 and is about to become the first city in the Kingdom to exceed one million people. But there are also disadvantages in doing so. Between our cities The gap has gradually become apparent. Our population is not large to begin with, and if most of the population is settled in big cities, it will not be a good thing for the development of the country and the region."

Arthur nodded. This is indeed an obvious problem. Even if the government has introduced certain policies before, it has not been alleviated very well.

Although Australasia has become a popular choice for immigrants, this does not mean that all Australasian regions are popular with immigrants.

Immigration choices are diverse, but they are generally inseparable from local development, economy, cultural construction, education, medical care, population and other factors.

Compared with several large cities in Australasia, the competitiveness of small cities is obviously much lower, and naturally they cannot attract many immigrants.

To give the simplest example, the population of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, only increased from less than 140,000 to over 230,000 at the beginning of this year, and the total population growth was only 90,000.

In comparison, the population development of Melbourne, the second largest city in Australasia, appears to be much faster.

Also at the beginning of this year, Melbourne's population grew from 440,000 to 710,000, with the total population growth exceeding 270,000, which is exactly three times that of Perth.

The reason why Sydney is not mentioned is because its development is even more exaggerated. As the capital of the former Principality of Australia and now the Kingdom of Australasia, Sydney has also been a development focus of the government.

Coupled with the super factory of Benz Automobile Factory, the popularity of the Capital Territory and Sydney is the highest in Australasia, even ahead of most cities in the United States.

Sydney's initial population size was slightly lower than Melbourne's, but now its population size has reached a city with a population of one million.

This means that in the past eight years, Sydney has absorbed more than half a million immigrants.

How exaggerated is this number? Looking at all 11 administrative regions in Australasia, there are only seven administrative regions with a total population of more than 500,000.

The total number of new immigrants in Sydney in the past eight years is enough to equal the combined population of Tasmania and South New Zealand.

But this is not a problem in Sydney. After all, there is nothing wrong with developing and building Sydney. It is also the current capital and signature of Australasia. Sydney can be credited with attracting so many immigrants.

But after all, the development of other administrative regions must also be taken into account, so it is very necessary to transfer some immigrants to other regions.

Especially Western Australia and South Australia, which have a lot of mineral resources, the combined population of these two states is only about 1.5 million, while New South Wales, even if it loses the big city of Sydney, still has a population of 129 Thousands of dollars.

"This is indeed a big development risk. Congressman Grant, do you have any good suggestions?" Arthur asked with a smile.

“Your Majesty, the best way is to increase the attractiveness of other cities. Australasia currently lacks a publicity department to increase the attractiveness of Australasian cities nationally and internationally, so that more Australasian cities can Get into the sight of Europeans and change the flow of immigrants from the source." Grant Wilson seemed to have something in mind, and there was no hesitation in his answer.

Arthur nodded again, quite satisfied with Grant's answer. The publicity department is indeed what is lacking in Australasia at the moment.

Although the public opinion in Australasia has been controlled by Arthur, the government departments do not have corresponding propaganda methods, not even a propaganda management agency.

Perhaps it is necessary to establish a propaganda department, but a small propaganda department is not enough to enter the cabinet. At present, it seems that it needs to be under the name of a certain department.

The one most suitable for the propaganda department is definitely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has the ability to act internationally.

Thinking of this, Arthur nodded and said with a smile: "This is a good plan, Congressman Grant. Besides this problem, what is the other problem?"

Having reached this point, Grant Wilson naturally would not flinch and continued: "Your Majesty, in addition to improving the attractiveness of other cities, I think it is necessary to further divide the immigrants into Immigrants from the same region are allocated to different states and territories to eliminate the possibility of these immigrants forming forces at the root."

If we had to classify them in terms of closeness and distance, the people closest to Arthur were naturally Australasians, followed by British immigrants, Russian immigrants, German immigrants, and then immigrants from other European countries.

The number of immigrants coming to Australasia every year has exceeded 600,000, which is good news for Australasia.

But the management of immigration also requires constant vigilance. After all, these foreign populations are not so safe for the stability of the country.

At least without enough time to verify, Arthur will not completely trust these immigrants. This is why government elections in Australasia must have years of residence in Australasia.

The parliamentary system in Australasia can be divided into members of the House of Representatives, state (territory) members, city councilors, etc.

Members of the House of Representatives can elect cabinet officials and members of the national government, and state or territory legislators can elect members of the state and territory governments. The lowest-level city councilors can only be elected to members of the municipal government and village and town governments.

But one of the requirements for standing for even the most junior councilor is to have lived in any part of Australasia for three years.

It is five years for a state legislator, ten years for a member of the House of Representatives, and fifteen years for a cabinet member.

Generally speaking, under the influence of Arthur's various welfare policies and various propaganda, immigrants have basically been initially integrated into the Australasian environment within five years of living in Australasia.

And those who can live in Australasia for fifteen years will definitely develop feelings for Australasia and recognize this country.

The method Grant mentioned is actually to divide and disrupt all immigrants, and then assign them to other administrative districts on a family-by-family basis.

The immigrants distributed in the same administrative area in this way basically come from various countries, and the number of people who are familiar with each other will be greatly reduced, which also greatly reduces the possibility of these immigrants joining together.

After thinking for a while and confirming that this was a good idea, Arthur looked at Grant Wilson again and said with a hint of seriousness: "Congressman Grant, the two problems you mentioned do exist, and the ones you raised Methods do work. Australasia needs people like you who can contribute to the country, and I believe that under your leadership, Fine Gael can become an important support and pillar for the government's work."

"Yes, Your Majesty! Please rest assured that the Fine Gael Party will always be a supporter of the country and the royal family, and will always be a charger of the dream of the rise of Australasia. Although the members of the Fine Gael Party come from various regions, we are all connected by blood. Australasian," Grant Wilson hastily assured.

At the end of the conversation, before asking the guards to send Grant off, Arthur seemingly unintentionally added to Grant: "Congressman Grant, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will set up a propaganda department in a while, and then the ministerial candidates will be discussed in the House of Representatives."

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