Rise of Australia

Chapter 168 Capital Territory
"Your Highness, I would like to ask for your opinion on a few important matters at present." Prime Minister Evan said straight to the point: "Both of these two matters came from the proposals of the House of Commons. The palace of identity, as the official residence of the Australian royal family. At the same time, a national government building was rebuilt. The current national government building was transformed from the former colonial government building in New South Wales. The scale and facilities are no longer suitable for the current situation. Australia."

"In addition, our current capital, Sydney, is also the capital of New South Wales. It is not easy to manage. In fact, the management of Sydney in New South Wales is also very troublesome. Therefore, some members proposed that the city be located near Sydney. Form the Capital Territory and separate it completely from New South Wales, and the capital of New South Wales will be moved elsewhere," Prime Minister Evan said.

"At present, these two proposals have been approved by many members of the House of Commons, so they have been sent to the Cabinet for a preliminary decision. We have investigated the situation in the House of Commons and found that there are not a few people who support these two decisions. At least half of them have Members of Parliament support these two proposals, so your Highness needs your decision." After explaining all the situation, Prime Minister Evan looked at Arthur, waiting for Arthur's decision.

"Ok?"

Arthur did not expect that after more than three years in Australia, he and all members of the royal family had not considered the construction of the palace, and the members of the House of Commons had already begun to worry about the royal family.

Although the Australian royal family does not currently have a real palace, one of the two places where they can live is a small manor, and the other is the temporary reconstruction of the top floor of the government affairs building, not to mention that the government affairs buildings are all converted from the previous colonial government affairs buildings.

Compared with other monarchies in the world, the Australian royal family currently looks extremely simple.

In the eyes of European nobles, Arthur's small manor is just a temporary place for vacation, and it is not even ranked in the eyes of the major European royal families.

This is also a point of concern for members of the House of Commons. It is time for the royal family to have a large-scale palace, which can not only demonstrate the authority of the Australian royal family to the outside world, but also enhance Australia's prestige.

After all, for a monarchy country, both the royal family and the country prosper and lose.The strength and dignity of the royal family can bring a lot of prestige and prestige to the country, and the decline and poverty of the royal family will also damage the prestige of the country.

Thinking of this, Arthur said: "It is indeed time to build a palace. At least when entertaining foreign guests, we can also have a more solemn place and venue. The same is true for the government. Our current government affairs building is indeed relatively simple. In In the early days of the establishment of the country, due to various reasons, we did not build a new government building, but directly used the previous government building in the Australian colonial period. Now that Australia has no shortage of funds and manpower, it is time to build a new government building gone."

"Prime Minister Evan, the government affairs building is up to your government to decide. The new palace construction plan is about to start. I hope that the distance between the government affairs building and the palace will not be too far, which will also facilitate the convening and summoning of cabinet meetings." Arthur ordered.

If a new palace is to be built, the location will inevitably be far away from the current Sydney city centre.

Because the planning of the center of Sydney has almost been completed, there is not much space to build a complete palace.

And there are not many factories near Sydney. Although the current pollution emissions are not too high, the air quality in Sydney has begun to decline.

Arthur didn't want the palace he worked so hard to build to face serious problems with poor air quality decades later.

After all, quality of life and safety issues are very important to the royal family, and it is also a good choice to build the palace in a relatively remote suburb of Sydney.

"Yes, Your Highness. I will ask someone to design the design of the new government building as soon as possible. After the site selection of the palace is completed, the site selection and construction will begin near the palace." Prime Minister Evan nodded quickly and responded.

The construction of a new government building is good news for everyone in the government.The previous government building was indeed dilapidated, and some wooden doors inside even creaked when they were opened and closed.

Although officials generally do not complain about their office environment, compared with the new government affairs building, I believe all officials will choose the latter.

"As for the establishment of the Capital Territory, Prime Minister Evan, what do you think of the cabinet?" After the palace and the new government building are resolved, the only remaining question is about the establishment of the Capital Territory.

But this is currently the biggest change in Australia. The establishment of the Capital Territory also represents that the situation in the six states of Australia is about to change. The Capital Territory is at least a political division at the same level as the six states.

"Your Highness, we are a typical immigrant country. This is good news for our population growth, but it also creates many hidden dangers." Prime Minister Evan said.

"Although our total population is currently as high as 420 million, in fact, more than half of the population lives in the southeast coast, and the rest of the population also lives in the southwest, south and east coasts. Especially the capitals of our six states, the total The population has exceeded 150 million. Especially the capital of New South Wales, which is our capital, Sydney, and the capital of Victoria, Melbourne, the populations of these two cities have reached 53 and 47 respectively, accounting for [-]% of their respective states. One-third and nearly one-half. Their population is even comparable to our Western Australia state." Prime Minister Evan explained.

"Although this is a common phenomenon for immigrant countries, it has also brought us many problems. For example, the population of the states is basically concentrated in the cities, the inland population is too small, and even most areas are currently uninhabited. I think the proposal to establish the Capital Territory is not an option for our current situation. Even, when necessary, I think it can change the current political situation in Australia. The current six states in Australia vary greatly in size and population. The gaps also vary greatly."

"Not counting the exception of Tasmania, the current status quo in our Australia is that states with smaller land areas have more populations, and states with larger land areas have fewer populations. Western Australia and South Australia together have more than half of Australia. The land area, but its population is less than one-third of Australia. For Western Australia and South Australia, the land area they own is too large, but the population is the smallest in several states, and it is difficult to manage such a large land However, the urban population in the southeast is too developed, and even the population of a city is equivalent to a state in the west. It is indeed necessary to establish a capital territory to avoid the embarrassment that our capital and the capital of New South Wales are one city Situation. In my opinion, a capital territory covering the entire city and suburbs of Sydney should be established south of Newcastle in the north of Sydney and north of Olburst in the south of Sydney. The capital of New South Wales can be transferred to the north of Sydney Newcastle, the second largest city in New South Wales after Sydney, also has a population of more than 20." Prime Minister Evan said.

Arthur nodded silently.Prime Minister Evan talked for a long time, analyzing the immigration situation in Australia, and finally led to the huge population gap between southeastern Australia and western Australia.

But this is definitely not something that can be changed in a short period of time. The situation that Australia's coastal population occupies the majority of the total population has not changed until later generations. This is also the factor created by Australia's unique environment and climate.

In history, the capital of Australia after the establishment of the federation was temporarily set in Melbourne, and after Sydney developed beyond Melbourne, in order to comply with the public opinion of the two cities, the capital was set in the middle of the two cities, and a new city name was established. It's called Canberra.

The establishment of the Capital Territory at that time was also after the establishment of Canberra, which is also because the immigration wave in the early stage of Australia in history was not as vigorous as it is now.

Historically, most of the early immigrants in Australia came from England and Ireland in the British Empire. Only a few Europeans from other countries would choose to immigrate to Australia.

But it is different now. In addition to the British Empire as a stable source of immigrants to Australia, Australia also has two major sources of immigrants from Germany and France.

In particular, the British Empire and Germany can provide more than 15 immigrants to Australia every year, which is why the population of Australia has grown so rapidly.

"Well, in order to avoid the conflict between the capital and the capital, it is indeed time to establish a directly subordinate capital territory. This matter is also handed over to the cabinet. The scope of the capital territory must be carefully considered, so that the future capital territory can It has development potential, and New South Wales cannot lose too much land and population." Arthur finally nodded, and handed over the affairs of the Capital Territory to the cabinet.

"Yes, Your Highness. We will definitely think carefully and hand over the result to you as soon as possible after the discussion." Prime Minister Evan replied.

"Just, Your Highness, what do you think the administrative status of the Capital Territory should be? Should it be placed in a political division at the same level as the state, or should it be regarded as a special political unit?" Prime Minister Evan asked.

Regardless of the political level, it is at least an important division at the state level.This also means that Australia is about to add a position similar to that of the governor, and because the jurisdiction has the capital of Australia, the position of the capital territory official is higher than that of the local state officials.

"Since it is the Capital Territory, it is not appropriate to place it at any political level. I have decided to make the Capital Territory a new administrative unit directly under the government's management." Arthur said with a smile.

　Second, ask for support
　　
　
(End of this chapter)