[War] Australia: Get Things Rolling

[Daniel Sanderson]

“Get Things Rolling”
Prime Minister Jack Decker
Australia
Monday August 11 2014

Another day, another…something. Decker had arrived at work with a spring in his step, despite his average approval rating, everything had come together at the end of last week. Two big pieces of legislation were ready to be put to the House, the first a new education package for tertiary students, calling for controlled prices on university text books, but also provisions for the books to be purchased using the FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP systems that already existed.

It was unfortunate, Decker thought, that the system was already too far gone to return to the days of free tertiary education. Today, university study was a costly exercise, and one close to the PM’s heart, not only because he’d loved his university experience, but also because the twins would, either next year or the year after, be off to university. It made Decker feel old.

The second piece of legislation was the sweeping Centrelink reforms. The media had cartoons of a caricature of the Prime Minister, machete in hand, bounding down the hill towards a jungle of red tape. Decker had laughed at it, he didn’t care, it was exactly what he wanted to do.

On top of this, several reports had come out. One was on the international scale, which showed Australia slowly working it’s way up (or down) certain lists. The second was a domestic one, one of the final report cards for the Federal government’s intervention into indigenous communities. While it had been an initiative late in the Howard government, a Liberal government, it seemed to have done the trick. It would come up in Question Time, and Decker and his Minister for Indigenous Affairs, an Aboriginal MP named Charlie McLeod from the Northern Territory, would do their best to spin it as great for the country, and try to keep Taggart from taking credit.

So the business of the day began. The two bills were introduced without too much hub-bub, that would come up in Question Time. Question Time began pretty calmly.

“Thank you Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Defence. In light of the official ending of hostilities in the Caspian, does the Department, the armed forces and the government have an exit strategy?” A Labor backbencher asked.

Peter King rose, smoothed out his tie and approached the microphone after the Speaker called on him. “Thank you Mr. Speaker, and I that the Honourable Member for his question. Over the past week, myself and Admiral Tom Bains have been in contact with the US Secretary of Defense, the heads of Central Command, European Command and the Commanders of Caspian Shield and Joint Task Force Azerbaijan. Before I go on, I’d like the entire House to join me in applauding the efforts of not only the Australian forces in the region, but all forces.” He said with a firm nod and started clapping, as the rest of the chamber joined in. “To answer the Honourable Member’s question, Australia will remain in Azerbaijan, and Iran, for the time being. Australia has a strong, global reputation of being a big help during the rebuilding phase, as shown in Afghanistan in the last decade. Australia will contribute to stability and reconstruction operations for twelve
 months, and following that the government will reassess our commitment there, but right now, Australia stands alongside our partners in North America and Europe.”

The next question went to the Liberal Foreign Affairs Spokesman. “Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Honourable Joanna Griffin, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Is the Decker government going to allow Romania to slip into some bizarre isolationist stance without lifting a finger to stop them?”

Joanna rose to answer the question. “Mr. Speaker, Australia is in no position to demand anything of another nation. Our representatives in Romania expressed our wish to remain in contact with the Romanian government, however the Romanian government’s wishes were clear, and we have since withdrawn our people from Bucharest, mainly members of AusTrade who managed the post. The roles traditionally taken by that post, including services for Australians in Serbia, will now be fulfilled by our post in Bulgaria. Obviously, this move is Romania’s and theirs alone. We would welcome their return to the global community, of course, but we can’t force them to return.”

A few minutes later, the Opposition Leader rose. “Mr. Speaker my question is directed to the Prime Minister. Today, your government introduced two new bills, the first to reform the Centrelink benefit system, and the second to change the rules and measures in the Higher Education loan schemes. Can you explain, to the Australian people and to this House, why you are blowing this country’s budget into the red?”

“The Opposition Leader will, in the future, ask his questions through the chair.” The Speaker warned. “The Speaker recognises the Prime Minister.

Decker rose, cleared his throat and approached the microphone. “Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Taggart, your question is a funny one. I find it quite amusing. Your Opposition, since becoming exactly that, has done nothing. The idea of the Opposition is to provide an alternative to his government, yet instead Mr. Taggart and his gang have sat back and lobbed attack after attack at this government, without providing any alternatives. It’s all very well for you to talk about putting this country deeper into the red, but Mr. Taggart, you haven’t provided an alternative…”

“Would all Members of the House please direct their statements through the Chair.” The Speaker grumbled.

“I apologise Mr. Speaker.” The PM said with a nod. “The one thing that effects students the most, that costs the most at the time, aside from rent, is books. Students can spend from $300 to $1500 a semester on books.” He grabbed something from beside the podium and held it up. “Ladies and gentlemen, this was one of my university textbooks. It was about one hundred and fifty pages, and is the size of, what, a small diary or notebook? It costs, today, ninety dollars. If we are allowing students to take on government loans to pay for their education, we might as well tack the books on there too. It will make minimal difference. Estimates that the Deputy Prime Minister has shown me show that it will have minimal effect to the economy, the only downside is that it means that graduates will be paying off their loans for a bit longer, and that’s unfortunate, but we lost the battle over free tertiary education a long time ago.”

“The Opposition Leader on a point of order?” The Speaker said, seeing Taggart rise from his seat.

“Yes Mr. Speaker. Could the Prime Minister please tell us who it was that abolished free tertiary education?”

Decker smiled. “Ahh, Mr. Speaker, I saw that question coming clearer then if I was standing on the roof of Parliament and looking for Old Parliament House. Mr. Taggart is, of course, correct. Prime Minister Hawke and his Labor government introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme in 1989. After fifteen years of free tertiary education courtesy of the Whitlam Labor government. Now, Mr. Speaker, we could go on about history all day, but this isn’t about the past. This is about the future.”

The next question from a Labor backbencher was about the Centrelink reforms. Minister Mary-Anne Finnigan successfully answered the question, speaking about the need for sweeping reforms that would streamline the system, and hopefully lead to reduced spending on administration costs and so on. Next came a Liberal MP, who grilled Indigenous Affairs Minister Charlie McLeod about the latest report about the Federal intervention.

“Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to present this report to Parliament. I think this is one circumstance where both sides of politics can be proud of what we’ve accomplished. The report shows that the number of alcohol-related incidents has dropped. The infant mortality has dropped. Our program to get more people from indigenous communities jobs is on track, and on budget. This is but one piece of good news for this nation, as Prime Minister Decker has said publicly. Reports released in the past few days show that Australia now has the world’s seventeenth largest economy. Our GDP in terms of purchasing power parity has risen to around $850 billion. And we continue to make attempts to lower our unemployment rate. Mr. Speaker, Australia is on the rise. And this time, we have taken the time to spread our arms and usher the entire nation, not just some of them, up to a new standard.”

The questions went on. The Opposition Defence Spokesman directed the last one to the PM. “Could the Prime Minister please clarify his remarks concerning the Canada-China issue, and why he’s abandoned our Western allies.”

The Prime Minister rose, sighing quietly as he did. He was sick of this. “Mr. Speaker, Australia has a unique place in the world. We’re a predominantly Western country, in the East. In the twenty-first century, Australia has balanced this. Within Asia, we maintain strong trade and economic relationships while our security relationships continue to be with our historical allies in North America and Europe. I don’t think we are abandoning our Western allies, Mr. Speaker. We are, after all, committed to the operations in Azerbaijan and Iran. We continue to conduct exercises with those nations, and Naval vessels from those nations often dock in port here on their way around the world. We continue to purchase military equipment from the US and Europe because, quite frankly, they’ve got the best equipment.” He paused for a moment. “Australia will continue to make the best our of our dual relationships with Asia and the West. Unfortunately, that
 means there are times when we’ll have to try and straddle the East-West divide. But Australia won’t be yanked to one side, or the other. When we choose sides, it will be our decision, not one put on us by one of the sides.”

Question Time ran for the rest of the afternoon. At the end of it, Decker wished it was Friday already. He felt better though, things were rolling.

-*ACTIONS TAKEN*-
1. Revealing the new education legislation, forcing the price of university textbooks down and allowing them to be purchased through the current government loan scheme.
2. Revealing new legislation regarding Centrelink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrelink), slicing up the red tape to make it more accessible, but also to drive down the costs (hopefully)
3. Australia respects Romania’s decision to do what they will, but hopes they rejoin the world community. Back channels remain open. All services previously run by that Embassy will now be diverted to the Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.
4. Australia is in Azerbaijan/Iran for the long haul, and will do whatever it can to assist in rebuilding, and maintaining security.
5. The PM explains Australia’s tricky foreign policy, in regards to his comments on the China/Canada situation.
6. Release of the report on the Federal Indigenous Community Intervention. Good news all around, something bipartisan that worked!




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