[War_ooc] Australia 2014

[Daniel Sanderson]

Leader: Jack Decker
Country: Australia
Ruling Party/Coalition: Australian Labor Party (House Majority By 12 Seats, Senate By Three)

Political Landscape

The Australian political landscape is stable, for the most part. The Labor Party won the 2007 election, ending a long Liberal reign at the hands of John Howard. With industrial relations reforms, an ‘education revolution’ and promises of an easier life for working families, the Labor Party won with a comfortable margin, holding eighty-three of the one hundred and fifty seats. The Liberal Party fell apart post-election, with many avoiding being Opposition Leader as though it carried the plague with it.

Labor swiftly passed new IR laws retracting the Howard Government’s WorkChoices legislation, which would have crippled employees who had to bargain with their employer over penalty rates, holidays, leave loading, overtime. WorkChoices had been the straw that broke the back of the Liberal Party, and resulted in their defeat. Many key Liberal members left, the former Prime Minister had lost his electorate, and many others stepped down. 

Australia’s relationships with other nations changed, as Kevin Rudd, a big fan of China, spent a lot of time on that relationship, while Howard had been a loyal ally of the United States. It was left to his Foreign Affairs Minister, and new Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Jack Decker, to continue to work on that relationship. Jack Decker was a former Naval Officer, and diplomat for the Department of Foreign Affairs, who had run against twenty-year stalwart David Hawker in the seat of Wannon, in south-west Victoria, and won. He quickly became known for his vigorous cross-examination of the Howard government while Shadow Minister for Defence, and later Foreign Affairs, and people enjoyed watching him do battle in the green room of Parliament House.

However the Labor Party fell on shaky times in the lead-up to the 2010 election. Rudd barely managed to hold it together, and Labor lost a number of seats, still maintaining a majority, but only just. In 2012, as the government again prepared for another election, Rudd suddenly announced his retirement, citing family reasons. The unity and camaraderie of the Labor Party suddenly vanished, and the government began reminiscent of the Howard government, with backstabbing and vicious quotes. Out of the ruins, Jack Decker, who was by then the Foreign Affairs Minister, rose up, calling the party, and the nation, together. Decker was thought by many in the media to be Australia’s answer to JFK. Young, vigorous, charming, a man of the people with a gift for speech, the boy from Toolong in rural Victoria led Labor to another, more upbeat victory in 2013. Decker’s platform included significant changes to the Centrelink system, the Commonwealth’s Human
 Services agency, which had become a tangle of bureaucracy. He also ran on significant changes to tertiary education, to Australia’s role in the world, and to the crisis plaguing ordinary Australians as the prices of groceries and petrol continued to rise. It’s been an uphill struggle so far, which gave the Opposition plenty of ammunition, but the Decker government is almost ready to unleash a salvo of legislation in the coming months.


Defence

Australia has continued to grow as a fighting force. Despite disagreements over projects like the stop-gap order of Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornets, and other issues, Prime Minister Decker intends to continue the development led by previous governments. The Royal Australian Navy will have a number of new additions, including two Canberra-class amphibious assault ships in 2013. The government is taking into consideration the RAN’s request for two more Canberra-class ships modified to act as carriers for F-35 Lighting IIs. The Prime Minister is a little more sceptical about the proposed Air Warfare Destroyer, but this is mainly due to his own foreign and defence policy beliefs. The purchase of MRH 90 helicopters for the Navy has met with Decker’s approval, but he is still upset with the Collins-class submarine program.

The Australian Army’s purchase of M1A1 Abrams tanks has also met with Decker’s approval. The Australian Army has a bizarre balance of European, and American technology. The purchase of the ARH Tiger helicopters has continued, with the Australian Army now fielding thirty-five of the choppers. The Army has also continued their purchasing and upgrading of the Blackhawk, but has begun searching for an eventual replacement.

The Royal Australian Air Force still has seventy Hornets and thirty Super Hornets in service. Following the Rudd government’s election in 2007, an inquiry was launched into the purchase of the RAAF’s next-generation fighter program. While the Howard government had proposed purchasing F-35 Lighting IIs, there was a debate raging in the Defence Department, Parliament House, and amongst experts and academics, as to whether the F-35, or F-22 were more appropriate. Jack Decker was part of the inquiry. Ultimately, the F-35 order went ahead, and Australia will begin to take delivery in 2013


Foreign Relations

Australia has always had a unique foreign policy, between its trade and regional interests in Asia and the Pacific, and it’s traditional security partners in Europe and the United States. While many considered this would put Australia in a jam, to Decker, who has spent his life studying and advising on foreign affairs, sees it as an opportunity for Australia to be more involved in world affairs. While working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, then public servant Jack Decker helped establish the Crises Response Group. During the planning stage they listed several scenarios that the CRG could be involved in, and one was where their trading partner China had a Pacific standoff with their security partner the United States. Instead of choosing sides, Decker advocated using the CRG as a middleman to hopefully reach a settlement. 

Decker had no problems supporting the US in Afghanistan, especially in the aftermath when Afghanistan did a lot to help itself. He never agreed with the Iraq War, however. Decker was criticised during the election because of his ‘hippy-wishy-washy’ ideas on future foreign policy. The PM says that he doesn’t fit into a form of international relations like Marxism or Realism. He defines his as ‘I realise there is still war and violence, I just hope one day we wake up and realise we should stop knocking each other off’. 

Prime Minister Decker and his government have already had a few international incidents to deal with, China’s invasion of North Korea following the death of Kim Jong Il, and the recent Iranian incursion into Azerbaijan.

Economy

The Australian economy is still going quite strong. Despite the global warming focus of 2007 to 2009, nations still need resources, and Australia has those resources, iron ore, coal, gas, wool and grains. This has contributed to Australia’s unemployment rate of 4.2%, and it has been relatively steady around that point for a few years now. The nation’s Gross Domestic Product continues to grow by about 4% every year. Interest rates are still as high as they were in 2008, but thankfully aren’t rising. Unfortunately, they’re not dropping yet either, in a major way.


Social Issues

Australia continues to be a thriving multicultural nation. As a Western nation in the Eastern part of the world, Australia is more welcoming and open now then it ever has been before. While there are still major issues with poverty, homelessness and neglect, these are not as major as other nations, though it is still an issue. Education is costlier then ever, and one of Prime Minister Decker’s major issues is university education. University fees, living away from home and buying textbooks at huge prices is the total opposite when the parents of the generation going to university now, went for free.

Gay marriage continues to be an on-again off-again issue. While Victoria and Tasmania have the registry system, Decker has said he’d like to strongly consider a national registry, or assisting the other states in the creation of a registry.  Despite this, the two major parties are closer in beliefs and values then ever before, which means such an issue could lead to an internal split.

Indigenous Australians are still in a terrible state. The intervention program in the Northern Territory has in many ways made the situation worse, though Kevin Rudd’s Apology has broken a few boundaries, hopefully leading to a widening feeling of cooperation on what is a major and unique issue to Australia.




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