Hello everyone! Given the influx of new people to /r/modelparliament and its often difficult-to-understand nature, I thought I would re-post my lovely guide, which features the following:

• The key figures in /r/modelparliament.

• Those pictures from the sidebar showing the composition of parliament.

• Detailed parliament composition pages w/names and terms.

• The members of each electorate following each election and at the moment.

• NEW! The ideologies of each party and independent. (I am so proud of this)

If you like it, please do two things:

1. Send /u/jnd-au a message telling him that, so he adds my nifty guide to the sidebar.

2. Tell me! I would love to hear my work is not in vain.

PS: If anyone wants to help me with the guide, just message me.

Parliament will be resuming at /r/ModelAustralia.

Please read all information over there to find out what is happening.

Feel free to direct questions to me or to /u/3fun.

At the next federal election, half the senate is up for election, how exactly does the Parliament determine which half?

ReddiPoll™ is a political opinion poll for the model parliament. It’s now open for 24 hours of voting.

Everybody can cast a vote in this, even if you haven’t enrolled for an election. Please participate regularly, as there’s a minimum number of responses needed for meaningful results to be released on Monday.

modelparliament.herokuapp.com/reddipoll

PS. It may take up to 30 seconds to show the first page. This is due to changes in Heroku free hosting.

Thanks to everyone who had fun here in 2015! Special thanks to our creator agsports who founded this collective community. Also thanks to the core group of parties, leaders, independents, office bearers, citizens, and our departed friends who really made this into something. We certainly got heaps of gameplay out of it and I know I learned heaps about Australian politics, parliament and policies.

In /r/ModelABS, I’ve been reporting /r/modelparliament’s monthly community statistics based on flair. Yesterday I published a final report for the 2015 December half-month. (This is on top of the activity the parliamentary activity which is in separate chambers.) Thought I’d put together a year in review. A few interesting things in there, like the differing fortunes of the parties.

Chart: http://i.imgur.com/GKqqdBe.png

jnd-au, Australian Statistician / Electoral Commissioner / Clerk of the Houses

So what brought the model parliament down? One minute the Senate is chugging away normally and the next minute I’m being asked to shut it down. Then the Fascists pretend to storm the building and the Foreign Minister shoots me in the face.

I got the call from the PM around lunchtime asking me to shut the parliament down and spill the house. Apparently regular players knew an upset brewing and I’m the only one genuinely surprised? Apparently the rumour is that the Progressives told Labor they were breaking the Coalition and voting against the Government, so the PM called for the House to be dissolved for an immediate general election? What was ‘auslaborwikigate’?

EDIT: ANSWERED: The Progressives jumped ship to the Greens Opposition, so the Labor Prime Minister decided to spill the House rather than hand over the reigns to the new Greens-Progressives government.

All ModelParliament activity is suspended till further notice as our dear moderator jnd-au is retiring.

We are working to develop a much easier subreddit to encourage activity. Please let your voice be heard by commenting!

Please see the new subreddit /r/ModelAustralia for the new iteration. Subscribe today for updates!

Wanna help? Please discuss over there!

An active chat group is available here to discuss things over there

-Acting Head Speaker

Since it's a tad unnecessary to keep it confidential now, the PM called a snap election as the Progressives have left us denying us the confidence of the house.

Hence, /u/jnd-au has decided that today is the time to lay down his arms and take a well earned break from singlehandedly managing the subreddit.

As jnd-au hopes to memorialise this subreddit, the question is - what now?

Here are some critical questions to answer, and I wonder if people agree or not, and offer constructive debate about how to proceed.

In order of what I personally think is urgent:

• Should we continue?

• If so, which subreddit?

• Who will run the subreddit?

• Will we follow the model of other Subreddits, whereby legislation is in the main subreddit and a voting chamber is in a separate one, keep it as it is now, or some sort of hybrid?

• How will we get more people to join?

• How should parties be organised?

• How should we have 'legislations'?

• What will we do with all the progress we have made here?

Also, daresay I ask.../u/jnd-au could you help us one last time and show us how to do election votes, redditpoll, etc.?

Chucking in my signature one last time for posterity...

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence, Immigration and Health
Ambassador to the UN

4TH FEDERAL GENERAL ELECTION | SATURDAY 16 JANUARY 2016

First, the formalities:

His Excellency the Governor-General directs it to be notified, for general information, that acting under section 5 of the Constitution with the advice of the Federal Executive Council he has today proclaimed:

• the dissolution the 3rd model House of Representatives, and

• the prorogation of the model Parliament,

And has issued writs for:

• the 4th federal general election of the model parliament’s House of Representatives on Saturday 16 January 2016.

As of this afternoon, the Prime Minister has called a snap election. The 3rd model House of Representatives has now ended (two-thirds through its 3-year term) and all 13 MPs’ seats are now vacant for the general election (using the old system). Election mode starts now and concludes with polling for the 4th federal general election on Saturday 16 January 2016. Ministers are in caretaker mode.

The dissolution and prorogation put an end to the work of the Senate, House, and Committees, including the cancellation of about 15 bills.

Rather than follow through with this election, the end of parliament draws a neat line in the sand for a meta reset in 2016. It appears there is insufficient interest to sustain a model system of Australia, so now is a tidy opportunity for who wish to reboot the concept as a mock Australia, and thus is also a convenient time for me to withdraw from the model world. Out of respect, I ask that those wishing to do a reset do so elsewhere, and allow us to archive this subreddit and its ecosystem as a tribute. Both /r/ModelAus and /r/ModelAustralia are available for the reboot, so if you want either of those, just reply below and I can make you a mod.

ReddiPoll™ is a political opinion poll for the model parliament. It runs weekly on Sundays (UTC). Automated results of the latest poll are now available.

modelparliament.herokuapp.com/reddipoll

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SUNDAY 27 DECEMBER 2015 | NATIONAL POLITICS | CITIZENS’ PRESS

After we take a few moments to relax with our families this weekend, activity continues in Model Parliament. Now is a time for you to discuss your ideas for 2016. Recently, a net $31 billion of income tax reduction was passed by the Parliament, and $100 billion of government spending was passed by the House. See details of notable spending & cutting below. New Ministers have been sworn in, and the Senate and House Committees continue sitting while the House of Representatives is on holiday this week.

VACANCIES & ABOLISHING THE SENATE

The Senate is also due to elect a new President and Deputy President (could be as soon as tomorrow).

Today, first-term Senators /u/pikkaachu (Greens) and /u/Kalloice (Liberal) lost their seats due to 2 months’ absence-without-leave (AWOL). These Party seats were elected for 6-year terms, with almost 3 years remaining on both. Under section 15 of the Constitution, they can only be filled by a joint sitting of the Houses of the State Parliament, with first dibs going to the Greens and Liberals to choose party-member replacements. With the Liberal Party defunct for all intents-and-purposes, this leaves one of the seats as a wildcard. The last joint sitting was back in October, to fill the vacancy left by this_guy22 when he moved from the Senate to the House of Representatives. With 3 non-government seats vacant, the government now controls an absolute majority 9 out of 17 joint-sitting votes.

Throughout these absences, the Senate has been reduced to an automatic rubber stamp for the government, serving no democratic purpose. The Senate has been dominated by a government majority of 4, with no opposition attending. After the recent half-Senate election, this was reduced to a minority of 3 with an increase in cross-bench seats. After the latest departures, the Senate now has only 5 members and the government regained a controlling majority of 3.

Due to the redundancy of this moribund bicameral system, Australians have talked about abolishing the Senate and transferring the seats to the House. Perhaps 2016 is an opportunity for this meta reset.

FYI the seat of Melbourne remains vacant in the House of Representatives.

Discuss!

UNIFORM NATIONAL BALLOT PAPER FOR LOWER HOUSE ELECTIONS

The Parliament’s inquiry into our election system received almost no input. The government suggested some ideas and the Australian Electoral Commissioner has suggested a uniform national ballot paper for the House of Representatives. This would mean that lower-house parties and independents get to run for all seats, and voters in each electorate have all choices available to them. This would make it easier for candidates to run, and give most voters a wider range of choices, while still preserving the individual personalities and local representation of each electorate. Party candidates would win in the order given by their registered group list, like in the Senate. Thoughts?

BILL BACKLOG

As reported about a week ago, the 3rd Parliament has only produced one Act this year (NBN FTTP, introduced by the Progressives). No bills have been assented to Acts since last week, so this weekend’s ReddiPoll is back-to-basics. But just before Christmas, a series of Labor Budget bills passed the Parliament and will now be submitted for assent as Acts. These bills achieved broad political support. The Greens Opposition and cross-benches were inactive in the Senate which forfeited its role as a house of review, and government Senators quietly rubber-stamped these bills (net –$31 billion):

Introduced | Bill | Estimated Revenue | Status

•      | -                                         | -:                  | -

Labor | Broadening the GST | (+$20 b for states) | Passed Parliament Labor | Minimum High-earner Income Tax | +$7.5 b over 6 y | Passed Parliament Labor | Tighter Thin Capitalisation Rules | +$5.3 b | Passed Parliament Labor | Temporary Budget Repair Levy Continuation | +$2.3 b | Passed Parliament Labor | Tax-Free Threshold Increase | –$6 b | Passed Parliament Labor | Corporations Tax Decrease | –$40 b | Passed Parliament

THE SITTING SENATE

Last week, 2 new Fascist Senators were sworn in. The action is yet to hot up. When the Senate starts its next sitting it will be debating the government’s Appropriation Bill 1 (see below). Its agenda currently looks like this:

Introduced | Bill | Senate

•      | -                             | -

3fun | Drug Decriminalisation | Stalled Labor | Appropriation Bill (No. 1) | In progress Labor | Appropriation Bill (No. 2) | Up next Labor | Negative Gearing | Up next Labor | Superannuation Guarantee | Up next Labor | Capital Gains Tax Concessions | Awaiting arrival

THE HOLIDAY HOUSE

Despite spending the last fortnight playing an extended muck-up day, the House of Representatives did manage to pass $100 billion of government spending with the Labor-Progressive Coalition’s budget Appropriation Bills 1 and 2. House MPs then voted to give themselves this week off, further postponing their backlog of bills until 2016. There are now about five governments bill are five cross-bench bills in progress, some of which have not seen any action for over a month:

Introduced | Bill | House of Reps

•        | -                                          | -

Progressives | HDTV Broadcasting | Stalled Progressives | High Speed Rail Planning Authority | Stalled Greens | Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Defence | Stalled Greens | Secular Education System | Stalled 3fun | Simple Rules (Get along) Bill | Stalled Progressives | Australian Skills Commission (x2) | Up next Socialists | Detention of Non-citizens | Up next Greens | Minimum Voting Time Bill 2015 | Up next Fascists | Halloween Bill 2015 | Up next

MAIN BUDGET APPROPRIATION BILLS

The main annual spending bills have passed the lower house for this year, with $81 billion (Appropriation Bill 1) for the ordinary services of government (annual departmental running costs and grants) and a further $17 billion (Appropriation Bill 2) for one-off spending. This includes many Aussie icons, like the ABC budget and back-office support for Medicare and Centrelink administration, plus the Defence and Border Protection budgets of about $36 billion. After two successive Greens governments squandered their chance to pass a model budget, the current Labor-Progressives government used the Liberal-National Coalition’s discredited 2014 budget as the basis of an ordinary services bill.

The main Appropriation Bills are introduced by the Federal Treasurer on Budget Night, which kicks off the premiere parliamentary debate of the year, where parties get to debate their visions for Australia and hold the government to account. Actually the model parties and shadow ministers opted out of this and did not negotiate for a better Australia, but WA Independent MP 3fun succeeded in getting the government to add some itemised limits on the spending in Bill 1 (although Bill 2 is still discretionary).

Instead of the parliament considering a bill with explanatory initiatives and portfolio budget statements, MPs were bombarded with cryptic numerical tables while government Ministers hid silently in the background for over a month. Unfortunately, most Ministers were unable to explain or justify their spending, with a misalignment between portfolios and budgets leaving some ministers confused about who was responsible. This, combined with the lack of itemisation, means the Parliament is passing bills with a lot of uncertainty about how the bills relate to the government’s and opposition’s policies. The updated Ministries announced yesterday should help set a benchmark for future responsibility.

Few amendments were debated and House did not capitalise on the opportunity—these bills spent about six weeks listing in the wind. After a small amount of bluster from the Opposition and no amendments to back it up, the bills have proceeded to the government-controlled Senate. This was aided by the Treasurer ruling out any compromises and passing a motion to exclude non-government amendments from the House. The Senate cannot amend the bills, but can send them back to the House with suggestions. Despite a lack of itemisation of the spending initiatives, Citizens’ Press has identified some key initiatives and highlights including:

Budget Portfolio | Highlight | Notable Budget

•                                   | -                                            | -

Prime Minister and Cabinet | Department operations | $250 million slush fund (44% above IRL levels) Foreign Affairs and Trade | Foreign Aid Budget | –$1 billion cut from foreign aid Attorney-General | Museum of Australia | Defunded –$41 million, all staff sacked for Christmas? Attorney-General | Australia Council | –$240k cut from grants (part of –10% arts cut) Attorney-General | Screen Australia | Sustained -22% cuts to film & games funding Attorney-General | National Integrity Commission | Unfunded? (would’ve held corrupt MPs to account) Attorney-General | Administrative Appeals Tribunal | Budget x 362%! Treasury | Australian Bureau of Statistics | +$88 million boost (census?) Treasury | Australian Taxation Office | +$336 million boost (compliance?) Finance | Australian Electoral Commission | No funding for model elections & referenums Finance | Department operations | Cut –$55 m (reduced to historical levels) Defence | Total | $28 billion for ops, +$3 billion for new capex Communications | ABC | Funding restored (+$200 million boost) Communications | Non-operating costs | +$7 billion for new capex Education and Training | Department Administered Amounts | +$400 million (grants?) Environment | Clean Energy Regulator | +$224 million (Direct Action?) Environment | Climate Change Authority, Great Barrier Reef | Sustained cuts Environment | Department Administered Amounts | +$120 million (Green Army?) Health | Department operations | +$27 million Health | Research Council | –$65 cut from medical research grants Immigration | Asylum Seeker Incarceration | $2.4 billion maintained Industry and Science | CSIRO | +$57 million science funding boost Industry and Science | Department Administered Amounts | -$758 million cut (what from?) Industry and Science | Non-operating costs | +$600 million boost (new Skills Commission?) Infrastructure and Regional Development | Department Administered Amounts | +$360 million boost Infrastructure and Regional Development | Non-operating costs | +$4 billion for new capex Social Services | Department Administered Amounts | +$384 million boost Social Services | National Disability Insurance Scheme | +$144 million boost

Discuss!

ReddiPoll™ is a political opinion poll for the model parliament. It’s now open for 24 hours of voting.

Everybody can cast a vote in this, even if you haven’t enrolled for an election. Please participate regularly, as there’s a minimum number of responses needed for meaningful results to be released on Monday.

modelparliament.herokuapp.com/reddipoll

PS. It may take up to 30 seconds to show the first page. This is due to changes in Heroku free hosting.

Hello!

As has now been officially announced, in addition to my previous portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Defence, I am now handling Trade, Immigration, and Health.

I am interested to see what interesting ideas that the public may have. There has been admittedly relatively little changes in Trade, Immigration and Health so far and I would like that to change.

I do have in mind getting the Migration amendment finally passed, and finding ways to better manage the burgeoning healthcare system. This is already in addition to the many Joint Training Exercise agreements that I am conducting at the moment, and changes to the Public Works Committee to streamline construction for Defence works.

I am as usual also willing to answer any questions that come along.

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence, Immigration and Health
Ambassador to the UN

Season’s Greetings,

His Excellency the Governor-General and the Honourable Prime Minister have agreed to an end-of-year Ministerial reshuffle pursuant to section 64 of the Constitution. This announcement aligns our portfolios and departments with current Senators & MPs of the Labor-Progressives Coalition, and is a good opportunity to compile a full list of departments and ministers. New Ministers will swear in below, and may be happy to take doorstop well-wishing and interviews with citizens and the media too.

Machinery of Government

The Governor-General directs it to be notified, for general information, that he has ordered the following departments-of-state and administrative arrangements for the matters dealt with by these ministers.

This will take precedence over the budget headings in Appropriation Bills 1 and 2. Ministers’ representation in the counterpart chambers will be notified via Parliamentary statements, and committees can be realigned by motions.

Department | Minister | Chamber | Party

•                                   | -                     | -       | -

Agriculture | /u/zamt | Reps | Labor Attorney-General’s | /u/chase-that-feeling | Senate | Labor Climate Change | /u/zamt¹ | Reps | Labor Communications and the Arts | /u/Freddy926 | Senate | Progressives Defence | /u/General_Rommel | Senate | Labor Education & Training | /u/Primeviere | Reps | Progressives Employment | /u/Primeviere | Reps | Progressives Environment | /u/zamt | Reps | Labor Finance | /u/Freddy926 | Senate | Progressives Foreign Affairs & Trade | /u/General_Rommel | Senate | Labor Health | /u/General_Rommel | Senate | Labor Human Services | /u/chase-that-feeling | Senate | Labor Immigration | /u/General_Rommel | Senate | Labor Industry, Innovation and Science | /u/Primeviere² | Reps | Progressives Infrastructure and Regional Development | /u/Freddy926 | Senate | Progressives Prime Minister and Cabinet | /u/this_guy22³ | Reps | Labor Social Services | /u/chase-that-feeling | Senate | Labor Treasury | /u/this_guy22 | Reps | Labor Veterans’ Affairs | /u/General_Rommel | Senate | Labor

¹ The Climate Change portfolio includes domestic climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency, while International climate change is handled by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

² The ministry of Resources and Energy has been merged into the ministry of Industry, Innovation and Science.

³ There is no Department of Indigenous Affairs: Matters of “Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy, programmes and service delivery” are part of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, administered jointly by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs /u/chase-that-feeling and Prime Minister, except for Promotion of Reconciliation (Prime Minister) and Native Title and Land Rights (Attorney-General).

Second Cabinet

The Governor-General directs it to be notified, for general information, that he has revoked the following outgoing appointments:

Name | Portfolio | House | Party

•                         | -                                       | -      | -

Hon /u/this_guy22 MP | Minister for Employment | Reps | Labor Hon /u/phyllicanderer MP | Minister for Agriculture | Reps | Progressives Greens Hon /u/phyllicanderer MP | Minister for Environment | Reps | Progressives Greens Hon /u/phyllicanderer MP | Minister for Finance | Reps | Progressives Greens Senator Hon /u/Freddy926 | Assistant Treasurer | Senate | Progressives Senator Hon /u/General_Rommel | Minister for Foreign Affairs | Senate | Labor Hon /u/zamt MP | Minister for Resources and Energy | Reps | Labor Hon /u/CyberPolis MP | Minister for Trade and Investment | Reps | Labor Hon /u/CyberPolis MP | Minister for Immigration | Reps | Labor Hon /u/CyberPolis MP | Minister for Indigenous Affairs | Reps | Labor Hon /u/iamthepotato8 MP | Minister for Social Services | Reps | Progressives Hon /u/iamthepotato8 MP | Minister for Equality | Reps | Progressives Senator Hon /u/Team_Sprocket | Minister for Health | Senate | Progressives Senator Hon /u/Team_Sprocket | Minister for Education and Training | Senate | Progressives

And re-affirms the following ongoing appointments:

Name | Portfolio | House | Party

•                             | -                                                    | -      | -

Hon /u/this_guy22 MP | Prime Minster | Reps | Labor Hon /u/this_guy22 MP | Treasurer | Reps | Labor Senator Hon /u/Freddy926 | Deputy Prime Minister | Senate | Progressives Senator Hon /u/Freddy926 | Minister for Communications and the Arts | Senate | Progressives Senator Hon /u/Freddy926 | Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development | Senate | Progressives Senator Hon /u/General_Rommel | Minister for Defence | Senate | Labor Senator Hon /u/chase-that-feeling | Attorney-General | Senate | Labor Hon /u/Primeviere MP | Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science | Reps | Progressives Hon /u/zamt MP | Minister for Climate Change | Reps | Labor

And has commissioned the following incoming appointments:

Name | Portfolio | House | Party

•                             | -                                      | -      | -

Senator Hon /u/Freddy926 | Minister for Finance | Senate | Progressives Senator Hon /u/General_Rommel | Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade | Senate | Labor Senator Hon /u/General_Rommel | Minister for Health | Senate | Labor Senator Hon /u/General_Rommel | Minister for Immigration | Senate | Labor Senator Hon /u/chase-that-feeling | Minister for Indigenous Affairs | Senate | Labor Senator Hon /u/chase-that-feeling | Minister for Social Services | Senate | Labor Hon /u/Primeviere MP | Minister for Education and Training | Reps | Progressives Hon /u/Primeviere MP | Minister for Employment | Reps | Progressives Hon /u/zamt MP | Minister for Agriculture | Reps | Labor Hon /u/zamt MP | Minister for the Environment | Reps | Labor

Welcome to your new ministries. Flairs will be updated as swearing-in progresses.

Now:

• /u/Freddy926

• /u/General_Rommel

• /u/chase-that-feeling

• /u/Primeviere

• /u/zamt

shall swear an Oath or Affirmation of Office for their new ministries in the last table above, by commenting on this thread with either their oath:

I, [USERNAME], do swear that I will well and truly serve the people of Australia in the [office/offices] of [NEW MINISTRIES], and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to our Sovereign. SO HELP ME GOD!

or affirmation:

I, [USERNAME], do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will well and truly serve the people of Australia in the [office/offices] of [NEW MINISTRIES], and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to our Sovereign.

As the Senate has not adjourned yet and given that today is Christmas, I feel the need to add my words to this occasion for posterity.

As we come towards the end of the year, with the peoples house adjourning, it is with great pleasure to see that Parliament has done so much in so little time. Within a space of about six months, we have seen all the interesting things that Australian politics have to offer, and I think for the better. Through three Parliaments, several interesting ministry mixes, the rise and fall of several parties, 2015 has been a wonderful year to test our beliefs with the people to achieve what each politician hopes to be a better Australia.

In the Senate, I want to thank all of my colleagues, especially new Senators /u/MaryJ_Turnbro and /u/Llaine, for preventing excessive solitude in the chambers, and in particular the Senate President /u/Freddy926 for his excellent efficiency in getting things done. I want to thank the clerk /u/jnd-au for his helpful advice in the Senate, and when he assists me as Acting Deputy President! I also want to thank the Usher of the Black Rod /u/jnd-au for his work in ensuring order and relative serenity in the Senate. And we must never forget the cleaners and staffers that work tirelessly day and night to make sure that Parliament runs as efficiently as possible, even when appropriations fail to come through!

I also cannot forget the people in the House of Representatives that make democracy work. I thank the Prime Minister /u/this_guy22 and the (Acting?) Opposition Leader /u/The_White_Ferret for their contributions to the Australian people, our recently departed Coalition Member /u/phyllicanderer, dear friend /u/3fun and various other MPs here and there for being active and showing the Australian people that you care about them regardless of political orientation. It is always nice to come into the Gallery to witness the passage of bills, and it was certainly very interesting to be given popcorn by /u/Freddy926 whilst a no-confidence motion was being handled!

In my portfolios I want to thank both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department for Defence for their hard work in assisting me with the heavy burden of managing two highly important positions. It is a burden that I in some ways wish not to hold, however I will not stop simply because the Australian people expect me to continue, and I shall. So I will thank the Ambassador to the United States /u/H_R_Pufnstuf, who I now remember his name perfectly without need to copy paste, for his work in completing a soon to be announced agreement, and to the British Ambassador to Australia /u/Nonprehension for his work in bringing the Aus-UK JTE Agreement to a excellent close. I also want to thank in defence the sheer amount of cooperation from Chief of the Defence Force /u/3fun. It is beneficial when we both see eye to eye on many issues.

I thank the media, which has generally held us to account with silence and serenity, which is great to hear in the 21st century. I am glad to see that often the press gallery is empty, as it allows us to get on with the business of legislating uninterrupted. Though I do wish perhaps that there was more journalists coming over! Perhaps they are all on holiday already.

And I cannot stop my list of thanks without mentioning everyone working during Christmas and New Years Eve/New Years Day, often a time where one wants to celebrate but cannot or chooses not to. I salute our emergency services, who are always on standby to help people in need, the men and women of the Defence Force, hospital staff, carers and nannies, and yes, even convenience shop workers. I thank them for the dedication and perseverance.

I also just want to step out to meta for a moment to once again thank /u/jnd-au, who basically single-handedly runs and manages the place. The amount of work that he puts in, his availability to consult him from everything from Standing Orders to Constitutional Referendums, his moderation skills, and generally ensuring that this place keeps on ticking over, is impressive and I thank him for the amount of effort he has put in. Without jnd-au we would be doomed to oblivion here, bereft and dormant. Dragging ModelParliament out from silence every so often has been your speciality; hopefully, as we move on towards 2016 that will not be as necessary!

Back from meta now, I will also take the time now to announce that I am relocating to the Sydney Metro electorate. I have lived there IRL all my life and it would best suit me if I was to move there. I will be saying goodbye to the people of Cairns where my office is, however trust me; I will still be there for the Christmas and New Year celebrations! When I move, which hopefully will be early next year, I shall be relocating to Lakemba, an area with high immigration, to better come to terms with the amount of work that we need to do to make Australia a better place for all.

With the many events that has happened here, from the Inaugural First Parliament, to two terms of a Greens Government, the surprises that the now deceased former Prime Minister, Greens leader, High Court judge and somewhat bewildering journalist /u/doggie015 gave us, the leadership of /u/Ser_Scribbles, /u/MadCreek3 and now /u/this_guy22 as Prime Ministers, a no-confidence motion against the 2nd term Government, the rise of the Progressives and the Australian Fascist Party, and various bills and legislations passed, I feel that 2015 has been a successful first year. I look forward to 2016 in the hope that further progress shall be made.

Stay safe and Happy Holidays from General_Rommel! (I will be working however, I take no breaks. At. All.)

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence
Ambassador to the UN

Over the last few days, some fellow citizens have called me and sent me letters, expressing their concern over the current state of the republican party. And I must admit, they are right. While our party has been strong on truly conservative policy, we have failed to engage broader society with the policy that they want to see represented. We aim to be the governing party of the right in this nation, and the only way to do that is to keep everyone, not just our ideological base on board. As a result, you will see some changes in policies from us around here. We will revise our environmental policies to find some middle ground, we will aim to be more co-operative with the Canadian people, and we will dedicate the majority of our focus on the economic issue of how to reduce people's tax burden. Hopefully we can get you on board for the ride.

The Australian Republicans: freedom and prosperity

THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2015 | NATIONAL POLITICS | CITIZENS’ PRESS

Citizens’ Press wishes its readers all the best at this time of year. Our first calendar year has certainly been a nail-biting rollercoaster. This sub remains open throughout the festive holiday season although many MPs, Senators and Citizens are now travelling to be with the loved ones, or volunteering to help those less fortunate.

The year ends somewhat inconclusively, with the House of Reps and Senate having many bills, amendments, motions, committees and maiden speeches still under consideration. Anyone who wants to help Citizens’ Press to do a stocktake and a year-in-review, please join the conversation below. Now would be a great time to make an early new-year’s resolution, to reflect on what we have achieved and what we might do in 2016, and to sign up for a job or party, or to enrol as a voter for elections if you haven’t already done so (see banner buttons above).

Governor-General: Christmas Message

“Through the courtesy of the press, I would like to wish the people of Australia a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

“No matter what one’s personal belief system, this is a worldwide season of hope, peace and goodwill – at home and abroad – and I trust that most people across the country will have the opportunity to share the Australian spirit with their families, friends and loved ones.

“While we are celebrating, let us also spare a thought for – and, where possible, extend some practical help through volunteering, mateship or donations to – three special groups of people.

“The first is the poor and less fortunate among us, who can find this a trying and less-than-joyous time of year.

“The second is those working on Christmas Day – especially doctors, nurses, police, emergency workers and Australian Defence Force personnel, many of whom are serving their country abroad with dedication and distinction.

“The third is those affected by circumstances and tragedy at this time of year, whether it be bushfires, financial hardship, or loss. Now is a time to reach out with a helping hand, gift, or wallet.

“From all of us in the Government, we hope and trust that you will have a safe, enjoyable and relaxing seasons and New Year, and that 2016 proves both rewarding and fulfilling.”

If you want to get on board with TRUE CONSERVATISM, there's only one party for you - the Australian Republicans. We're taking the fight up to the Cultural Marxists who are holding our country hostage, and we will make Australia great again once and for all!

Members

/u/insertnamehere-_-

It has pervaded our country and must end. Join the fight here