The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 173

Chapter 173: Chapter 167: Capital Territory

“Your Highness, there are several important matters that I would like to consult with you about,” said Prime Minister Evan, getting straight to the point. “Both of these issues come from proposals in the House of Commons. The first matter is that a proposal has been made for the construction of a palace befitting your status as the Australian Royal family’s official residence. At the same time, a new National Government Building is to be built, as the current one is no longer suitable for present-day Australia, having been adapted from the former Colony Government Building of New South Wales State.”

“Aside from that, the managing of our current capital, Sydney, is also quite complicated, as it is also the capital of New South Wales State. Actually, managing Sydney is quite troublesome for New South Wales itself, so some members have proposed to establish a Capital Territory near Sydney that would be completely independent of New South Wales State, and the capital of New South Wales would also be moved elsewhere,” said Prime Minister Evan.

“Currently, these two proposals have been approved by many people in the House of Commons, so they have been submitted to the Cabinet for a preliminary decision. We have investigated the situation in the House of Commons and found that these two decisions are far from being supported by a minority; at least half of the members support these two proposals, so we need your decision, Your Highness.” After explaining the situation, Prime Minister Evan looked at Arthur, waiting for his decision.

“Hmm?”

Arthur didn’t expect that in the three years since he came to Australia, neither he nor any of the other royal family members had considered building a palace, but now the members of the House of Commons were already worried on their behalf.

Indeed, the Australian Royal Family currently does not have a proper palace. The only places they can live are a small manor house and temporary accommodations on the top floor of the Administrative Building, which is also a converted Colonial Government Building.

Compared to other monarchical countries in the world, the Australian royals can be said to be modest to the extreme.

Arthur’s small manor would be seen as just a temporary vacation spot in the eyes of European nobility, let alone ranking among the great royal families in Europe.

This is also the concern of the members of the House of Commons. It’s time for the royal family to have a large-scale palace, not only to show the authority of the Australian Royal Family abroad, but also to enhance the prestige of Australia.

After all, for monarchical countries, the royal family and the country rise and fall together. The strength and nobility of the royal family can bring a lot of prestige and reputation to the country, while the decline and poverty of the royal family will damage the country’s reputation.

With this in mind, Arthur said, “It is indeed time to build a palace. At least when entertaining foreign guests, we can have a more formal place and venue. The same goes for the government. Our current Administrative Building is quite simple. In the early days of the country’s founding, for various reasons, we did not build a new Administrative Building, but used the Government Building from the Australian Colony era. Now that Australia has abundant funds and manpower, it’s time to build a new Administrative Building.” “Prime Minister Evan, the matter of the Administrative Building is up to you and the government to decide. The plan for the new palace will also begin shortly, and I hope that the distance between the Administrative Building and the palace will not be too far, so as to facilitate the convening of Cabinet meetings and summoning,” Arthur commanded.

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

Because the current planning of Sydney city center is almost complete, there is not much room for the construction of a full palace.

Moreover, there are also quite a few factories around Sydney. Although the current emission levels are not too high, Sydney’s air quality is already starting to decline.

Arthur didn’t want the palace he worked hard to build to face severe air quality issues within decades.

After all, the quality of life and safety are important for the royal family, and building a palace in a more remote suburban area of Sydney is also a good choice.

“Yes, Your Highness. I will have someone design the new Administrative Building plans as soon as possible, and after the selection of the palace site is completed, we will choose the site for the new building nearby,” Prime Minister Evan eagerly nodded in response.

The construction of a new Administrative Building is good news for everyone in the government. The former Administrative Building is indeed old and worn, and even some of the wooden doors inside make creaking sounds when opened and closed.

Although officials generally do not complain about their office environment, compared with the new Administrative Building, it is believed that all officials would choose the latter.

“As for the establishment of the Capital Territory, Prime Minister Evan, what is the Cabinet’s opinion?” Once the issue of the palace and the new government building was resolved, the only remaining issue was about the establishment of the Capital Territory.

However, this is the biggest change for Australia at present, and the establishment of the Capital Territory also means that the situation of Australia’s six states is about to change. The Capital Territory is at least a political division on par with the six states.

“Your Highness, we are a typical immigrant country, which is good news for our population growth, but it also brings many hidden dangers.” Prime Minister Evan said.

“Although our total population is currently as high as 4-26 million, in fact, more than half of the population lives along the southeast coast, and the rest of the population also lives along the southwest, southern, and eastern coasts. In particular, the capitals of our six states have a total population of over 1.53 million. In particular, the capitals of New South Wales State, our capital Sydney, and Victoria State, Melbourne have populations of 530,000 and 470,000, respectively, accounting for one-third and nearly half of their respective states. Their populations can even be compared to our West Australia State.” Prime Minister Evan explained.

“Although this is a common phenomenon for immigrant countries, it also brings us many problems, such as the concentration of population in cities in each state, too few inland population, and even most areas are currently unoccupied. I think the proposal to establish the Capital Territory is not a bad choice for our current situation. Even under necessary circumstances, I think it is possible to change the current political situation in Australia. The six states of Australia currently have a significant difference in size and a considerable gap in population.”

“Excluding the exceptional case of Tasmania State, the current situation in Australia is that the smaller the state in terms of land area, the larger the population, and the larger the land area, the smaller the population. West Australia and South Australia together have more than half of Australia’s land area, but their population accounts for only one-third of Australia. For West Australia and South Australia, they have too large land area, but they have the least population among all states, making it difficult to manage such a large territory. In contrast, the cities in the southeastern region have an overly developed population, with even a single city’s population equivalent to that of a western state. It is indeed necessary to establish a Capital Territory now to avoid the embarrassing situation of our capital and the capital of New South Wales State being the same city. I think that a Capital Territory should be established in the area south of Newcastle in the north of Sydney and north of Alberth in the south of Sydney, covering the whole Sydney City and suburban areas. And the capital of New South Wales State can be relocated to Newcastle, the second-largest city in New South Wales State, which also has a population of over 200,000.” Prime Minister Evan said.

Arthur nodded silently. Prime Minister Evan talked for a long time, analyzing Australia’s immigration situation and finally bringing up the issue of the huge population gap between southeastern and western Australia.

However, this is definitely not something that can be changed in a short time, the situation of Australia’s coastal population accounting for most of the total population has persisted without change in the later generations, which is precisely a result of Australia’s unique environment and climate.

In history, Australia’s temporary capital after the establishment of the Federation was set in Melbourne, and after Sydney had developed and surpassed Melbourne, in order to conform to the public opinion of the two cities, the capital was set between the two cities and a new city called Canberra was established.

At that time, the establishment of the Capital Territory was also after the establishment of Canberra, which was because the immigration wave in Australia’s early history was not as intense as it is now.

Historically, most of the early immigrants to Australia were from England and Ireland within the British Empire, and only a minority of Europeans from other countries chose to immigrate to Australia.

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

Especially the British Empire and Germany, providing more than 150,000 immigrants to Australia annually, which is why Australia’s population is growing so rapidly.

“Well, in order to avoid the conflict between the capital and the capital of the state, it is indeed time to establish a directly governed Capital Territory. This matter is also the responsibility of the Cabinet. The scope of the Capital Territory must be carefully considered so that the future Capital Territory has development potential and does not cause New South Wales State to lose too much land and population.” Arthur finally gave a nod, entrusting the matter of the Capital Territory to the Cabinet to handle.

“Yes, Your Highness. We will definitely think carefully and report the results 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? Do you put it on a political level on par with the states, or treat it as a special political unit?” Prime Minister Evan asked.

No matter what political level it is, it is at least an important division on par with the states. This also means that Australia will soon add a position similar to a governor. And due to the jurisdiction of Australia’s capital, the positions of Capital Territory officials are higher in status than those of local state officials. “Since it’s a Capital Territory, it’s not suitable to put its political status at any level. I have decided to make the Capital Territory a new administrative unit directly governed by the government.” Arthur said with a smile.