Just a place to keep you all updated of all things Australian :D

Regional Update: 23rd December 2006:

Real Life:

- Cricket: Australia have retained the Ashes after the third test match of the five test match series against England. Two matches remain, and the Australians are aiming for a 5-0 whitewash.

- Cricket: Shane Warne has reached 699 test wickets, and requires 1 more to reach the 700 milestone. Should he take the wicket in the nest test on Boxing Day, he will achieve the milestone on his home ground.

- Cricket: Shane Warne has announced he will retire from cricket at the end of this Ashes series. Warne has cited the desire to spend more with his family the catalyst for the decisio. There has been speculation that Glenn McGrath would also follow suit, but has since expressed his desire to take part in the upcoming World Cup in the Carribean.

- Politics: Kevin Rudd has replaced Kim Beazley as leader of the Opposition. Rudd won a leadership ballot by 10 votes. Julia Gillard is Rudd's deputy, and former Midnight Oil frontman, Peter Garrett, has been promoted to the front bench. Garrett is now the shadow minister for the arts, and the environment.

- Politics: Pauline Hanson has expressed her plan to re-enter politics, causing fury by claiming that black Africans are spreading the AIDS virus, and that they should be banned from the country. Previously she wanted Asian banned from the country.

God help us all . . .

- Nationwide: Bushfires are affecting various states, including predominantly the eastern states. Many houses have been lost, but as far I as know, no lives have been lost so far. The dry, humid weather has not being helping the firefighters one bit, and it is becoming more and more obvious that we are experiencing the El Nino effect.

NationStates:

- Politics: Australia has voted, and we have our first democratically elected President. Congratulations to Didjawannanotherbeer of the Federalist Party of Australia on becoming Australia's first NS President, winning a closely contested election. Bogans and Boozers of the Australian Democratic Party will become Australia's first NS Vice President.

- Politics: Everything is being finalised for the regions first ever political party parliamentary elections, which should happen mid January next year. The region has a total of 4 parties, and 15 candidates in total. The political parties in Australia are:
The Federalist Party of Australia (FPA)
The Australian Democratic Party (ADP)
The Perpetial 21st Party (P21)
The Pirates and Punks Party - Australian Branch (PPP)

- Trivia: Currently Didjawannanotherbeer is cruising towards taking out this month's title to end the year with a total of 10 wins in 2006.

- Deforestation: we have just completed round 5, and no other nations have been eliminated as yet.

- Whose Line?: Yes, the game where everything is made up, and the points don't matter has reached the entertainment section of the region's forums. This word game was installed into the forums in early December, and has been quite a success. Points are distributted when a round becomes boring, and a new topic is introduced. The person with the most points at the end of the month wins.

The games so far, include: Hoedown, World's Worst, Questions Only, "If you know what I mean", and "Least Likely". Currently Reubenlucy, Sypons, and Ninjapenguin share the lead with 70 points a piece, but anything can happen.

More news will come when it happens

Seasons Greetings from Australia!

Thank you so much for the update. It is nice to see Australia doing so well. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for the update Bogans and Boozers :).

The next update will come after the parliamentary elections.

Voting starts tomorrow in the parliamentary elections, to decide NS Australia's first ever political party based parliament.

We expect the results to be tallied before the end of the month :)

Thanks for the news, look forward to hearing the results of your election in the coming weeks. A party based parliament sounds really interesting. :fonz:

They sound like my kind of cup of tea/coffee/hot beverage, but they're intricate to run and require lots of active members in each party unless you run as an Independent candidate or limit the party numbers.


Good luck and thank you for the notice!

Agreed. That is why I think seeing this system implemented is so impressive. Sounds like quite an accomplishment.

B & B has a 42 post pip!! :rockon:

that one's cool

Not for long, however :(

From the Australian forums:

We have yet to receive news on who is claiming victory in this election, however we are expecting one of the following to happen:

- FPA claims victory
- FPA announces coalition
- PPP and P21 form a coalition

More news when it comes to hand

Parliamentary Update.

A coalition of the Pirates and Punks Party (Australian Branch), the Perpetual 21st party and the Independent candidate Morrd has taken power as government. This has stolen power from under the noses of the single largest party, the Australian Federalist Party.

The coalition formed after several coalitions fell through between the Australian Federalist Party for a variety of reasons. It is suspected that Sypons, the then head of the Australian Federalist party, turned down at least one offer of a coalition immediatly after the election which would have resulted with him as the Prime Minister

In other related news, Sypons has made a surprise announcement that he is stepping down as the leader of the Australian Federalist Party and moving to the New Australian Democratic Party, which is reinventing itself after the founder, Mid Gippsland, left nationstates for personal reasons, leaving it in the hands of Ninjapenguin.

As it stands the parliament is now composed as follows:

Prime Minister: Reubandlucy
Deputy Prime Minister: Anarchuslavia
Speaker of the Parliament: Morrd (pending confirmation)

Coalition (P21, PPP and Morrd): 7 votes

Opposition party, AFP: 3 votes

Minor Parties: 2 votes (NADP)

Additionally, with the new government taking office, Sypons is moving aside from the position of Foreign Minister, into caretaker mode until a new minister is announced

A list of the new cabinet will follow as will a list of the justices as soon as they are confirmed.


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Thursday 19th of April
Australia Regional Update

Real Life

-The opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, has recently taken a blow, when a breakfast television show with which he was closely associated with announced a plan to have a 'false dawn' ANZAC day service at Long Tan. Mr Rudd has since withdrawn from his weekly appearance on the show.

-In a bizzare policy decision the Australian government has agreed to a refugee trade program with the United States. Under the scheme, illegal immigrants would be shipped to the USA and Cuban refugees would be shipped to Australia.

-A scientist has emerged after spending two weeks in a steel box underwater. You can read on his experiment here.

-The opposition party has released its policy in regards to the unpopular work choices legislation. Mr Rudd has said that it is a compromise between the businesses and the worker. Prime Minister Howard has cited the policy as being a victory for the unions and has suggested that it would plunge Australia's industrial relations back into the dark ages.

Nationstates

-The Prime Minister, Ruebenlucy, has resigned due to Real Life demands and ninjapenguin has taken over in his stead.

-The President, didjawannanotherbeer, has gone missing recently and discussions are currently underway to decide upon the best course of action.

-Over half of the new Australian constitution has been approved by the legislative council and the remaining half is quickly moving through parliament.

-The region waits in baited breath for the winner of the much vaunted Deforestation game to be announced. The remaining contestants are Ruebenlucy and Boonytopia. Rueb needs a draw to win, while Boonytopia needs an outright win to claim victory.

News break: Reubenlucy has won the Deforestation final 33 - 22.5

-Recent discussions have led to the conclusion that Australia needs to begin recruiting anew, although a single method has not been agreed upon as yet. However steps are being taken to make the region more newbie friendly.

More news as it comes to hand.