Chapter 180: Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand
On March 20, 1904, officials of the Australian and New Zealand governments formally met in Sydney, Australia, and began a period of peace discussions that lasted for more than ten days.
The so-called period of peace discussion is actually a discussion between the two governments on the process of forming a federation, and at the same time, it is also a discussion on how much the two countries will occupy the voice of the federation and how the two governments will get along in the future.
While the formation of a federation between New Zealand and Australia is inevitable, it is worth exploring who is in charge of the federation and how the two regions should be integrated.
There were many people who attended the meeting, and the protagonists were the government of the Principality of Australia and the government of New Zealand, which was temporarily restructured from the colonial government of New Zealand.
In fact, apart from changing the title, there is basically no difference between the current New Zealand government and the colonial government of New Zealand, except for Arthur's identity.
In addition to the governments between the two countries, the meeting was attended by members of the House of Commons from Australia and New Zealand.
But in fact, whether it is Australia or New Zealand, whether it is the government or the parliament, it is basically in the hands of Arthur.
Therefore, this session of the formation of a federation between New Zealand and Australia can actually be seen as a session of Arthur's subordinates.
In fact, if Arthur had wanted to, the talks wouldn't have even been necessary. After all, the administrative power of New Zealand is also in the hands of Arthur, and General Pierce, who holds the military power, returned to the British Empire after the New Zealand referendum, and the current New Zealand garrison has been renamed the New Zealand Defence Force, and the commander is also sent by Arthur.
Nevertheless, after the formation of the federation, the division of powers between the two regions must be clearly defined.
After all, the slightest gap and difference may cause the country to fall apart in the future, and the Australian fundamentals that Arthur has worked so hard to operate for so long may also be affected.
The meeting lasted more than ten days, during which various detailed divisions of powers, including the House, the government, etc., were discussed, and some analysis and imagination were given of any future situation that might happen to the Federation.
On April 11, 1904, Australia and New Zealand issued a joint statement announcing the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, with Sydney as its capital.
It was also on that day, following a large number of petitions from the New Zealand people, and at the request of many high-ranking New Zealand officials, that Arthur agreed to become the Duke of New Zealand and rule the Principality of New Zealand as an elected duke.
Although Australia and the new New Zealand are both monarchies, there are still significant differences in some aspects such as systems.
Australia is a monarchy like a territory, and the whole of Australia can be considered Arthur's private property.
But at the same time, the title of Duke of Australia is also divided into the royal family of the British Empire, which means that the Duchy of Australia and the British Empire have an inseparable relationship.
If one day, Arthur's Australian royal family becomes extinct, then the Duke title of Australia will return to the British Empire, because it is a duchy that was separated from the British Empire.
But New Zealand is different, the Duke of New Zealand can be said to be an elected title. The title comes from the will of New Zealand, not someone else's.
As long as Arthur does not lose the support of the New Zealanders, the title will always exist and can be inherited by someone outside the family.
It was also on this occasion that a small change was made in the boroughs of Australia. Tens of kilometres of area around Sydney were divided into separate territories to form the Federal Capital Territory.
The Federal Capital Territory is an administrative unit with the same status as a state. The supreme governor of a territory is called the Governor, who has the same status and powers as the governors of other states.
The Principality of New Zealand is also divided into two states, namely the North New Zealand State consisting of the North Island of New Zealand and the South New Zealand State of New Zealand.
In this regard, the specific scope and administration of the Federation of Australia and New Zealand were thoroughly divided, and the Federation consisted of three parts, namely the Principality of Australia, the Principality of New Zealand, and the colony of New Guinea.
Among them, the status of the colony of New Guinea is relatively special, directly under the royal family, and the governor is directly appointed by Arthur and has independent executive power.
Officials of the Australian and New Zealand governments are elected by the Australian House of Commons and the New Zealand House of Commons respectively, and the Australian and New Zealand Houses of Commons are made up of the Federal House of Lords (Royal House) and the Federal House of Commons (House of Commons).
The Royal House of Representatives represents the rights of the Crown and the House of Commonwealth, with the former being directly appointed by Arthur, the Commonwealth Monarch, and the latter being elected in all Confederations (including the colonies of New Guinea) for the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand who have legal citizenship of the Commonwealth and have resided in all parts of the Commonwealth for twenty years.
The new federation is a classic dual state, with Australia and New Zealand each having their own independent governments, as well as a unified federal government.
The current federal government is largely made up of the Australian government, with only a small number of New Zealand government officials entering the federal government and holding modest positions.
The Australian government's election model has also been largely shifted to the federal government, and as long as New Zealand officials have the ability and confidence, they can run for election in the next government election, and they may even become federal prime ministers.
To comfort the New Zealand government officials, they are largely the government officials of the two states of Northern New Zealand and South New Zealand, and they can pick the positions they want to hold until the next state government election.
It did allow some New Zealand officials to calm their frustrations, at least knowing that they could not compete with their Australian counterparts, at least for a short time.
A state government official can satisfy their appetite, after all, they have retained their original positions, but also gained some state government positions and rights.
The least changed are actually the Royal House and the House of Representatives. These two houses are actually a combination of the Australian and New Zealand houses of Commons.
This has led to the current Royal House of Representatives exceeding 20 members and the House of Representatives exceeding 240 members.
All members of parliament from Australia and New Zealand have joined the current House of Commons.
They will be able to hold their position for the time being, at least until the next House elections.
Functionally, the House of Representatives is elected by each state, with six Australian states holding 198 seats and two New Zealand states holding 42 seats.
These members, elected by each state, make up the House of Representatives, which has a total of 240 members.
The House of Representatives has the power to legislate, oversee and impeach all officials of non-cabinet governments, and all positions in the cabinet government are elected from the House of Representatives.
The members of the Royal House are composed of the then cabinet officials, adult male royals, members appointed by the monarch and governors of colonies and territories.
The legislators appointed by Arthur himself served slightly longer, but not more than five years at most. Unless Arthur is reappointed, he will no longer be a member of the Royal House after five years.
In other words, the Prime Minister and Ministers of the Cabinet Government, the Governor of the Colony of New Guinea and the Governor of the Capital Territory, are automatically granted the status of Members of the Royal Parliament.
But equally, if they cease to be Prime Minister and Minister in the Cabinet Government, or Governors of Colonies and Territories, they automatically lose their status as members of the Royal House.
The powers of the Royal House are broad, including legislative, judicial, oversight, the right to impeach any official, and the power to reject proposals in the House of Representatives.
Yes, although the power of the House of Representatives is enormous, it all depends on the premise that the proposals of the House of Representatives are successfully passed in the Royal House.
All the proposals of the House of Representatives can only be implemented if they are approved by the Royal House, and Arthur has controlled the Royal House in various ways.
First of all, the Governor of the Colony and the Governor of the Capital Territory, both of which were appointed by Arthur himself, and were naturally loyal to Arthur.
Second, although the members of the cabinet government are elected by the House of Representatives, they must actually be formally appointed by Arthur before they can take office.
Without Arthur's appointment, at least from a de jure point of view, they would not have been formally members of the Cabinet, either by name or in practice.
Therefore, no matter how ambitious they were, they had to be loyal to the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, where absolute monarchy prevailed, and to a monarch with unlimited prestige.
What's more, in addition to the Royal House, Arthur also has a hole card, that is, the monarch has the ability to overthrow everything.
With the establishment of the Commonwealth, the Australian Constitution was also officially renamed the Commonwealth Constitution, which is common throughout the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand.
The Constitution stipulates that the monarch has the supreme right to dissolve the Royal House and the Chamber of Deputies in exceptional circumstances, remove the cabinet government, and form a provisional government appointed by the monarch in particular.
This would be equivalent to Arthur being able to dissolve the enormous power of the Royal House, the House of Representatives, and the Cabinet in an emergency, leaving the Federation a complete dictatorship.
But such a right can only become a hole card that will not be used at all, because once this hole card is used, it may face a deep crisis in the country, and the prestige of the royal family and the government will completely collapse.
But in fact, Arthur, who has mastered military power and has great prestige among the people, does not have to worry about the arrival of such a special situation at all.
Not to mention the present, even in the next few decades, it is basically impossible to create an opponent within the Federation who can fight against the royal power, which is Arthur's confidence with the experience of later generations.
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(End of chapter)