Yohannes Parliamentary Debates — Reichstag Election 2018

[Yohannes]

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Monthly Report to Parliament — Economic Summary: Subject to the Members of Assembly

Monthly Report 2017 — Economic Summary -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Monday, 16 October 2017 — Volume 951; October Economic Summary — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.




Monthly Overview — October 2017

Published under the authority of the Electoral College and Parliament — 2017

The Monthly Report 2017 — Economic Summary is a monthly summary of the nineteen countries economy. It includes the latest important economic data, e.g., gross domestic product (GDP) growth; nation state inflation; people not working; the difference between imports and exports; and the difference in total value between payments into and out of the nineteen countries. It can also include other financial data, e.g., Economic Palace’s imperial cash rate. Some relevant data from our main trading partners and either one of the two largest economies in the international community of regions and nation states — that is, Maxtopia or Bigtopia — can also be used as economic datum.



Economic expansion	[+]	0.247%	Monthly gross domestic product growth
People not working	[-]	0.083%	Monthly movement of unemployment rate
Monetary policy	[+]	0.041%	Monthly inflation change
Nation state surplus	[+]	$71.3b	Monthly current account surplus change
Imperial cash rate	[-]	0.020%	Monthly short-term bill of exchange movement



Office of Chief Economist point of view

For the last quarter of 2017 the economy is forecast to expand less in comparison to first and second quarters, which showed that output was affected by less import from trading partners in The East Pacific region for the first half of 2017. This is because of worrying outlook in certain overseas regions and nation states in the face of increasing aggression and gunboat diplomacy by expanding militaristic organisations and those opposing organisations — SACTO as one example and DEUN the other.

Participants of Economic Palace Monthly Polling think that economic growth for the September fiscal quarter will rest at 0.74 per cent. Citizen sector manufacturing and services index shows stable level correlating well with growth found in our finance and banking, machinery, semiconductor, and shipbuilding sectors. Monthly surveys conducted show the willingness of businesses to employ more people in comparison to June fiscal quarter. The Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace has said that whilst she is prepared to slash imperial cash rate further in the first half of 2018, quote, the nation state must prepare for a hike in imperial cash rate in the second half of 2018. I personally want to urge mum and dad first homeowners to think very carefully before choosing to buy any particular property for the next two years; and for first time business owners to think properly before expanding assets, unquote.

Recent statistics

The Quertz russling continues to appreciate against the NationStates Dollar [or Universal Standard Dollar], climbing above 0.0121 NationStates Dollar in the September fiscal quarter. Economic Palace recorded that the last time the Quertz russling reached this level against the NationStates Dollar was in April 2012. The Federal Reserve System of the Empire of Maxtopia has more or less kept its discount rate steady since 2015, hovering from 1.75 per cent to 1.95 per cent. In case any downward movement of the Maxtopian economy will result in the Fed slashing its rate, the Economic Palace will attempt to avoid substantially increasing imperial cash rate further until at least the second half of 2018.

Gross domestic product grew in 15 Yohannesian countries in this quarter according to the Bank of Yohannes Empire-Wide Growth report. The Government of the Grand Duchy of Dali again recorded the highest quarterly contraction at [negative] 1.9 per cent, followed by the Government of the Kingdom of Burmecia at [negative] 1.3 per cent; the Crescent City Council at [negative] 0.7 per cent, and the Government of the Duchy of Blomgren at [negative] 0.1 per cent.

The ratio of index of the nineteen countries’ export prices to the index of its import prices is forecast to slightly decrease from its highest recorded level of growth — in five years — last month. In this monthly forecast the ratio of import-export prices is expected to grow by 1.3 per cent in comparison to last month’s 1.7 per cent, which again was the highest recorded monthly increase in import-export prices ratio since the 2012 March fiscal quarter. Again, worrying outlook in certain overseas regions and nation states in the face of increasing aggression and gunboat diplomacy by expanding militaristic organisations and those opposing organisations — SACTO as one example and DEUN the other — has led to slightly lower semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing prices in some nation states and certain regions overseas. Merkel Rothsdad Equal Weight Commodity Index has shown a downward trend of 0.2 per cent for the first two weeks of October so far. Continental Dry Index however has shown a very slight increase to reflect acceptable operating costs of fuel, crews, and vessels, and just slightly higher demand for merchant vessels in our trading partners.

Taking into account World Assembly’s trade-weighted effective exchange rate index, this nation state is doing well in comparison to nation states overseas affected by anarchy, chaos, and conflicts; i.e., They-who-must-not-be-named striking New Edom; intercontinental ballistic missile crisis in Puerto Colijito; the fearful stranglehold of religious extremism in Qaidi; religious revolution in Zukaristan; and anarchists rampage in Volkmacht, amongst many others unnamed here for reason of space.


Expansion of the economy

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, the gross domestic product of a nation state is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period of time; reported commonly every quarter or year. In the nineteen countries, the most important way to track the state of the economy over the years is to check its real gross domestic product; that is, the value of economic output adjusted for price changes, i.e., inflation or deflation. The purpose of Parliament Analysis Archive’s Monthly Summary of the Economy is to allow foreign and World Assembly observers to conveniently track our empire-wide gross domestic product data and changes every month.

October 2017



Gross domestic product 2017	Monthly GDP growth at current market prices
Expenditure method	$39.318 billion
Per capita growth	0.071 per cent


Source: World Microcredit Foundation.
For the month of October, growth is forecast to be 0.247 per cent, 0.018 per cent less than September. The Office of the Chief Economist reiterates once again that this is due to output finally being affected by less import from trading partners in The East Pacific region for the first half of 2017. The amount of goods and services produced in the semiconductor industry is forecast to contract by 1.525 per cent as production of integrated circuits drop alongside base electrolytic capacitors and most optoelectronic components and devices. Semiconductor total exports are forecast to contract by 3.7 per cent by the end of October. Transducers, sensors, and detectors exports are forecast to contract by 1.45 per cent whilst those of electromechanical component exports by 1.035 per cent.

On Wednesday, 4 October, Export Industry Credit Administration (EICA) delivered its latest report on tradeable and non-tradeable sectors of the nineteen countries’ gross domestic product. In the nineteen countries, tradeable sectors are those industries delivering tradeable goods and services, i.e., producing machinery instead of building houses. Tradeable goods are also those goods facing foreign competition in the nineteen countries, i.e., products that can be imported, such as dairy products or everyday electrical components and machinery, amongst others. Tradeable industries export their products abroad. Non-tradeable goods are goods that do not face foreign competition in the nineteen countries. Non-tradeable can also be defined as something unproductive, i.e., investing in residential property instead of capital machinery and facilities for export. EICA forecast that tradeable activities in the economy is set to grow by 0.225 per cent in October, with non-tradeable growing by 0.269 per cent.

Miscellany



Empire-Wide Growth Surveys	September	October
Business Sentiment	63.9	59.0
Export Sales Volume	40.7	40.5


Source: BOY, Empire-Wide Growth Surveys.
Bank of Yohannes’ Consumer Discretionary Sector and Standard and Rich Chloe Jokes Indices’ S&R 200 Index both showed strong performance, and correlates well with forecast quantity of goods and services produced in October. The Bank of Yohannes summarised that, quote, gross domestic product growth in October is set to slow down from previous month’s high, with declining output in certain market vulnerable industries, e.g., automobiles, household durable goods, and textiles and clothing, amongst others, unquote.

Bank of Yohannes Empire-Wide Growth report highlighted growth in 15 Yohanesian countries in this quarter, with the Grand Duchy of Dali again showing highest quarterly contraction at [negative] 1.9 per cent, followed by the Kingdom of Burmecia at [negative] 1.3 per cent, the City State of Crescent at [negative] 0.7 per cent, and the Duchy of Blomgren at [negative] 0.1 per cent. Empire-wide, in the growing countries growth are registered at 4.25 per cent in total; with the Kingdom of Alexandria leading by increasing economic activities at 0.8 per cent, followed by the Regency of Lindblum at 0.5 per cent.

Point of view

Participants of Economic Palace Monthly Polling think that economic growth for the September fiscal quarter will rest at 0.74 per cent. Citizen sector manufacturing and services index shows stable level correlating well with growth found in our finance and banking, machinery, semiconductor, and shipbuilding sectors. Monthly surveys conducted show the willingness of businesses to employ more people in comparison to June fiscal quarter.

Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes recently published its more downbeat forecast — a general agreement made by member Chambers to average their differing forecasts. It shows a somewhat more negative view on the economy as a result of the Greater Halsten property bubble and manufacturing decline in the heartland countries of Burmecia and Dali. The Chambers forecast a lower average monthly growth rate of 0.209 per cent in October. Export is predicted to slow down from previous figure last month, starting a downward trend until 2018 March fiscal quarter.




Economic expansion	2017 March fiscal quarter	2017 June fiscal quarter	2017 September fiscal quarter	2017 December fiscal quarter	2018 March fiscal quarter
Quarterly	0.508 per cent	0.671 per cent	0.74 per cent	0.662 per cent	0.635 per cent


Source: Office of the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade.


Unemployment rate and workforce

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, the unemployment rate is a measure of how many people are not working in a nation state and is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of people not working with the number of people who are working or the workforce; and reported commonly every quarter or year. In the nineteen countries, the workforce is defined as those adults — that is, twenty years and over — who are either employed under either one of the following contracts: Casual, part-time temporary, part-time permanent, and full-time permanent.

In the nineteen countries, the workforce definition also includes those who are temporarily without jobs but are registered as those looking for jobs by relevant oganisations of the Executive Council (e.g., Work and Parenting Income and Vocational Education Authority) and those who are not employed under any of the above mentioned contract but are classified under either one the following categories: ‘Enterpreneurial’, ‘Investor’, and ‘Self-employed.’ Another purpose of Parliament Analysis Archive’s Monthly Summary of the Economy is to allow foreign and World Assembly observers to conveniently track our empire-wide unemployment and workforce data and changes every month.

October 2017



BOY business sentiment studies (for the next two quarters)	September	October
Will have more workers (per cent)	20.7	25.8
More people will lose jobs (per cent)	17.9	25.4


Source: Bank of Yohannes.
In October, after accounting for seasonal adjustment, unemployment rate in the continent of Yohannes is forecast at 4.1 per cent; that is, there will be 15.5 million people registered as ‘unemployed’ by the end of October, out of a total population of 379 million, higher than originally forecast in February at 3.9 per cent, and is up 0.083 per cent from last month. Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes data showed that this is primarily caused by increasing participation rate but equally high net migration rate from non-Occidental nation states.

The workforce is forecast to increase by 0.467 per cent by the end of October, with marked increase identified in part-time temporary and full-time permanent contracts. Participation rate for adults — that is, twenty years and over — is set to increase by 0.417 per cent this month to reach 66.2 per cent, the highest level recorded since 2011 December fiscal quarter.

In the second and third quarters employment-to-population ratio increased by 1.713 per cent. For imperial citizens between the ages of twenty-eight to thirty-five, employment rate went up by 6.138 per cent since March; whilst for imperial citizens between the ages of fifty-six to seventy it went up by 5.496 per cent. Employment figures in the chemical, electrical engineering, machine tools, and optics industries indicate a rise of people working in these industries by 4.782 per cent since March. Employment in the steel and shipbuilding industries — mostly concentrated in the Kingdom of Burmecia and the Kingdom of Alexandria respectively — went down by 8.35 per cent; the highest recorded since the 1990 extended downturn.

Miscellany

Business sentiment studies indicated mixed results; more employers in October believe that the economy will expand in such a way as to allow them to hire more people; whilst and at the same time in comparison to last month more businesses believe that more people will lose jobs in certain market vulnerable industries.

Moogle Jobs and Employment — the two largest job vacancy and recruitment websites in the nineteen countries — have recorded a higher number of contracting, professional, and regular vacancy ads in the first two weeks of October when compared with the first two weeks of September. It corresponds with the Skilled Workforce and Labour Corporation’s Online Employment and Jobs Search September report, published to improve the number of universal apprenticeship, cadetship, and internship programmes in the nineteen countries by connecting small and medium-sized companies with skilled workforce and labour.


Nation state surplus

Background



Yearly comparison	October 2016	October 2017
Whole time equivalent average weekly earnings (after tax deduction)	$916.67	$902.10
Employment Cost Index movement	+1.7	+1.4


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.
Nation state surplus (or deficit) can be gauged by looking at the difference in total value between payments into and out of that nation state, usually reported quarterly or yearly. A major part of that is the current account balance of the nation state, which is the difference between its investment, savings, and the difference between its imports and exports with the outside community of regions and nation states.

October 2017

The current account balance of the nineteen countries in October is predicted to be a surplus smaller than originally forecast in February, predicted to reach 71.3 billion NSD by the end of this month; that is, equal to 0.45 per cent of GDP. This drop in surplus has been attributed to lower shipbuilding export and higher dairy product, oil, and raw material prices. Recent fluctuations in variable manufacturing costs can also be attributed to the lower than expected surplus.

Miscellany

The amount of imports that the nineteen countries can afford to purchase with its exports is expected to fall from previous high in September. In this monthly forecast the ratio of import-export is expected to grow by 1.3 per cent in comparison to last month’s 1.7 per cent, which again was the highest recorded monthly increase in import-export prices ratio since the 2012 March fiscal quarter. This was caused by higher semiconductor prices and increasing electrical component exports to Mokastana and Tekeristan, and a brief increase in both civilian and military shipbuilding exports to Caracasus, the Scandinvans, and Vangaziland, amongst others.

Point of view

Imperial Bureau of Economic Research’s monthly report forecast that nation state surplus will decline further to 67.4 billion NSD by end of November; equal to 0.43 per cent of GDP. Surplus is forecast to further decline consecutively over the next five fiscal quarters; to turn back up at the start of 2018 December fiscal quarter.




Current account balance	2017 March fiscal quarter	2017 June fiscal quarter	2017 September fiscal quarter	2017 December fiscal quarter	2018 March fiscal quarter
Quarterly	$174.225 billion	$185.234 billion	$199.98 billion	$170.993 billion	$286.436 billion
Goods (yearly)	$256.944 billion	$239.976 billion	$253.712 billion	$261.186 billion	$303.909 billion
Services (yearly)	$218.564 billion	$220.988 billion	$217.453 billion	$225.735 billion	$217.958 billion
Investment (yearly)	$314.413 billion	$283.507 billion	$298.253 billion	$239.471 billion	$299.465 billion
Yearly total (post-adjustment)	$789.921 billion	$744.471 billion	$769.418 billion	$726.392 billion	$821.332 billion


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.


Money matters

Background

The Nineteen Countries Trade Weighted Index (NCTWI) is derived from the original World Assembly’s trade weighted index; that is, an index measure of the value of the Quertz russling relative to other nation states’ currencies. Just like the Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index (NCCPI), which is used as an economic indicator to measure inflation by tracking the price of commonly bought or essential goods and services, e.g., clothing, education, food, and transport services, amongst others, the Nineteen Countries Trade Weighted Index is used as an economic indicator to measure the worth of the Quertz russling by tracking the price of currencies of those nation states the nineteen countries commonly engage in commerce and trade with; weighting each currency with the volume of trade and gross domestic product of that currency’s nation state with the nineteen countries.

The Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) is the interest rate set by Economic Palace on overnight borrowing and lending between banking institutions of the citizen sector and Economic Palace. Economic Palace has regularly used the ICR as a tool to indirectly influence the direction of the economy and to ensure price stability. It also used the ICR to ensure that yearly inflation meets the Economic Palace’s explicit inflation rate target.

The Standard and Rich Chloe Jokes Indices’ S&R 200 Index is a share index of the 200 largest companies by market capitalisation in the nineteen countries. It is the leading stock market index in the nineteen countries, and is the official method used by parliament to measure the prosperity of businesses in the continent of Yohannes. The index is managed by Standard and Rich Incorporated and Chloe Jokes and Company.

October 2017



Fundamental imperial government borrowing	October 2017 (NS$)	October 2017 (per cent of GDP)
Gross debt issue	6.367 trillion	40.1


Source: Economic Palace.
In its recent report ‘An Assessment of Financial Stability in the Nineteen Countries: September 2017’, Economic Palace referenced the exorbitant levels of debt in the old industry sectors (i.e., coal, metallurgy, and steel) of heartland countries Bromgen, Burmecia, and Dali. Economic Palace warned that the debt-ridden coal and metallurgy industries of the Grand Duchy of Dali – with unemployment already rising by 1,300 to 459,000 in July, the highest figure recorded in ten years – are especially at risk to a fall in commodity prices or an increase in lending interest rates. Total debt in the mining sector as of the year ending September was 2.136 trillion NSD, with 1.127 trillion NSD of debt held by the Burmecian and Dalian mining sectors.

The Quertz russling continues to appreciate against the NationStates Dollar [or Universal Standard Dollar], climbing above 0.0121 NationStates Dollar in the September fiscal quarter. Economic Palace recorded that the last time the Quertz russling reached this level against the NationStates Dollar was in April 2012. The Federal Reserve System of the Empire of Maxtopia has more or less kept its discount rate steady since 2015, hovering from 1.75 per cent to 1.95 per cent. In case any downward movement of the Maxtopian economy will result in the Fed slashing its rate, the Economic Palace will attempt to avoid substantially increasing imperial cash rate further until at least the second half of 2018. Standard and Rich Chloe Jokes Indices’ S&R 200 Index was averaged at 26,793.62 points last month, and started in October at 26,343.12 points.

Interest rates for short-term borrowings resumed its slight fall alongside interest rates for long-term borrowings, with monthly movement registered at 0.020 per cent. The Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace has said that whilst she is prepared to slash imperial cash rate further if required to move future average inflation closer within target range in the first half of 2018, quote, the nation state must prepare for a hike in imperial cash rate in the second half of 2018. I personally want to urge mum and dad first homeowners to think very carefully before choosing to buy any particular property for the next two years; and for first time business owners to think properly before expanding assets, unquote.


Nation state inflation

Background

Nation state inflation is the movement in prices of goods and services in a nation state’s economy in a period of time; reported commonly every quarter or year. In the nineteen countries, ‘nation state inflation’ is computed by Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes’ Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index (NCCPI), which is used as an economic indicator to measure inflation by tracking the price of commonly bought or essential goods and services, e.g., clothing, education, food, and transport services, amongst others.

October 2017



Monthly movement	September	October
Market Valuation Corporation: Commercial property valuations	4.7 per cent	4.5 per cent
Yohannesian Real Estate Society: Residential property valuation	5.5 per cent	5.0 per cent
Food Commodity Groups Index	0.9 per cent	0.9 per cent


Source: Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes.
NCCPI showed that consumer prices went up by 0.29 per cent last month, which contributed to an increase of 0.041 per cent in inflation. Increasing overseas energy and oil prices caused by disruption to Yohannesian shipping — i.e., spike in organised piracy and expanding DEUN and SACTO conflicts and gunboat diplomacy — and increasing importation of fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and raw materials — from Laeral, Radiatia, and the Arthurian Federation — were some of the major causes to higher consumer prices. Oil prices went up by 1.833 per cent in September, reflected in the cost of a litre of Standard Unleaded 95 petrol; ranging from 2.21 NSD up to 2.25 NSD last month. Prices of fruits and vegetables went up by 6.5 per cent in September, with noticeable spike in the prices of the most popular items in our supermarkets, i.e., banana, broccoli, potato, and mushroom.

Taking into account the latest monthly inflation change, yearly inflation has just exceeded the Economic Palace’s explicit inflation rate target for the medium term of 0.5 to 1.5 per cent. Other major movers are alcohols and popular beverages, dairy products, and machine tools; increasing by 3.133 per cent, 1.233 per cent, and 0.833 per cent respectively.

Miscellany

Studies conducted by Bank of Yohannes showed that respondents are expecting an inflation of at least 2.0 per cent by the 2018 March fiscal quarter, which will far exceed current inflation rate target of the Economic Palace. Pessimism of respondents are caused by such things as pressures in the construction and semiconductor industries; with bodies such as the Association of Imperial Professional Engineers, Association of Yohannesian Architects and Architectural Technologists, and Builders Yohannes unanimously expecting an inflation of at least 2.3 per cent by the 2018 March fiscal quarter. It reflects inability of citizen sector to meet demand and increasing costs of property prices caused by high-net migration from non-occidental nation states.

Point of view

Imperial Bureau of Economic Research’s monthly report has forecast that nation state inflation will slowly increase to reach 2 per cent by the 2018 March fiscal quarter. It further predicts that nation state inflation will then go down to reach 1.8 per cent again by the 2018 June fiscal quarter. It is yet to be decided whether Economic Palace’s explicit inflation rate target will be adjusted to reflect these information.




Nation state inflation	2017 March fiscal quarter	2017 June fiscal quarter	2017 September fiscal quarter	2017 December fiscal quarter	2018 March fiscal quarter
Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index	0.73 per cent	0.85 per cent	0.87 per cent	0.83 per cent	0.79 per cent
Tradeable goods and services index	0.69 per cent	0.78 per cent	0.79 per cent	0.60 per cent	1.21 per cent
Non-tradeable goods and services index	0.41 per cent	0.43 per cent	0.41 per cent	0.42 per cent	0.47 per cent


Source: Office of the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Oral Questions — Questions to the Minister of Transport and Logistics and the Seventeenth Yohannesian Emperor

Miscellaneous Subjects — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Monday, 16 October 2017 — Volume 951; Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic; Electorate of Halsten): I would like to raise a point of order for the third time, Mr Speaker. I would like to apologise for somewhat cutting in on this session once, once, again, but my office has just received an email and a letter from the Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace, Ms Heidemarie Vogelweide, concerning October Monthly Summary of the Economy.

Rt Hon SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of the [ Monthly Report to Parliament 2017 — Economic Summary ]. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Question time to commence — Questions to the Minister of Transport and Logistics: Infrastructure of Nation State Significance 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues.

SALVES VAN DER LEY (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Selgarás): To the Minister of Transport and Logistics, what recent updates before the senior press gallery has the Executive Council announced on investment in healthcare infrastructure in the Regency of Lindblum?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU (Minister of Transport and Logistics; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Höganäs): Jiǔyǎng. Nǐn hǎo, parliament. Since the end of the 2017 March fiscal quarter, Minister Cantor and I have declared that over 5.3 billion NationStates Dollars will be made available for projects; that is, the construction of new hospitals and supporting physical facilities in Greater Halsten.

That is some of the 21.8 billion NSD in spending being invested in Yohannesian greater urban regions’ healthcare infrastructure as part of Budget Reform 2017 and Health Yohannes Spending 2017. The accumulative investment programme totaled at least 13.3 billion NSD, which will bolster the Royal Halsten hospitals expansion programme; at least 4.2 billion NSD to be spent on the construction of ten new hospitals and five relocation and reconstruction of hospitals and supporting facilities; at least 400 million NSD will be invested on new pharmaceutical facilities and professional training systems; and at least 1.27 billion NSD will be invested for the purpose of structural standards update and seismic strengthening schemes for our hospitals.

On top of that, last week the Hon Ewdin Cantor announced the kickstarting of Royal Halsten’s central business and industrial district rejuvenation programme, as this Executive Council announced the location of the new 730 million NSD Royal Halsten Regional Hospital. It will also be a boon for surrounding suburbs, e.g., Oldtown and Mossel Bay.

SALVES VAN DER LEY: What investment in healthcare infrastructure has been undertaken in the region of Skaven?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU: In September Minister Cantor and I announced that the Executive Council would invest an additional 12.8 million NSD towards the Skaven Blood and Cancer Centre expansion in East Lindblum, in addition to at least 30 million NSD we have reported originally for the programme. Skaven Blood and Cancer Research Centre is one of thirty-eight research centres that are being expanded or remodeled; just one example of this Executive Council’s five-year empire-wide Health Yohannes expansion plan. This empire-wide project is now already in its second year and is proving a boon for many communities in Yohannes the continent; with three centres and supporting facilities completed, seven in introductory construction stage, sixteen in design stage, and six in the preliminary planning stage.

I can tell the Member that I cannot wait to visit the Royal Halsten Gastrointestinal Bioengineering Institute next week to oversee the expansion progress in that part of Lindblum.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next Question to commence — Questions to the Minister of Equality and Social Welfare: Standard of Living 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Deputy Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): To the Seventeenth Yohannesian Emperor, does she stand by all her public announcements?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS (Yohannesian Emperor; President of the Electoral College; Christian Democratic Party – Christian Faction): Well, uhm, yes, and I am especially pleased to stand by the very public announcement made at Doll Henry Breakfast this morning that this Executive Council has raised contribution for Central Provident Fund’s ‘Futuresaver’ to 63.75 billion NSD per year; that is an increase of 7.5 billion NSD since 2014 — since the Social Democrats and their bride Yohannes First were voted out office.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: That subjective answer aside, does she stand by her announcement on Friday, 13 October, that, quote, I am open-minded and I like to have a wee chat with Yohannesian Airlines first class passengers everytime, unquote?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Well, uhm, I don’t think I have actually said that last part? At the end of the day I was sitting with other passengers — first class, yes, but people all the same — and well, I like to talk with people; is there anything wrong in that? I like to talk to people.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: During her privileged experience of regular first class travels, has the Emperor talked to a certain citizen of the realm Ms Cornelia Schauman, who is a terminally ill woman; having to decide between buying enough grocery for her family or heating her rented home for the week?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Well no, I did not see her there. But if I do see her what I would tell her is that this Executive Council — we hear her concerns and many other individuals who must go through the same thing as her, and I just want to say to the Deputy Head of Opposition; look, at the end of the day under this Executive Council we have insulated 25.2 million houses, with 24.1 million more to be insulated over the next five years. Further, if she is on Work and Parenting Income supplementary allowance, I would like to let Ms Schauman know that under this Executive Council, we have added extra money going into Work and Parenting Income subsidy; that by this around two years from now she and her family will be better off by 40 NSD a week.

Finally, I can safely say and attest that she certainly has experienced the good stewardship of this Executive Council in healthcare also; that is, Medicalaid has recently supported six additional prescription drugs for subsidy.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: That long-winded answer or the fact that prescription drugs can’t be used to heat your home aside, has she met any of the 1.6 million children that are admitted to hospital for treatment each year because of uninsulated damp houses during her first class flight, or other first class transportation recently?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Well, no. I cannot answer that question, but if the Deputy Head of Opposition wants an actual answer, he should probably inform the industrious Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade, and oh, make sure he write to the Minister. And say please, please. But in the spirit of parliamentary decorum I would say: “We will have a lot less uninsulated homes in the future.” Because of this Executive Council’s dedication to making sure 25.2 million more houses are insulated since 2014.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: What is her opinion of the Commissioner for Kids’ Health’s Mr Johannes Sjöström, who announced last week before Doll Henry Breakfast that her Executive Council’s expectations of landlord obligations are, quote, disgraceful and a betrayal to hundreds of Yohannesian kids who must live in unheated, uninsulated below-standard mouldy homes, unquote?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: All I can say is, well, firstly under our watch we have insulated 25.2 million more houses, with 14.3 million more to be insulated soon. I can say that this Executive Council has increased funding for Work and Parenting Income supplementary allowance and Central Provident Fund’s ‘Futuresaver’ for the first time since the previous Social Democratic Executive Council took office, which will without a doubt help people to pay for their everyday heating, and will allow them to have more money to spend for weekly grocery, or to save from the extra allowance so that they will have a better chance of buying their first family home. This Executive Council has ensured that at least 1 million new jobs have been created for two years now, which I am sure will allow more people to be able to spend for their heating and to save for their first home or their retirement.

But what I can also say is that I won’t do what the Deputy Head of Opposition has suggested at Doll Henry Breakfast show this morning instead, where he said that he would, quote, increase landlord tax if they are not responsibly looking after their rental property, unquote, because in doing so all he will do is to make sure that landlords will pass on that extra cost to the renter; that is, by increasing rent per week. That won’t help the very people he is trying to help?

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: What is her opinion of the recent announcement made by our former Ambassador to the World Assembly, Dame Nicolina Olofsson; she said that the Executive Council should start modernising insulation standards to the year 2014, instead of keeping insulation standards as they are since 1984; something that has also been promised by her colleague Hon Emily Kirchweger the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Minister in election 2014, but since then has not been realised? Dame Olofsson further said that this would keep hundreds of kids out of hospital each month.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Again, I daresay it is a very specific and directed question, which the Deputy Head of Opposition should know by now should be directed instead at the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade. Well because firstly? I have no idea how to answer that question. Like. At all. That is not my field of expertise nor area of responsibility. Secondly? I have not made a public announcement concerning that matter; but for the benefit of the Deputy Head of Opposition, the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade has informed me that she can deliver that by 2019.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Does the Emperor agree with Hon Emily Kirchweger’s announcement that, quote, the NationStates Dollars that must be spent on providing insulation for all houses in the continent of Yohannes will not provide too much of a return or benefit for taxpayers, unquote —

[ YOU HAVE TAKEN MY STATEMENT OUT OF CONTEXT VELDMAN! Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Hon Emily Kirchweger heckled. ]

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Listen, Emily the corporate raider and fraudste —

[ WE MUST TAX BUSINESSES AND USE THE PROCEEDS TO FUND THE COMMONWEALTH NAVY DEAR COMRADE! Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Hon Emily Kirchweger wagged her middle finger at the standing Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! If the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade the Hon Emily Kirchweger will keep on interjecting and disrupting proceedings in parliament, I will be forced to ask for her to leave this chamber. I ask for the Deputy Head of Opposition to put forward his question again.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Does the Emperor agree with her colleague Hon Emily Kirchweger’s announcement, made last week, that, quote, the NationStates Dollars that must be spent on providing insulation for all houses in the continent of Yohannes will not provide too much of a return or benefit for taxpayers, unquote, when we take into account the fact — as the Emperor knows herself — that that ‘return’ will be less Yohannesian kids being sick every year?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Again, I must stand by the Hon Emily Kirchweger in a way that the Deputy Head of Opposition has taken her statement out of context. I can inform him of this: He can stand here before parliament and say heck all about the welfare of his supposed constituency but the fact of the matter is — where was he and the rest of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council back in 2005? We have had this problem since back then and I did not see where they were nor do I see them campaigning on this issue; instead they went overseas and told the Commonwealth Navy to do some good old international incidents gunboat diplomacy; bombarding and blockading the nation states of Osthia and Hippostania in 2011 and 2013, amongst others.

They had no track record whatsoever and to be frank it is a shame on democracy that they now have the guts to come here and stand and complain before parliament about lack of insulation and inadequate heating. Look, I can tell you this: The whole time they were in office there were at least 5.2 million Yohannesian houses without insulation. How about that for our own statistics? Well, under this Executive Council we would have insulated at least 49.3 million houses -- that is, after we have won the 2018 election just as good as we have won the 2014 election, when we were first voted into office by Yohannesians all around the continent, all and sundry.

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): Does the Emperor still stand by her statement made last week concerning jobs for young people that, quote, we have maintained good results for our young people all around Yohannes the continent, unquote, seeing that under the Christian Democratic Executive Council this nation state has seen 680,000 more young people without jobs — A mongrels-not-in-education rate that is some the highest monthly increase in young men without jobs since this nation state begun collating unemployment rate and workforce data?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Yes. I am still standing by my statement made last week. Because under this Executive Council’s guardianship at least 1 million new employment opportunities have been created all around the continent. Nickel, you have seen that yourself with the high migration numbers — yes, non-occidentals, those who you have demonised since 2005 — indicating how popular we are as a nation state; that is, look we have such a successful economy that we have hard-working people willing to immigrate here.

To sum up, to quote the Member, mongrels-not-in-education — yuck that is so derogatory and offensive on so many level — that rate has spiked under the stewardship of this Executive Council, well, uhm, because those people the Member classified as ‘mongrels’ are either at work, doing internship, or undertaking vocational training.

NICKEL FALLAGE: For the Emperor’s statement concerning this nation state following World Assembly recommendation on corporate tax, how come the Christian Democratic Executive Council has not seriously followed that recommendation on tackling multinational corporate loopholes; given that such multinational body corporates as Pearsons as an example are paying a lousy 3.44 million NSD in tax, or the Bank of the Atlantic paying a frankly terrible 1.9 per cent in tax, or again, another example, Pharthan’s Arms’ Leviathan partnership facilities paying a lousy 12.4 million NSD, from a regional revenue of 2.16 billion NSD in the nineteen countries?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: A couple of things: “For” is not the proper way of starting a question, and neither “Pearsons” — it should be Pearson — nor “Pharthan’s Arms” — it should be Halcyon Arms — is a Yohannesian body corporate; they are outside the jurisdiction of this Exe —

NICKEL FALLAGE: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order.

[ THE MILLENNIALS’ SELFIE EMPEROR DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION! The Imperial Head of Opposition Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn yelled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ I THINK THE EMPEROR NEEDS SOME KOOL-AID BECAUSE SHE CAN’T SEEM TO ANSWER ANY QUESTION PROPERLY TODAY! The Leader of Yohannes First Rt Hon Loseton Petres yelled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

NICKEL FALLAGE: Mr Speaker, I must raise a point of order. You are the leader of parliament. You should know what is the right way to answer a question during question time. You have the right to let parliament and all its Members know that no one can play around during question time, especially not someone who is a typo-ridden illiterate like the millennials’ selfie Emperor of the Christian Demo —

[ LOOK WHO’S TALKING NOW! Members from the Christian Democratic section laughed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I am pleased that the Member has admitted that I am the ultimate arbiter in parliament, and for that reason I will hereby, and to satisfy the Member, politely ask the Emperor to answer the question in a satisfactory manner.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Well I can tell Nickel if he hang around here for just a wee bit more he will know how well an arbiter the Speaker of Parliament is.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ YOU NEED TO CHECK YOUR GRAMMAR AND USE SOME SPELLCHECKERS! Nickel Fallage yelled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I ask the Emperor to please —

[ NICKEL WHO ORDERED THE COMMONWEALTH NAVY TO BOMBARD OSTHIA AND HIPPOSTANIA IN 2011 and 2013? Members from the Green section yelled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! Would the Emperor please answer the question in a satisfactory manner.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Fine, fine, I will okay? Here is a question for myself: Are foreign big businesses and oh so big multinational body corporates paying enough yadda yadda —

NICKEL FALLAGE: Mr Speaker, I must raise a point of order. With all due respect, but question time should start this way: A Member of the Opposition or a Member of the governing coalition parties ask a question to a Member of the Executive Council, and then that Member of the Executive Council answer the question; she can’t ask herself questions of course, unless she wants to be sent off to the nursing facility for people with mental illnesses; that is, a facility for the typo-ridden illiterates of our land —

[ WHO GOT US INTO 10 TRILLION DEBT FOR INTERNATIONAL INCIDENTS GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY NICKEL? Members from the Christian Democratic section yelled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I ask the Member not to deviate from the original question himself. Does the Emperor still want to continue in her mulish obstinacy to avoid answering the question satisfactorily? Otherwise I will be forced to conclude this session.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Well, at the end of the day I am trying my hardest to remember what I was trying to say back then. But look, at the end of the day this Executive Council — as far as we are concerned, so long as we are working with the World Assembly and other bodies and responsible nation states of the international community, all and sundry, to make sure that foreign body corporates in the nineteen countries do contribute to nation state coffers by doing their part and paying their fair share of tax; well I believe we have nothing to discuss henceforth.

But to satisfy the Member and parliament this Executive Council has always ensured that we have worked with the World Assembly on minimising tax compliance costs and reducing tax risks.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and amused faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Parliament to adjourn.

[ … Members leaving the chamber… ]

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[Yohannes]

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Out-of-Character (OOC) information: Relevant forum posts [ here ], [ here ], [ here ], and [ here ]

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Annual Report to Parliament—Judicature Modernisation Summary: Subject to the Members of the Assembly

Annual Report 2017—Judicature Modernisation Summary An excerpt from the 115th parliamentary hansard: Tuesday, 17 October 2017—Volume 951; 2017 Judicature Overview: Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council and the Realm.




Yearly overview—October 2017

Published by the authority of the Electoral College and Parliament—2017

The Realm Law Commission is an independent statutory body formed by the tabled Realm Law Commission Amendment Act 1990. Under section two, the Commission is a body corporate which enjoys perpetual succession and has a common seal. It is capable of acquiring, holding, and disposing of real and personal property and may enter into contracts, sue or be sued, and otherwise do and suffer all other acts and things bodies corporate and companies may do or suffer. The Commission has one mission: to ensure the methodical yearly review and the modernisation of the law of the Nineteen Countries.

The Annual Report—Judicature Modernisation for 2017 is a summary of judicature modernisation in the Nineteen Countries. It includes the latest amendments on judicature procedure and structure. Released in October 2017, the purpose of this report is to summarise the latest changes in the procedure and structure of the Unity Law courts in Yohannes.


Common affairs

Instructions

As of October 2017, the Law Commission reported that when a party has disputed a claim made in a Civil Court of the Nineteen Countries, the court will be obligated to hand “instructions”—or court directions in overseas jurisdictions—to the parties involved on the way they should prepare the case. A Unity Law court may, concerning affairs raised by the parties involved, hand instructions as necessary to ensure the efficient and expeditious resolution of the affairs, including but not limited to deciding on the form of documents and papers to be filed in relation to the proceedings.^{[Note 1]}

In cases in which there are no procedures stipulated by the Rules of the Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Orders 2010, the court must discard the case—within the boundaries of practicality—and take into account the provisions of the 2010 Amendment rules concerning similar cases. Another option may be used where there are no such rules to refer to, in which the court may dispose of the case in the manner the court believes is necessary to promote the principle of justice between competing claims.^{[Note 2]}

Note 1: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 8(2) and (7).
Note 2: Ibid. T 1(4).

Powers concerning affairs of ancillary nature

A permanent Justice of the Peace may make use of the power bestowed upon the court to hand instructions or to necessarily consider a matter other than the resolution of an application for leave to appeal an appeal.^{[Note 3]}

Note 3: Ibid. T 11.

Effect of non-compliance with rules

Non-compliance with the Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100) does not make an application or appeal nugatory. It may, however, allow for the Justice to amend, discard, or otherwise set aside for later the application under the terms of the court. This includes instructing the party to fix the non-compliance issue.^{[Note 4]} A non-compliant evidence or document in relation to the rules may only be accepted and filed by leave of a Justice or an Officer of the court.^{[Note 5]}

Note 4: Ibid. S 9(2) and (6).
Note 5: Ibid. S 9(7).

Formatting

The introductory page or section of submitted and filed documents must have a clear heading showing:


• The sentence: “In the name of the Justices of the Peace assembled,”
  
• The full names of the appellants, next to the capitalised “Appellant,”
• The full names of respondents, next to the capitalised “Respondent,”^{[Note 6]}
• All documents must be legibly typed under default 12 point size, and
• All pages of documents must have a margin that must be:
  
  • At least one-quarter of the width of the paper, and
  • On the left-hand side of the page, or the right-hand side of the page if the page is reversed on the paper.^{[Note 7]}
Note 6: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 10(2).
Note 7: Ibid. S 10(3) and (4).

Submission and filing

A document may be filed by an Officer of the Court by:


• Handing the document in person.
• Sending the document to the Officer by way of email, fax, or mail.
• Sending the document through a medium by:
  
  • Sending it to the medium in person; or
  • Sending it ot the address of the medium; or
  • Sending it by mail to the postal address of the medium; or
  • Transferring it by way of fax to the fax number of the medium; or
  • Transferring it by way of email to the email address of the medium.
All documents sent by way of mail will be filed or be confirmed by an Officer to have been received on six working days after the date of sending, or the date the document has been received, whichever is the earlier. All documents sent by way of email or fax will be filed or be confirmed by an Officer to have been received on the next working day after the date of sending.

All documents sent on non-working days—and outside the working hours of 8 am to 6 pm—will be filed or be confirmed by an Officer to have been received one day later after the stipulated dates.^{[Note 8]}

Note 8: Ibid. S 12(2), (3), (4), and (5).


Leave to appeal

Authorising leave

Appeals received by the Justices of the Peace of the Highest Order can only be heard by leave of the Justices assembled.^{[Note 9]} The Justices of the Peace of the Highest Order are only authorised to allow leave to appeal if there is enough evidence that such leave is required to ensure the efficient and expeditious resolution of the affairs. This would allow the Justices assembled to decide on whether to hear or determine the appeal.^{[Note 10]}

The above authorisation can only be made if:


• The forwarded appeal is an appeal of special public importance;^{[Note 11]} or
• The court involved has failed to rightfully see the ends of justice, or will fail to rightfully see the ends of of justice if no leave is given;^{[Note 12]} or
• The forwarded appeal is an appeal of noted economic importance for the public or the nation-state.^{[Note 13]}
The Justices assembled can give leave to hear an appeal from the Intermediary Appeal Court on an interlocutory application only if there is any substantial evidence of its importance to rightfully see the ends of justice. The Justices of the Peace assembled may only give leave to an appeal from any other court besides the Intermediary Appeal Court if there is any substantial evidence that such leave must be given in the interest of the public or the nation-state.

Note 9: Judicature Modernisation Amendment Act 2016, S 9.
Note 10: Ibid. S 10(3).
Note 11: Ibid. S 10(5)(d). For reference see Xia v Attorney-General (Justices of the Peace, EV SA 20/08, 21 June 2008) where the question of whether Mr Zheng Xia should be granted bail from detention after being imprisoned for two years under the Imperial Immorality Act 1939 and Immigration Amendment Act 1957 was judged as a matter of special public importance. See also Goebbels v Broadcasting Decency Organisation, (Justices of the Peace, SA EV 16/08, 2 July 2008), in which leave to appeal was authorised to see to it matters of public broadcasting indecency concerning Mr Yannik Goebbels’ offensive party advertisement.
Note 12: Ibid. S 10(5)(e). For reference see Eisenstein v Erison (Justices of the Peace, EV SA 1/08, 13 March 2008), in which leave to appeal was turned down ascribable to lack of evidence that the court involved had failed in rightfully seeing the ends of justice.
Note 13: Ibid. S 10(5)(f). For reference see Rademacher Wastewater Treatment Systems Corporation v Halsten Regional City Council (Justices of the Peace, EV SA 3/08, 15 January 2008) in which leave to appeal was authorised ascribable to interests of ratepayers in seeing Halsten regional council addressing wastewater pipes problems being judged as a matter of noted economic importance.

Application time limit

To be eligible to apply for leave of the court, an appellant must put forward their application within 28 working days after the date of disputed ruling. An application for leave by a respondent must be made within 21 working days after the date of the appellant’s application submission. The Justices of the Peace assembled may extend this time limit under special circumstances.^{[Note 14]}

Note 14: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 11(2), (3), and (4).

Application by written submissions

Leave to appeal applications for the Justices of the Peace assembled can be made by way of written submissions; may include pertinent supplementary information; and may include written responses to submissions made by any other party.^{[Note 15]} All applications must include the basis for appeal; the reasons why leave should be authorised; and the ruling expected by the applicant. All written submissions made for the application for leave to appeal must be:


• No more than 13 pages long; and
• Concisely explain:
  • The narrative and report of facts;
  • The broad questions of law;
  • The rulings to be appealed;
  • The reasons why leave to appeal should be authorised; and
  • The rulings sought after.
Respondents may then file written submissions against appeal in a concise manner, detailing why the original ruling should be held.^{[Note 16]} Before hearing is to begin, the Justices assembled may authorise for leave to be given to the parties involved to amend their original applications.^{[Note 17]}

Note 15: Judicature Modernisation Amendment Act 2016, S 12(2).
Note 16: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 14(2),(3), and (4).
Note 17: Ibid. S 15(2).

Application by oral submissions

Should the Justices assembled require that the hearing for an application for leave to appeal must be done orally, a notification will be made by the Officer of the court to inform the parties involved. The Officer will also ensure that due consideration will be given, and consultations concerning the date of hearing will be made.^{[Note 18]} Five copies of supplementary supporting bundle of authorities must be submitted by the parties involved to the Officer, no later than seven working days before the date of hearing. In a case where there is a lack of authorities supporting the argument of the respondent, then the respondent may submit a bundle of authorities no later than five working days before the date of hearing.^{[Note 19]} Oral submissions must be no longer than:


• 20 minutes for opening submission (applicant);
• 20 minutes for submission (respondent); and
• 10 minutes for the applicant’s reply.^{[Note 20]}
Note 18: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 21.
Note 19: Ibid. S22(2) and (3).
Note 20: Ibid. S23(2).

Leave application form

A leave to civil appeal application for the Justices of the Peace assembled can only be legally made when:


• The Officer of the Court has confirmed that they have received the application;
• When a copy has been served to every party; and
• When the original Court appealed from has received and filed the application.^{[Note 21]}
A leave to criminal appeal application for the Justices of the Peace assembled is confirmed to be legally made only when the application has been received and filed by the Officer. If a criminal appeal application is made by the defendant or the convicted person, then the Officer must dispatch a copy of the application to the original Court appealed from and to the Solicitor-General or chief prosecutor. If a criminal appeal application is made by the Solicitor-General or chief prosecutor, then they must dispatch a copy to the defendant or convicted person, and the Officer must by the next working day dispatch a copy to the Court appealed from.^{[Note 22]}

The application notice form must follow the standards specified by Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010.

Note 21: Ibid. S 3(2) and (3).
Note 22: Ibid. S 4(2), (3), and (4).

Supplementary documents

A leave to civil appeal application must be supported by five copies of:


• The original ruling;
• All unrelated grounds supporting the original ruling; and
• All grounds behind every ruling in the proceedings, in a case where the ruling was given on appeal.^{[Note 23]}
A leave to criminal appeal application must be provided with five copies of:


• The trial transcripts;
• Summing-up by the trial judge; and
• All documents in relation to the proceedings.
A leave to Intermediary Appeal Court appeal application concerning a conviction or sentence must be supported by five copies of:


• The final case of appeal;
• Ruling concerning the appeal; and
• All grounds behind every ruling in the proceedings.^{[Note 24]}
Note 23: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 15. For standards of form see S 7. For standards of procedure see S 9.
Note 24: Ibid. S 18.

Deciding on a leave to appeal application

In deciding on the application, the Justices assembled will scrutinise all supplementary written submissions and pertinent supplementary information raised concerning the application. If an oral hearing was chosen instead, the Justices assembled will scrutinise all the information raised at the hearing.^{[Note 25]} Any two or more permanent Justices of the Peace can act as a Court to decide whether the application should be decided just on the basis of written submissions, or an oral hearing should be made to support the application.^{[Note 26]}

A judgment on leave to appeal must be made by the original Justices who were at the hearing concerning the application. Before the judgment is made, the Officer of the Court must inform the parties involved of the date of its delivery.^{[Note 27]}

Note 25: Judicature Modernisation Amendment Act 2016, S 12(4).
Note 26: Ibid. S 24(2).
Note 27: Ibid. Court of Unity Law — Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 26(2).

Judgment

If the Justices assembled as the Court has announced their judgment as a permission for leave to appeal, the appeal is commenced by the giving of that leave and no notice of appeal need be filed. The grounds which may be argued in support of an appeal are limited to the grounds approved in the order by which leave has been given. Neither an application for leave to appeal nor the giving of leave operates as a stay of proceedings in which the decision was given or a stay of execution of that decision. However pending the determination of the appeal, the original Court appealed from may, on application, order a stay of proceedings or grant any interim relief.^{[Note 28]}

If the Justices assembled as the Court has announced their judgment as a refusal for leave to appeal, the Court must give details of the grounds for refusal. The Court may announce a judgment of refusal for leave to the appellant and at the same time announce its judgment of permission for the respondent.^{[Note 29]}

Note 28: Judicature Modernisation Amendment Act 2016, S 20(2) and (4).
Note 29: Court of Unity Law—Justices of the Peace of the Seven Highest Order Rules Amendment 2010 (JRA 2010/100), S 24.


Tabled matters

The Commission will submit the above reform to the relevant select committee on judicature procedure and structure one week after the publication of this report. A copy of the report will be tabled one day following the publication of this report.

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[Yohannes]

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Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill 2017: Second Reading

Freight Shipping and Water Transport — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Tuesday, 17 October 2017 — Volume 951; Second Reading — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Rt Hon SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Honourable Members, I would like to draw your attention and to welcome the Ambassador of the [ Second Roman Empire ], Sir Enzo Maschiarro Floronni, the Seventh Duke of Bellasto, who is sitting alongside members of the senior press gallery in parliament today.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Halsten): Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. I would like to apologise for somewhat cutting in on this session, but my office has just received an email and a letter from the President of the Imperial Law Commission, Hon Walter Luxenberg EC, concerning its annual modernisation summary on reform of judicature practice, procedure, and structure.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of the [ Annual Report to Parliament — October 2017 ]. ]

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN I seek leave to consider all parts and clauses of the Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill 2017 for second reading, [ to resume from its first reading ].

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave for that purpose is sought. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and blank faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There appears to be none. Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill 2017. Second reading. The Bill is now presented before the Assembly.

The Bill is now presented before the Assembly. Taking the Chair, Electoral College and Parliament — Three Post Meridiem.

MAGNUS NORDIN (Energy and Science Spokesman; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Dybby): Good day Mr Speaker. Good day press gallery. Good day parliament.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning heads seen all around the chamber… ]

MAGNUS NORDIN: Hereby, in representation of the Social Democratic Party shall I move, that the Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill 2017 be read for the second time. The Minister in charge of the Bill on its first reading, Hon Elton Holmqvist, has presented the Bill before the Select Committee on Navy and Merchant Navy, and today shall the Bill be read before parliament for the second time.

Here presented before parliament is a bill that we in the Social Democratic Party have judged and scrutinised upon based on the information presented before us during first reading and select committee examination. During the first reading stage of this bill the Social Democratic Party — we announced our willingness to support the movement of this bill through the select committee and finally its enactment as an Act of parliament. However, we wanted some of the things we disagreed on to be changed and for the Christian Democratic Executive Council to follow our recommendations. Having read submissions made by the citizen sector and key industry players in not just the nineteen countries, but also those of our important trading partners in outside Yohannes.

Well, having done our homework and having been through the entire procedure, the Social Democratic Party hereby announce our party vote of NAY against the bill.

I have three points that I want to make, and I also want to highlight the bill once again.

The Minister informed parliament during first reading that the bill will amend existing regulatory framework on shipping and general water transport in accordance with the 2001 Amendment of the original Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Act. It will add to existing compensation regimes for shipping or water transport incidents causing environmental damage in Yohannesian waters.

To respect the provisions and in accordance with rules set out by the General Assembly Resolution #34 [ International Transport Safety ] and the recently passed General Assembly Resolution #409 [ Ocean Noise Reduction ], the bill will adjust identified anomalies associated with both the previous Amendment Act and the Unity Law with respect to existing World Assembly maritime laws.

The bill will provide additional funding to cover future damage or compensation costs in the event of shipping or general transport accidents at sea; worth at least 51.813 billion NationStates Dollars in environmental damage compensation and 117.424 billion NSD in general transport compensation. The schemes will be funded entirely by the Bank of Yohannes and willing domestic and international institutions, such as [ Bank of the Atlantic ], the [ Legion Corporation ], and [ Hamilton Holdings Group ].

Although we had supported this first point during first reading, the Social Democratic Party now believe that the provisions in the bill concerning that first point and the possible benefits that can be had are moot; that is, subject to debate. Although we believe that we must make stronger existing standards in that area, we believe that 51.813 billion NSD is not big enough of a figure. Especially as it would be partly funded indirectly by the citizen sector, we feel that the Executive Council should contribute more.

When we take into account the fact that Economic Palace has recently reported [ under its monthly report ] a 71.3 billion NSD nation state surplus in October alone, and our ratio of import-export will grow by 1.3 per cent in comparison to last month’s 1.7 per cent, which I would like for parliament to know was the highest recorded monthly increase in imports that the nineteen countries can afford to purchase with its exports since the 2012 March fiscal quarter — well to be frank with you the Executive Council should do more and contribute more in this area.

The second part of the bill is something that we can agree with. The second area of the bill will focus on organisational flexibility by granting local government authorities, regional councils, and national navy directors the powers to enforce transport standards, modify regime requirement, and collect fees, payment, and emolument from foreign parties on the waterways of the nineteen countries, amongst others.

The bill will allow local government authorities to impose levies on the import and transport of oil and dirty energy in general. These levies will go towards the funds to act as some kind of a backup plan, or a better way of describing it: We put money periodically into the piggy bank to act as extra insurance in the case something bad will happen. Accidents at sea. Unforeseen calamities. We must avoid the fate of the Empire of Jingoistan, where even today years after the [ BP oil disaster ], they are still feeling its environmental consequences.

Finally, my third point. The Social Democratic Party — we must disagree with the third part of the bill, concerning the deregulation of freight transport and logistics services to companies of nation states outside the continent. Repeating our concerns raised during select committee hearing, we are worried that this will result in very big multinational shipping companies dominating our shipping with other nation states outside Yohannes; that is, it will harm Yohannesian shipping companies and thus siphon off much-needed foreign exchange reserves overseas. We experienced this problem for much of the eighteenth century, where small to medium Yohannesian shipping firms had to compete with much more modern foreign traders to carry our own goods — can you believe that, to carry our own goods! — across the new world regions and even to the old world regions of the then civilised, imperial occidental powers further afield.

We were considered as ‘uncivilised’ for much of the eighteenth century, lacking in industrial capacity; that was why we had to modernise to catch up with the civilised nation states of the international community for much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: so that we will not end up as a colony and be subjugated by overseas industrialised nation states. We were pushed around and we were seen as an economic backwater and a backward nation state; lacking in capital and technology.

Well, as parliament will know we have succeeded in becoming an industrial power; it took us more than one hundred years, but we are here. And now the nineteen countries has economic and investment presence in at least four hundred nation states of the international community; that is, according to the [ Security Council Resolution #149 ], the nineteen countries has become a representative of international peace and prosperity, two hundred years after its unification and foundation as a nation state.

We have achieved our goal: The hope of our people back then, two hundred years ago, that, perhaps, one day, the nineteen countries would be seen as nothing less than an equal and acceptable civilised nation state by the rest of the international community. We reached our peak, and then we fell. Today we are a declining nation state; still economically vibrant and technologically strong, but lacking in military power projection. In comparison to DEUN, SACTO and other military powers, we are nothing — unable to adequately protect even our maritime highways of trade, until our trading partners — [ Allanea ], [ Caracasus ], and [ Novo Wagondia ], amongst others — decided to say: “Okay we will help you out and will police your maritime highways of trade for you; so long as you pay us of course.”

We won some and lost some. Some gains and some setbacks.

Well, the Social Democratic Party believe that this bill will set us as a nation state back — just a teeny-weeny bit, but still set us back nonetheless — shipping wise. We fear that the amendment bill will undo some of those economic gains we have fought so hard to acquire since the late eighteenth century.

Do we want foreign shipping dominating our trade once again; killing off our own shipping companies in the process? No. Do we want to become a nation state of renters, always paying someone else to transport our own goods overseas? No.

Of course, we support a liberalised regime and a relatively open economy, but there has to be a limit somewhere. Well, we feel that this bill will remove some of that limit. So now we have two bad things out of the three points I have said.

And for that reason, the Social Democratic Party must reject the bill.

Thank you.

Hon ELTON HOLMQVIST (Minister of the Commonwealth Navy; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Vonde-Åsmund): Good day Mr Speaker. Good day parliament. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the bill through its select committee process. I also want to thank the previous standing Member, Magnus Nordin, for his statement made before parliament this afternoon.

I want to inform those public servants who have superintended the collection of duties on imported goods and the administration of commercial shipping in in our territorial waters. During select committee hearing, many of our public servants have submitted their opinions on the 2004 ‘HMS Kuja’ oil transport accident. Just like the previously standing Member, I cannot precisely say the exact figure, but I will agree with him that it must have been somewhere around the 1,600 cubic metres range; that is, over 1,600 cubic metres of dirty, polluting oil released into the sea. I also agree with him that it was a catastrophe. It destroyed the surrounding wildlife. Which is why I am perplexed to know that the Social Democratic Party — they have decided to reject the Bill? Why? And all this time we always hear accusations thrown at us for not looking after the environment enough.

51.813 billion NSD in environmental damage compensation and 117.424 billion NSD in general transport compensation; these figures are quite the expenses. The previously standing Member should know that we cannot afford to throw away money willy-nilly, haphazardly without direction or planning. That is not realistic. That is not right. We cannot afford to have it all. We can only afford to do away with 170 billion NSD in this area for now. During select committee hearing, we have received submissions from the think tank Health and Safety at Work (HSW). They supported our conclusion that the ‘HMS Kuja’ oil transport tragedy was caused mainly by a general lack of health and safety standard compliance by the crew and management. It was atrocious by Yohannesian standard, and this bill will help mitigate the chance that that will happen again in the future. How can the Social Democratic Party reject this bill?

Why?

In saying that, it is to my understanding that the Social Democratic Party do support the second part of the amendment bill; that is, to modernise our right of claim and limitation of liability regimes. The Bill will attempt to remove some of the weaknesses showcased by the claims right and liability limitation regime of [ Jingoistan ], by removing from our own regime any legal reservation to limitation of liability for environmental damage caused by all grades of foreign ships, including the removal of wrecked ships and ship parts and cargo. Finally, by adopting the Bill, we will expand the scope of those domestic bodies — whether communal, public, or private — tasked with coordinating empire-wide response to any future shipping or water transport disaster that may occur in our territorial waters.

This Executive Council — we want to guarantee that if we do encounter something just as bad and just as big as the BP oil disaster, we will the ability to claim compensatory costs and payments from guilty parties. We want to make sure that they will not escape their obligations. We want to have the provisions to protect our environment, without any major loophole in our regime to ensure compensation in the case of a disaster happening will fully be acquired from guilty foreign parties — that is, to prevent foreign parties from avoiding their financial and social responsibilities. And for that reason I am thankful for the support of the Social Democratic Party, at least in that regard.

I am confident that with a few more fine-tuning we can and we will pass this amendment bill through its, hopefully, third reading. And for that reason I hereby commend the Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill 2017 before this august assembly.

BERNHARD BODE (Green Party; Electorate of Nederbro): Oh dear, well that was quite the entertaining performance from both the Energy and Science Spokesman of the Social Democratic Party and the Minister of the Commonwealth Navy himself. Both Members have said the same thing: “Money this. Compensation that. Open economy here. International standing there.” But what they have failed to mention is this: the environment.

They simply do not care about the evidence presented during select committee hearing — with the Minister Holmqvist only mentioning the environment because the Social Democrats have rejected the Bill. “Expand the scope of those domestic bodies and the rest.” Please, give me a break. Minister, you know this yourself: that ‘the surrounding wildlife’ only come into the equation when money is involved. The ‘think tank’ Health and Safety at Work (HSW) is widely supported by various member businesses of Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes. We all know this, so please: stop the pretence of environmental crusade and wildlife protection.

That is why the Green Party — that is why we are here; easily surpassing the six per cent threshold to make it into parliament without trying. That is our area of expertise. The environment and climate change. Our Members are here to make parliament accountable to the people: to see to it that the environment; frolicking animals and lush plants — our gifts from above — will be protected by the Executive Council. And that various measures to combat climate change will be implemented by the Executive Council. So basically met me make this short: Just like the Social Democratic Party we must reject the first and third points of the amendment bill. I know, surprising right? We actually agree with the Social Democrats on something for once!

Secondly, well we also agree with the Hon Minister that this amendment will hopefully improve the general health and safety standard compliance of crew and management. The drug and alcohol impairment test results from the 2004 ‘HMS Kuja’ incident was horrifyingly wicked, frankly, by Yohannesian standard. So in that regard we agree with the Minister that this amendment bill will hopefully address that issue. The nineteen countries wants to become a clean, green nation state. In doing so we must maintain our reputation of responsible environmental management in managing our territorial seas; those areas of seas within thirty nautical miles of a baseline measured from the easternmost point of Cleyra to the westernmost point of Alexandria.

This exclusive economic zone of the nineteen countries encompasses those areas of the seas: Seabed and subsoil that are beyond, and adjacent to, the territorial seas of the nineteen countries to an outer limit of three hundred and fifty nautical miles from the baseline from which the territorial seas are calculated. We must effectively assert our jurisdiction over ships, their corresponding assets and cargo there. That is why this amendment bill is quite important, and that is why we would like to see the fine-tuning of this bill once more by the Office of Minister Holmqvist. The freight transport industry is an especially challenging one, with its lucrative but equally hazardous nature. We must reduce as much risks as possible — within the realm of realism — and this amendment bill, once it has been further fine-tuned, will help us to accomplish that goal.

Well maybe just a teeny-weeny bit, but we need all the help we can get. Thank you.

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): During select committee hearing we deduced from the submissions of the citizen sector experts — Corefreight Freight Transport & Logistics, Yohannesian Tourism Society, and the Nineteen Countries Marine Contractors Association to name just three — that some of them, well, they have huge doubts concerning the random alcohol and drug testing proposed as one part of this amendment. They disagreed with the previously standing Member Bernhard Bode’s conclusion that there was a widespread issue with alcohol and drug impairment in our territorial waters. The way he stated that it made people think we are a nation state of drunkards. Well I will be honest with you that is quite simply: rubbish.

Some key industry players have done regular internal alcohol and drug examination themselves, so we don’t see why we should start subjecting law-abiding Yohannesians to further regulation in this regard — especially when we see that those businesses most affected by compliance costs would be small and medium Yohannesian contractors; not foreign freight ship companies.

For that reason Yohannes First will give our votes of NAY for this amendment bill. I expect the Minister will actually start to implement some changes to the bill, and then we will think about seeing its passing through parliament. Thank you.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: A vote shall be called into question. I move that the Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill be commended to the Committee of the whole Parliament by the date that is three weeks following the date of second reading.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Freight Shipping and Water Transport Amendment Bill read before parliament for the second time.

[ … Amendment Bill heading to the Committee of the whole Parliament… ]

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[Yohannes]

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Annual Report to Parliament — Monetary Target Consensus: Subject to the Members of Assembly

Annual Report 2017 — Monetary Target Consensus -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 18 October 2017 — Volume 951; 2017 Monetary Target Consensus — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.




Yearly Overview — October 2017

Published under the authority of the Electoral College and Parliament — 2017

The Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) is the interest rate set by Economic Palace — the central banking system of the nineteen countries — on overnight borrowing and lending between banking institutions of the citizen sector and Economic Palace. Economic Palace has regularly used the ICR as a tool to influence the direction of the economy and to ensure price stability. It also used the ICR to ensure that yearly inflation meets Economic Palace’s explicit inflation rate target.

Money in circulation



Year	ICR (per cent)
2000	5.10
2001	4.75
2002	4.80
2003	4.90
2004	4.75
2005	4.85
2006	5.00
2007	4.85
2008	4.70
2009	4.95
2010	6.70
2011	8.15
2012	6.70
2013	8.00
2014	2.70
2015	2.30
2016	3.00
2017	1.60


Source: World Microcredit Foundation.
The ICR is one important way the Executive Council can carry out and manage its monetary policy in the nineteen countries of the Yohannesian continent. The monetary policy of a nation state is the way that nation state’s central bank indirectly manages the total amount of money in circulation or in existence in that nation state, also known as its ‘monetary policy’, i.e., the [ Federal Reserve System Monetary Policy ].

Monetary policy is important, because without a good balance in money circulating in a nation state’s economy, a nation state will experience price instability in goods and services. Secondly, foreign institutions and nation states will have no confidence in that nation state’s currency, resulting in even further price instability. A good and bad monetary policy is the difference between having a struggling nation state and an economically thriving, prospering nation state. ICR currently stands at 1.6 per cent, which is just below fifteen-year low for interest rates as set by Economic Palace.

In the nineteen countries, the Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace must regularly talk with both the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade and the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund. They must agree together on what should be done for each year’s Monetary Target Consensus (MTS). The current MTS is the one directly taken from the MTS made in 2014 when the Christian Democratic Party won the election and was voted into office as the Thirty-sixth Christian Democratic Executive Council, i.e., government at the imperial level. The 2014 MTS said: “The Chairperson must make sure inflation be kept within the 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent range until the 2018 June fiscal quarter.” Ideally with current level of forecast growth inflation should be kept below 2.5 per cent but above 1.5 per cent. In theory it should be easy; realistically in practice it can sometimes be challenging (for more information see October Summary of the Economy report).

Executive Council intervention

How can a nation state’s central bank manage the total amount of money in circulation or in existence in that nation state’s economy?

Well, that nation’s central bank can establish interest rates to decide on a particular inflation target point (or inflation goal), which the central bank believes is the right rate to realising a stable business and investment environment for that central bank’s nation state. For the nineteen countries, a very limited and controlled inflation is considered the best way Economic Palace can encourage positive business and investment environment at present (it can always change in the future). An explicit target inflation rate for the medium term at 1 to 2 per cent will make sure businesses and hard-working people in the nineteen countries will be protected from extra costs of goods and services, whilst at the same time avoiding reduction of the general level of prices in the economy (i.e., deflation), which is not the things we want for now.

To some degree, moderate drops in certain products, such as food or energy, will have some positive effect on consumer spending. An uninterrupted and sustained fall in prices, however, can seriously affect growth and economic stability. It is the view of Economic Palace that we must avoid the aforementioned, especially when we look at the worrying outlook in some overseas regions and nation states in the face of increasing aggression and gunboat diplomacy by ever-expanding militaristic nation states and organisations and those opposing organisations — Allanea, DEUN, and SACTO to name just three.

Point of view

In the short term, Imperial Palace is seeking to flatten, or at least attempting to flatten as much as possible, fluctuations in demand. In the long-term Imperial Palace seek to tighten or loosen its policy further, subject to changes in the economy and international development, e.g., anarchy, chaos, and conflicts; i.e., They-who-must-not-be-named striking New Edom; intercontinental ballistic missile crisis in Puerto Colijito; the fearful stranglehold of religious extremism in Qaidi; religious revolution in Zukaristan; and anarchists rampage in Volkmacht, amongst many others unnamed here for reason of space.

Adjusting interest rates

There are both sides to the equation. Raising interest rates will result in more savings done by Yohannesian mum and dad businesses and families, and thus will lower final consumption expenditure and will lower demand in the citizen sector. In turn because of lower expenditure and lower demand, prices in general will be alleviated or pushed towards a lower level. The final result is lower inflation for the nation state. At the same time, if Imperial Palace tighten its policy further, borrowing will be more expensive for businesses and families, i.e., reduction in after tax spending and savings for those subjected to loans and mortgages. Investment projects or the extent of investment found all around the continent will also decrease, because the citizen sector will have less incentives to borrow due to increasing costs.

Finaly, the Quertz russling will appreciate against the NationStates Dollar (or Universal Standard Dollar) as more overseas body corporates and providers of funds will want to involve themselves in our economy, i.e., as interest charged to borrowers in the nineteen countries will increase, thus attracting higher return for non-Yohannesian depositors. Additionally, body corporates and commercial entities in the nineteen countries will possibly import more products from abroad, which in turn will result in more downward movement in the Tradeable goods and services index, which gives information about changes to the prices of tradeable goods and services in the nineteen countries (for more information see October Summary of the Economy report); however, Yohannesian exports will also be less competitive overseas, i.e., more costly, which can be bad, but will also reduce inflation as it will reduce output due to less demand for Yohannesian products.

Lowering interest rates, of course, will have the opposite effects to the above mentioned. In terms of spending, the value of the choice of the best alternative cost will become lower; borrowing schemes will become less costly; the Quertz russling will depreciate against the NationStates Dollar (or Universal Standard Dollar); Yohannesian exports will be more competitive overseas; and investment projects or the extent of investment found all around the continent will also increase. The end result will be higher inflation.



Monetary Target Consensus	Chair of the Board	MEIT and MTWF Ministers	Explicit inflation rate target
12 May 2000	Dr Bernhardt Kempf	Hon Edgar Friesinger and Hon Karl Nägelein	Within the 0 per cent to 2 per cent range until the 2002 March fiscal quarter.
8 December 2002	Dr Bernhardt Kempf	Hon Edgar Friesinger and Hon Dr Erika Blattner	Within the 0 per cent to 2 per cent range until the 2003 December fiscal quarter.
5 November 2004	Dr Bernhardt Kempf	Hon Edgar Friesinger and Hon Dr Erika Blattner	Within the 0 per cent to 2.5 per cent range until the 2006 March fiscal quarter.
10 December 2006	Dr Bernhardt Kempf	Hon Lukas Riederer and Rt Hon Loseton Petres	Within the 1 per cent to 3 per cent range.
17 September 2008	Dr Bernhardt Kempf	Hon Lukas Riederer and Rt Hon Loseton Petres	Within the 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent range.
11 December 2010	Dr Alice Ackner	Hon Jeremiah Williams and Rt Hon Loseton Petres	Within the 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent range.
19 October 2012	Dr Alice Ackner	Hon Phillip Blocher and Rt Hon Loseton Petres	Within the 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent range.
24 December 2014	Heidemarie Vogelweide	Hon Emily Kirchweger and Hon Alice Schneider	Within the 1 per cent to 3 per cent range.
11 September 2017	Heidemarie Vogelweide	Hon Emily Kirchweger and Hon Alice Schneider	Within the 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent range.


Source: Economic Palace Monetary Target Consensuses.

Imperial Cash Rate

The Imperial Cash Rate has existed in various forms since the Foreign Mission Act 1787, which sent three hundred and fifty of the brightest academics and students of higher learning of nineteen countries abroad, to study the art of foreign industrialisation and modernise the Yohannesian economy, and save the recently unified nineteen countries in the continent of Yohannes from colonial subjugation and economic exploitation by technologically superior, imperialist occidental nation states abroad. For more than two hundred years, the ICR has been used to modify short-term interest rates in the nineteen countries, with its adjustment by Economic Palace affecting the prices that money are sold and distributed for further reselling (i.e., further lending) by banking institutions in the nineteen countries.

These first-point banking institutions which borrowed directly from Economic Palace (i.e., wholesalers) are subjected to interest at 0.45 per cent more than whatever is the interest rate set by Economic Palace at that point in time (or 45 basis points higher than the ICR), and are given interest — equal to the ICR at first and then below the ICR by 0.9 per cent or 90 basis points — for their deposits from overnight activities, i.e. any activities where other institutions borrowing from these banks must repay the borrowed funds plus interest at the start of business the next day. In the process, this will create the acceptable upper and lower bounds of overnight rates in the eyes of Yohannesian banking institutions, i,e., they will reject anything outside those values. This is called the Quertz russling overnight rate (QROR); the rate used by large banking institutions in the nineteen countries to borrow and lend from one another.

Under normal circumstances, the QROR should be to a certain extent smaller than the ICR set by Economic Palace to influence the short-term and long-term rates in the Yohannesian market. Finally, international developments can also affect the circulation of money in the nineteen countries (i.e., interest rates found in major trading partners of the nineteen countries).

Policy review

Each year, the Chair of the Board of Governors reviews monetary policy (including the ICR) of the Economic Palace four times, starting at the first day of each fiscal quarter, i.e., March, June, September, and December. Unlike in most foreign nation states, in the nineteen countries it is the Chair alone who has the veto power and is responsible for overseeing the successful implementation of policy by statute, i.e., Central Bank Amendment Act 1946. The Board of Governors was founded to equally represent the interests of the nineteen countries, with each country being represented by one Governor. With deliberation and full agreement by a supermajority of the Board, the Chair can implement changes in monetary policy without any prior announcement or warning, e.g., the Incursus international incidents in 2011 resulted in the ICR being lifted up by 15 basis points to 8.15.

ICR through the years

Table 1 lists the Imperial Cash Rate since the turn of the twenty-first century. Cash rate was at its highest in May 2011 (the highest Yohannesian international economic and trade boom since the turn of the twenty-first century, paradoxically kick-started with the invasion of Osthia), from where it fell gradually by one hundred basis points (the Conglomerate crises, Incursus infighting, League of Imperial Nations conflicts, and others), until it rose briefly to reach its second highest peak point in 2013 (the second highest Yohannesian international economic and trade boom since the turn of the twenty-first century, paradoxically kick-started with the invasion of Hippostania).

The after effects of the [ 2012 Gholgoth crisis ] and general downturn and lack of confidence in the Yohannesian market and the Quertz russling, however, finally were out in full force and brought the economy to its knees, starting from the 2013 third and fourth fiscal quarters; with Economic Palace responding by gradually reducing ICR (down as much as five hundred basis points from previous high in 2013, to reach 2.30 by the 2015 first fiscal quarter.

ICR currently stands at 1.6 per cent, which is just below fifteen-year low for interest rates as set by Economic Palace.

Why MTC?

In accordance with the Central Bank Amendment Act 1946, both the Minister of Economic, Industry, and Trade and the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund must agree to the Monetary Target Consensus (MTC) proposed by the Chair of the Board of Governors (with agreement by prior deliberation as a full board) each year. According to the Chair of the Board Heidemarie Vogelweide in 2015: “Explicit inflation rate targeting is not something commonly found overseas in many foreign nation states, as many nation states, especially those of the free market and hands-off-the-economy leanings, tend to see explicit inflation targeting as something comparable to being socialist. But we believe that we have to do what is right, within the realm of realism, and in view of our strong Christian Democratic and [ Yohannesian model ] ethos, well, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

“The MTC is actually a pretty interesting concept, as many foreign observers would judge that its primary purpose is to influence the exchange rate of the Quertz russling. Or to keep the level of nominal income along a target path, i.e., to take into account historical price changes, shocks, and real economic activities. But those two are not the main reasons why we have the MTC today. Its main context is to simply exercise our sovereignty, following on our Christian Democratic ethos and the well-established Yohannesian Model, to target inflation annually and try to see how we can indirectly influence the economy further, ethically and within reasons.”

She concluded: “For this year’s MTC, there are three focus that we have chosen in terms of how we want to indirectly influence the Yohannesian economy. One: Targeting regime and checks in places. Economic Palace — our goal is to watch like a hawk changes happening in the economy. One way we do this is by tracking prices through such thing as the Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index, Tradeable Goods and Services Index, or the Food Commodity Groups Index.”

“This year our target is to make sure that we can keep inflation within the 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent range. Of course it is unrealistic for us to always one hundred per cent successfully accomplish this and see its implementation on the ground all the time; but at least we are trying, and that is a good thing I believe: for the welfare of our people.”

“Two: This tool will allow us to see what will happen if we change ICR due to temporary, unexpected inflation upsets (e.g., caused by foreign development or international incidents). We can’t just change the ICR willy-nilly of course: this is not a Nintendo DS Pokemon game, as my daughter Erica would say. Changing the ICR by even just one basis point can have huge ramifications on empire-wide production (i.e., output) and unemployment rate.”

“And finally: Stability for prices of goods and services. We want stable prices in our market. This will ensure less fluctuation and more certainty in ratepayers satisfaction and standard of living and local and regional council tax revenues. It won’t affect us [the Executive Council at the imperial level] much, but we believe that changes must come from the down up to the top; from the grassroots level; that is, change will not come from top down, or the trickle-down effect: ‘Trickling-down’ is not the way of the Yohannesian [ Christian Democracy ]. We don’t believe in that kind of bull****.”



Governor	Entered office	Country	Term expires
Heidemarie Vogelweide (Chair)	24 December 2014 (as Chair) 24 December 2014 (as Governor)	Regency of Lindblum	17 December 2018 (as Chair) 24 December 2022 (as Governor)
Dr Jonathan Young	14 March 2012 (as Vice Chair) 7 March 2012 (as Governor)	Kingdom of Burmecia	14 March 2020 (as Vice Chair) 14 March 2020 (as Governor)
Dr August Pettersson	18 January 2016	Kingdom of Alexandria	18 January 2024
Matthäus Fassbender	20 September 2010	Grand Duchy of Dali	20 September 2018
Dr Greta Schottenstein	13 May 2016	Grand Duchy of Donata	13 May 2024
Richard Karlsson	3 June 2013	Noble Republic of Treno	3 June 2021
Dr Miriam Müntefering	10 May 2015	Grand Duchy of Kradenmark	10 May 2023
Dr Sackarias Ekberg	25 September 2017	Duchy of Blomgren	25 September 2025
Steffen Mergenthaler	9 July 2015	Merchant Republic of Alseca-Lorin	9 July 2023
Roswitha Goldreich	3 February 2014	Merchant Republic of Landburg	3 February 2022
Dr Leopold Outman	17 August 2010	Principality of Ahlgren	17 August 2026
Wilma Goldfeld	21 April 2017	Unitary Republic of Molander	21 April 2025
Matthias Wiedemann	5 December 2015	Democratic Republic of Cederström	5 December 2023
Dr Emmelie Stenmark	16 January 2016	Royal Realm of Cleyra	16 January 2024
Samuel Green	13 March 2013	Duchy of Gizamaluke-Grotto	13 March 2021
Dr Nicholas Webster	20 June 2014	Duchy of Ice Cavern	20 June 2022
Dr Jannik Bauernfeind	2 May 2012	Principality of Mandragora	2 May 2020
Alexander Westwood-Williams	16 December 2015	City State of Crescent	16 December 2023
Zidane Trance	1 December 2013	City State of Coral	1 December 2021


Source: Economic Palace Archive.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Oral Questions — Questions to the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade;
Minister of Transport and Logistics; and the Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries

Miscellaneous Subjects — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 18 October 2017 — Volume 951; Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic; Electorate of Halsten): Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. My office has just received an email and a letter from the Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace, Ms Heidemarie Vogelweide, concerning summary of Monetary Target Consensus for the year 2017.

Rt Hon SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of the [ Annual Report to Parliament — Monetary Target Consensus ]. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Question time to commence — Questions to the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade: Net International Investment Position 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues.

NICOLA GOEBEL (Green Party; Electorate of Westenburg): To the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade, what recent report has she read concerning the net international investment position of the nineteen countries?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): As a matter of fact, I did just read a follow-up report to the [ October 2017 overview ], which was forwarded to me by the Member Kayla Fletcher on [ Friday, 6 October ]. The report published in the Imperial Business Review, entitled —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I ask the Minister to conclude her answer. The Member has asked a candid, plain-spoken question, and I expect the Minister to answer likewise.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: As a nation state the nineteen countries look forward to continuing its ethical investment in at least one hundred nation states around the international community of regions. As an Executive Council, we have emphasised jobs creation and growth in those communities we invest in overseas. As of the start of the 2017 September fiscal quarter, the report showed that net international investment position stands at 46.321 trillion NationStates Dollars, equal to 291 per cent of gross domestic product, with institutions affiliated with the [ Bank of Yohannes ] and companies of the [ Alleswerken ] export front making up sixty-seven per cent of that figure.

At the same time, we have also concentrated on empire-wide, domestic interests by making sure that acceptable profit level are brought back to the nineteen countries. This we have done through greater flexibility and funding for agencies such as the Export Industry Credit Administration; tasked with ensuring registered businesses to the Office of Export Industry Credit met the Nineteen Countries Economic Benefits criteria.

Through such measure we have seen to it that registered businesses must ensure that the goods and services they provide are made solely in the nineteen countries, or in conjunction with other registered businesses in the nineteen countries; that the overseas branches of their export-oriented businesses or contracts employ Yohannesians alongside with, or to supervise, the local peoples abroad; that an acceptable level of Yohannesian high technology or intellectual property are involved in their overseas operations and transactions; and that an acceptable level of profit will be brought back to the nineteen countries.

Of course, it is not realistic to have your cake and eat it too. Taking into account the fact that as a nation state we are an investor in at least one hundred nation states abroad, it is only realistic that we have encountered some problems along the way. But we are getting there.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Deputy Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): Seeing that in the last three fiscal quarters alone, the Christian Democratic Executive Council has approved the sale of assets worth at least 2 trillion NSD overse —

[ WHAT ASSETS VELDMAN? Yelling from the Christian Democratic section. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! A reasonable question has been asked by the Deputy Head of Opposition. I want to hear the completed question, even if some of the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade‘s fellow Members do not.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: 2 trillion NSD? Planet VELDMAN?

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: I am talking about the [ Kazansky Heavy Industries Allanea Agreement ], sunshine.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I ask the Minister and the standing Member to stay on topic.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: ... given that in the last three fiscal quarters alone, the Christian Democratic Executive Council has approved the sale of assets worth at least 2 trillion NSD overseas, namely to the governments of Allanea, the [ German Nation ], and others — the sale of foreign factories, facilities, infrastructure, and other industrial properties bigger than the total area of the Grand Duchy of Dali and the Kingdom of Burmecia put together, how much more assets and investment holdings of the nineteen countries in more than one hundred nation states abroad are the Executive Council planning to sell off to foreign interests?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: I suppose the Deputy Head of Opposition has been sleeping uninterrupted in Planet VELDMAN, or Saint Maxtopia forbid, [ Planet ROBYN ] again? Because it seems he has missed the fact that under the Allanea 2017 long-term investment strategy, 367 billion NSD will be committed for the next fourteen years to preserving Eco sanctuaries of the land and protecting 3,500 of the 7,000 — that is over half — threatened species around Yohannes the continent; that is, we need to give and take. It is not realistic to have all that we want without giving up something. We sold our surplus assets and abandon unnecessary power politics and military obligations overseas to fund much-needed environmental developments and infrastructure projects home.

Another figure: 59 billion NSD to be spent on Work and Parenting Income over the next eight years. Something that we cannot afford without selling surplus assets overseas. And I thought he was fine with the Allanea Agreement last month? After all, he voted an AYE on its final reading. So you see? The problem with the Social Democrats is they make up things along the way because they have bad accountants and backdoor PR gurus. When they were kicked out of office in 2014 they handed us a projected 10 trillion nation state debt by the year 2017. We slashed that to 6 trillion NSD three years later. Why? Because they are a bu —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise the Minister to stick to the point.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Seeing that she has been in charge of the Economy, Industry, and Trade portfolios for three years now, is it not time for the Minister to actually take responsibility for her and her Executive Council’s policies instead of continuing to throw temper tantrums about the past?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: This is an Executive Council that on a net basis sold half of what Jeremy and Nickel did when they were Chancellor and Foreign Minister to fund Yohannesian [ international incidents ] power politics and military obligations overseas. Oh, they were also responsible for not doing anything whilst the nation state succumbed to the [ Gholgoth crisis ] in 2012. What a shambles: Selling economic assets for military spending. And now look at one of them going at it with some kind of moral authori —

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Five years since 2012, Minister. Three long years since 2014.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Well, okay then. How about the fact that in the September fiscal quarter alone, empire-wide, economic growth in the fifteen growing countries are registered at 4.25 per cent in total; with the Kingdom of Alexandria leading by increasing economic activities at 0.8 per cent, followed by the Regency of Lindblum at 0.5 per cent? Or the fact that over forty per cent of respondents from Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes in the citizen sector believed that export sales volume will grow in a sustainable way to go alongside jobs creation next quarter?

Everytime we hear the Imperial Head of Opposition or his deputy speak before parliament, we always hear schools overcrowding here, foreign investors buying up mum and dad businesses there, hospitals full of [ non-occidental ] immigrants taking locals’ jobs — oh wait that’s Loseton First’s favourite sentence, not the Social Democrats. But well they are together in a cringe-worthy marriage of convenience anyway. So what’s the difference?

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES (Yohannes First Party; Collegian Elector — First Burmecian District): With all due respect, but Mr Speaker that corporate raider should be thrown out of this cha —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise the Leader of Yohannes First to let me do my job. I know my role and he should know his too. This is my last warning to the Minister. Stick to the point.

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): At what number will she stop and think that: Maybe too much of our assets and investment holdings overseas has been sold? When will she stop?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: When Jeremy Robyn become the forty-eight Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries. And when he stop reading ‘The Communist Manifesto’ and ‘The State and Revolution.’

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next Question to commence — Questions to the Minister of Transport and Logistics: Infrastructure of Nation State Significance 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues.

ALEXANDER HOLMLUND (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of Landshärad): To the Minister of Transport and Logistics, what reports has he seen concerning the role infrastructure expansion plays in supporting growth and jobs in the nineteen countries?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU (Minister of Transport and Logistics; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Höganäs): Jiǔyǎng. Nǐn hǎo, parliament. I have seen two reports last week. The first by Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes estimated that the Executive Council has set aside at least 79 billion NSD for the Housing Infrastructure Fund over the next four years to assist local government authorities of fast growing regions in developing new infrastructure projects concerning housing and related areas, e.g., electrical grid, mass transit, and water treatment.

The Yohannesian Association of Regional Housing and Transportation Officials are currently discussing with high-growth local government authorities about the costs and timeline of construction to be expected. The Imperial Infrastructure Commission will oversee negotiations to ensure the presence of an independent advisory body.

The second report by Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes indicated that the citizen sector support this recent Executive Council move to once again contribute to the infrastructure fund. I am confident that negotiations will be completed by the third fiscal quarter of 2018, with the construction of water infrastructure to support the new construction of approximately 800,000 houses to be started by March 2019. This recent move would further remove debt away from the balance sheet of fast growing local government authorities, which realistically are not too keen to have government at the imperial level intervening too much on local and regional government development strategy and long-term growth planning.

ALEXANDER HOLMLUND: How can the Minister stand before parliament and say that, quote, at least 79 billion NSD, unquote, is a reasonable figure to be spent on high-growth local government authorities around the continent, considering that only one-fifth of that will be directed towards Greater Halsten in the Regency of Lindblum alone, as one example, which as the Office of the Chief Economist has reported last month needs at least 214.1 billion NSD to fund infrastructure growth over the next five years?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU: All I can say is I do not know how the Member can realistically believe that we can spend 214.1 billion NSD just like that. As Hon Emily Kirchweger has said before, we cannot have it all. What I can say is that this Executive Council is trying its best to deal with the problems we as a nation state are facing with the limited resources we have at our disposal.

TIMOTEUS ASGEIRSSON (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Skrunza): Can the Minister verify before parliament that the introductory stage report of South-to-East Central Rail Line in East Donata concluded that realising this expansion will see at least 5,200 heavy trucks and polluting vehicles taken off the Grand Duchy of Donata’s roads every month?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU: Yes. Though I am not prepared to provide further specific information or data concerning that project. I certainly didn’t expect every single MTL projects out there to be scrutinised before parliament and be turned into something highly politicised. If any Member in parliament is trying to claim that the cost-to-benefit analysis will not show good overall value for money, well then all I can say: Say that to the communities of East Donata. I am sure they will say otherwise.

TIMOTEUS ASGEIRSSON: What other recent infrastructure development has the Christian Democratic Executive Council delivered for the residential communities and commercial districts of the Grand Duchy of Donata?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU: We have recently announced the National Highway Three upgrade programme, specifically in parts of the highway route running through the commercial districts and communities of Asgard. We have estimated that the project will cost about 1.9 billion NSD for regional taxpayers, with an estimated completion date of February 2019. I know that it will alleviate near capacity problems around the areas and will shorten travel time and costs for both local businesses and motorists in general.

FERDINAND GOETHE (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Hallzing): How will the Housing Infrastructure Fund affect the Executive Council’s books?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU: We must take into account important factors, such as how many local government applications there will be and when the applications are made, i.e., in the middle of a downturn or upswing? However overall the Housing Infrastructure Fund will result in the Executive Council borrowing for half of that 79 billion NSD. It will thus increase net debt by the last fiscal quarter of 2018. When we have sold the infrastructure to the citizen sector, of course, we are expecting to slash that debt more or less completely.

To reassure Members of the [ Opposing Forces ]: No, we will not touch or spend existing foreign currency reserves and surplus and we have decided instead to borrow because currently the international community’s interest rates are collectively at an all-time low. We can thank all the anarchy, chaos, and conflicts happening overseas — i.e., [ They-who-must-not-be-named ] striking New Edom; [ intercontinental ballistic missile crisis ] in Puerto Colijito; the fearful stranglehold [ of religious extremism ] in Qaidi; [ religious revolution ] in Zukaristan; and [ anarchists rampage ] in Volkmacht, and many others — for this opportunity to borrow cheaply.

Finally, we will only sell the infrastructure to interested key players in the citizen sector when the time has come for local government authorities and regional councils to benefit from more cash flow because of these infrastructure.

FERDINAND GOETHE: In addition to infrastructure limitation, what other restricting factors are there to seeing the construction of commercial buildings, hospitals, houses, and schools as quickly as possible?

Hon SOONG CHU-YU: The reason the Executive Council must go through rigorous checks in places and a long consenting process on infrastructure is because of the many limitations we are facing. One: How fast will the introductory planning stage be? As the Member would know that is highly dependant on the local government authorities involved. Two: What are the Resource and Management requirements according to the Amendment Act and relevant structural and building standards of Standards Yohannes? Again, highly dependant on the willingness of the local government authorities to negotiate the right consenting agreements.

Three: How will local electorates and local ratepayers react to developments? This is of course the responsibility of the local government authorities. And finally: How will we meet demand when in fact we do not have enough supply of construction materials? We want to be realistic. We must import many things to meet up with demand. Also how many more people are willing to work in the residential and the commercial, institutional, or industrial construction sectors?

Many things restricting fast developments. We must be realistic. Building infrastructure of nation state significance will take years to complete, not months.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN (Imperial Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Clearingtonne): With all due respect, but Mr Speaker, if all those reasons are indeed real, in the name of Saint Maxtopia, why has Member Goethe not informed the appropriate select committee instead, rather than having him standing there, getting up and speaking before parliament asking all these fabricated, seemingly innocent but honestly so blatantly fake and stupid questions to a Minister from his own party?

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. How can you consider that as something that has not ruined the decorum of parliament this afternoon? The Imperial Head of Opposition —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! The Majority Leader Pro Tempore should know that I was allowing the Imperial Head of Opposition to continue with the question because I want to hear the answer from the Minister. But in saying that I am hereby giving an unofficial warning to the Imperial Head of Opposition. I advise the Imperial Head of Opposition to stick to the subject next time. Finally, I agree that the question was unreasonable, in that the standing Member or the Minister has no responsibility concerning the way the questions have not been raised before the select committee previously.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next Question to commence — Questions to the Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries: Public Announcements 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues.

RONALD CHUMP (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of New Cleyra): To the Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries: Does she stand by her public announcements made last week?

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN (Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Altbrandenburg): Yes. Especially, especially the one where I stood before the press gallery and said that the Christian Democratic Executive Council has been working hard to uplift the standards of living of not just Yohannesian super-annuitants; that is, Yohannesian Yohannesian, Yohannesian, Yohannesian; real Yohannesian. Can I wink at the Member Ronald Chump: I am sure he will know what I mean; by real Yohannesian. After all, he is the best-rated populist star of parliament today. That’s how he got elected to represent New Cleyra in 2014.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I advise the Chancellor to conclude her answer.

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN: Anyway, for the saner side of this Assembly we have increased the size of Central Provident Fund’s FutureSaver superannuation scheme by ten per cent since 2014. A further 3.1 billion NSD has also been allocated in Budget Reform 2017 to support the scheme, providing that extra safeguard for more than 10 million eligible super-annuitants across Yohannes the continent. And then, of course, there will be 3.5 million more super-annuitants eligible for the scheme in 2019.

RONALD CHUMP: When citizen Xia was caught interfering on recent Presfort Regional Council election in the Kingdom of Burmecia, why did the Chancellor go public in supporting Zheng Xia the foreign steel industrialist and cause the local Christian Democrat Councillors’ votes in the region to plummet?

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN: Well to be frank with you when I was watching Breakfast this morning it said that it [the votes] only got down by five to ten per cent? But I am happy to know that the Burmecian Member believes that a ‘swamp lizard’ from the Regency of Lindblum is influential enough to be able to kill votes in the Kingdom of Burmecia with a snap of her hand, just like that.

RONALD CHUMP: Why — with her habit of endorsing the losing side, such as the local Christian Democratic candidates in the New Cleyra 2014 parliamentary election; the millennial selfie Emperor’s 74.9 million NSD ‘Referendum on changing the Nineteen Countries Flag’; and now her support for foreign [ Non-Occidental ] steel industrialists and immigrant sushi chefs, pak choy part-time workers and restaurant sweepers and of course dodgy property investors — has she not retired from politics and join her colleague Emily the frau — Hon Emily Kirchweger as corporate raiders? Will she not stop trying to turn everything she touched into gold?

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN: I am trying — I am trying okay? But I just need to inform Ronald Chump that the last thing I said before I arrived here this morning was: “Ronald Chump is going to be Emperor in 2018.” There goes endorsing the losing side. Ha ha!

RONALD CHUMP: Is it not a public knowledge that the Radiatian President Jaagen Autenberg and the Laeralian Prime Minister Tanvi Misra have rung her, pleading that she not endorse their election campaigns, just in case they will lose because of her endorsement?

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN: Well no, I have not received any call from any one of these leaders, apparently, and oh I have not received a call from ‘citizen Xia.’ Of course if they will have the time to call me then I will happily have a wee chat with them about the latest international incidents. Or domestic incidents, like the [ Member’s speech ] last month.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and smiling faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Parliament to adjourn.

[ … Members leaving the chamber… ]

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[Yohannes]

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Broadband Universal Service Bill 2017: First Reading

Broadband Universal Service — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Thursday, 19 October 2017 — Volume 951; First Reading — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. I seek parliament’s leave to table the letter and documents submitted by the Office of Hon Dominique Friar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chris Empire.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave is sought to table that particular petition. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of Hon Dominique Friar’s original letter. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Honourable Members, I would like to draw your attention and to welcome the Ambassador of the [ Confederacy of Ayamya ], Her Excellency Ms Myra Peralta, who is sitting alongside members of the senior press gallery in parliament today.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN I seek leave to consider sections one and two of the Broadband Universal Service Bill 2017 for first reading.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave for that purpose is sought. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There appears to be none. Broadband Universal Service Bill 2017. First reading. The Bill is now presented before the Assembly. Taking the Chair, Electoral College and Parliament — One Post Meridiem.

GENE NEUMEISTER (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Post, Railway, and Telecommunications; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Breiðdalsnagil): Good day, Mr Speaker. Good day press gallery.

Hereby, in representation of the Christian Democratic Executive Council shall I move, that the Broadband Universal Service Bill be read for the first time. I have proposed for the Bill to be read before the Engineering and Science committee, and hereby shall I bring the Bill before parliament for its first reading. On the date that is two months and three days after the date of first reading, I shall commend the Bill to the Committee of the whole Parliament.

The purpose of the Broadband Universal Service Bill is to further increase industry efficiency and improve citizen sector productivity in the telecommunications market of the nineteen countries. Another purpose of the Bill is to speed up the expansion of modern telecommunication networks for our citizens all around the continent of Yohannes. Roughly, the Bill can be divided into three parts. One, minimising cost of compliance for Telecommunications Expansion Fund ratepayers by increasing liability allocation efficiency. Under the Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008, the Telecommunications Expansion Fund subsidises important private telecommunications capacities and operations that are too expensive to be afforded by members of the public without local government support.

Two, this Bill seeks to expand modern telecommunication networks access for more Yohannesians — households and businesses and industries — to benefit from, one example fibres laid and deployed all the way to premises/home/building (FTTP). And finally three, this Bill seeks to reduce consent granting period for all relevant parties with interests in properties where new telecommunications infrastructure are going to be built. I have decided to separate this Bill entirely from the Telecommunications Amendment Act itself as I believe that combining many parts of this Bill into the original Act would make it too broad.

Section one of the Bill contains provisions to minimise compliance costs for Telecommunications Expansion Fund ratepayers by increasing liability allocation efficiency. Also, two other programmes in section one deal with residential and commercial access expansion for modern telecommunications network and seek to remove commercially inhibitive regulatory requirements for the Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008’s ultra-fast broadband extension programme.

Section two of the Bill concentrates on changes to property access for next-generation telecommunication networks, mainly in matters of procedures during transition from existing regime to the new one, cost saving measures, and dispute resolution, with new transitional procedures being created to deal with restrictive trade practices concerning transactional arrangements for rural broadband infrastructure. This will see the expansion of existing rural broadband programme to include more than 5.3 million rural households and businesses; with statutory authorisation to apply within one year of the Bill’s enactment as law of the land. A sub-part in this section will also be dedicated to reassert that persons or parties will have the right to call off FTTP service orders should it be necessary and within reason.

Obviously, by reading the copy presented before them, Members of parliament will know that this Bill will make it easier for Yohannesians all around the continent to connect to our ultra-fast broadband scheme, a public–private partnership of the Christian Democratic Executive Council with four of our leading telecommunications industry players — AZ&Z Incorporated, Terizon Communications Incorporated, Yohannes Telecom AG, and Schitz Corporation — with total public investment of 170 billion NationStates Dollars. This Bill will also modernise our consenting regime so that industry players, especially big multinational telecommunications companies, will have no other loopholes in regulatory systems to go to when they want to install modern telecommunications networks such as ultra-fast broadband in the nineteen countries.

It is the aim of this Bill to see to it that by the year 2025, everyone in the continent of Yohannes; that is, all citizens of the nineteen countries, will have access to ultra-fast broadband services should they require it. Citizen sector demand — for both residential and commercial sectors — for faster, higher quality broadband service is huge, and it will without a doubt continue to grow as the international community of regions and nation states further advance technologically for the years to come. Government at the local and regional levels are working alongside the Executive Council — at the imperial level — to help private telecommunications players meet this seemingly insatiable demand with public funded ultra-fast broadband expansion. Realistically, of course, we have encountered many problems along the way; with many communities having access to services struggling to connect without initial problems.

As of the 2017 September fiscal quarter, we have registered 17.7 million ultra-fast broadband orders requiring consent by owners of shared properties, e.g., apartment common rooms and shared driveways amongst many others. Existing regime as set by the Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008 has resulted in many infrastructure expansion and service delivery delay issues. As an example, in the second quarter of 2017 alone there were 181,480 installation problems recorded by the leading key industry player in the nineteen countries, AZ&Z Incorporated — all by as long as seventy working days. Can you believe that? A delay of seventy working days -- that is almost one-fifth of a whole year! That is quite simply atrocious. That is so much money lost. And that is frankly not dissimilar with business practices in many third world nation states. I am embarrassed to say that we have seen such things happening here in the nineteen countries. Well, this Bill seeks to minimise such problems.

According to section three of the Bill, a hierarchy grading for our consenting regime will be divided into two: No or minimal effect installation for the first one and lasting effect installation for the second. The former will encompass all authorisations for ultra-fast broadband installation that will have no or minimal effect for private properties. Right by statute will be granted after seven working days of notice for those citizen sector players having an interest in starting infrastructure and network installations. Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes figure showed that this would encompass approximately one fourth of all current installations taking place in shared property, e.g., communally-owned driveways and parks.

The latter will encompass all authorisations for ultra-fast broadband installation that will have long-term effect for private properties. As an example: Installation of underground fibre optic cable. Another example: Roadside work to repair cable networks. For installations of the first category, surrounding property owners will be handed twenty-one working days’ notice so that they can express worries or object to any specific nature of the development taking place in the vicinity of their properties. Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes figure showed that this would encompass over half of current installations taking place in shared properties, e.g., communally-owned driveways and parks.

For multi-storey properties owned by companies such as mutually owned apartments, the consenting process will diverge slightly to incorporate elements of the agreements mutually agreed between the occupants with the companies. Installation procedures that do not follow the new two-tiered regime will be subjected instead to the present consenting regime; that is, this Bill will not change existing disputes resolution procedures as set by the Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008 so we can make sure that any disagreement or problem that may arise under the new consenting regime can be settled efficiently and wraparound support can be provided as quickly as possible in between regime changes from the old one to the new one.

In drafting this bill, we have received a number of responses from the citizen sector, as an example one from the citizen Mr Charles Aberg, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Telia Telecommunications Forum. Mr Aberg has welcomed the prospect of seeing this Bill be turned into reality. He and his forum of telecommunications contractors are looking forward to see the realisation of a new consenting regime to speed up ultra-fast broadband access all around the continent. “The telecommunications industry do look forward to these new changes. Long consent requirements have delayed too many fibre installations, thereby increasing costs for businesses and harming the satisfaction of consumers. We look forward to seeing this Bill be tabled through parliament.”

This Bill further expands on existing regulations concerning existing expansion of ultra-fast broadband already kick-started by the programmes stipulated under the Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008. All the technical changes listed under section one and two of this Bill are consistent with what parliament has already ratified under the Amendment Act 2008 for existing infrastructure expansion. Three statutory authorisations are provided under the Telecommunications Act for prospective citizen sector partners (e.g. AZ&Z Incorporated, Terizon Communications Incorporated, et al.) and local government authorities that may partner up with industry players during any ultra-fast broadband extension tendering process. Of course, this attempt of increasing statutory requirements for citizen sector proposals will not affect the outcome of the tendering process itself. Realistically, we do not want to unfairly influence the way the market should operate. Instead, citizen sector players should see this Bill as a way for government at the imperial level to temporarily fix certain loopholes to existing consenting and installation regimes pending further technological changes.

The passage of this Bill should improve service delivery for consumers, streamline tender process for many contractors, and most importantly reduce waiting time related costs for mum and dad micro, small, and medium sized businesses. I hereby commend the Broadband Universal Service Bill before this august assembly.

GRETEL SCHÜRMANN (Post, Railway, and Telecommunications Spokeswoman; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Westerkum): Will section two include our recommendation to limit the ability of big multinational companies to reject installation operations that may conflict with their business hours?

GENE NEUMEISTER: Well, no. And that is becau —

GRETEL SCHÜRMANN: I see in that case then it is my pleasure to stand in full representation of the Social Democratic Party to voice our collective vote of NAY. For I can see if the Parliamentary Under-secretary did not agree with that recommendation then he would not agree with the next one also: That FTTP service providers must give objecting mum and dad small and medium companies the ability to seek extension time concerning their request to reject development during certain business hours. So the Christian Democrats have decided to support big businesses once again, and not micro, small, and medium sized mum and dad businesses. Well what do they expect? That we will give them a collective vote of AYE? C’mon Gene, you can do better than that?

In saying that, we know that even with out collective NAY vote, this Bill will still be moved through its first reading; that is, if the Green Party will once again support their Christian Democratic confidence and supply partner. And we in the Social Democratic Party do also realise the importance of this Bill; it will help in our on-going quest to modernise our telecommunications infrastructure so that we can better prepare for the future. So in that sense this collective vote of NAY we have done as a matter of principle, and not that of selfish reasoning. We know this Bill is important. But we also know that our support or opposition will have no effect whatso —

LUKAS WIGBOLT (Green Party; Electorate of Nosämäki) Please, Gretel. You know that that is not true. The more support we have the better it will be for democracy.

GRETEL SCHÜRMANN: Thank you for your kind words, Member Wigbolt. However we in the Social Democratic Party realise that it is important to stand by our principle and as a result I would like to once again affirm our vote of NAY to the Bill moving through parliament for its first reading.

GENE NEUMEISTER: Oh dear.

GRETEL SCHÜRMANN: It is a good Bill. It is ambitious but is certainly realistic, and we as a nation state can see the expansion of next-generation telecommunication networks for our citizens all around the continent of Yohannes.

One important reason why I have said that it is a good Bill — notwithstanding the vote of NAY — is because I know the passing of this Bill will possibly help not just households but also members of the business and industrial communities. Sure, some people will say: So what? Better access and faster internet services; they can download things easier. How will that affect public sector productivity? Well those who are asking questions like that -- I don’t think they realise that government agencies and organisations also use the internet and use many telecommunications services to do many things, such as promptly contacting body corporates or persons of interest, delivering services, paying the bills, and transacting agreements, amongst many others. The Bill will also result in the expansion of optical fibres to cover not just citizen sector businesses but most importantly all schools and public hospitals, especially rural schools and health facilities, in the nineteen countries. That is good and I commend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for his effort in promoting this Bill.

Secondly, and again and again, the impact that expansion of this ultra-fast broadband partnership with the four key telecommunications players can bring — though yes small maybe, but still important — for internal commerce and trade. Remember, our nation state is just one, one of thousands in this international community of regions and nation states. Do you know that there are, as of 2017, 24,000 member nations of the World Assembly? That is, let me say this ladies and gentlemen: Impressive. We have so many nation states out there that I am so excited to see how our international community of regions and nation states will develop for the years to come; that is, how technologies will advance and benefit all womankind (and mankind, my apologies but no sexism there. No?).

24,000 member nation states of the World Assembly. And thousands more jurisdictions not acknowledging the World Assembly. If I have to conservatively guess that would be around 30,000 nation states in our international community of regions in total. Wow? Look here, we are living at a time where technologies are becoming more and more important for the lives of our people, and the state of our economy. All those 24,000 member nation states of the World Assembly are growing and are going further into the twenty-first century (some maybe lagging behind economically and technologically, yes, but you get the gist). We must keep up and advance just as good or else we will lose our competitive edge. Cellular and mobile technologies. Ever expanding super-fast and ultra-fast broadband capabilities. Reasonably priced computing solutions.

The widespread application of sensor technologies for the environment, industry, and social welfare of the people. All those things are interconnected with the universal broadband service obligation we will realise in the near future. According to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, in the second quarter of 2017 alone there were 181,480 installation problems recorded by the leading key industry player in the nineteen countries, AZ&Z Incorporated — all by as long as seventy working days. I know that that is not good. Fibre installations are important to realising our universal broadband service goal by the year 2025. So yes, I understand the urgency factor involved. But we cannot sacrifice the rights of mum and dad small and medium companies to object to fibre-optic network development taking place at inopportune or inappropriate times.

I also want to say another thing. Okay, I know the Parliamentary Under-Secretary may think: “So what? Let the market handle it.” But please bear with me here. Currently we are transitioning rapidly from old services and technologies to new, i.e., cellular network, mobile technology, optical fibre services. But can the citizen sector handle this without help from government at the imperial level? Okay, the Christian Democrats will say: “But we are going to pass the Broadband Universal Service Bill to support telecommunications industry players; what else do you want?”

Well firstly I am thinking if there has been any explicit warning from the Executive Council regarding the fact that key industry players will try, and in fact have been trying, to monopolise services in many of our rural areas, thus effectively preventing competition from small and medium sized enterprises? That is totally not okay. I have seen some articles published in the Imperial Business Review showing how certain, ahem, key industry players that I won’t name here are unwilling to fairly share aerials with smaller companies. Yes, I know, we are all very excited with seeing our nation state, the nineteen countries — Yohannes the continent — moving further and further into the twenty-first century, but remember: The rural communities missing out because of the unfair, shameful attempts by big corporations to shut down competition by doing things such as restricting aerials from small and medium sized competitors; that is not a good thing and we in the Social Democratic Party won’t accept things like that continuing to happen here in our realm.

The Bill has failed to address this issue and well I am not happy with that. Thank you.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next to commence. Inter-Party Bill Discussion.

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[Yohannes]

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Broadband Universal Service Bill 2017: Inter-Party Discussion

Broadband Universal Service — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Thursday, 19 October 2017 — Volume 951; Inter-Party Discussion — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Dr ZOE NILSSON (Green Party; Electorate of Cowrie): I would like to thank Members of parliament for this opportunity to give my address concerning the Bill. I believe that the Broadband Universal Service Bill is a Bill of great value for our nation state. The insatiable demand for ultra-fast broadband will only grow larger for the years to come; countless companies, hospitals, important public facilities, infrastructural centres, schools, and millions of homes — we need to meet all these demand. We need to let the citizen sector know that the opportunities for growth and expansion are there. And the Christian Democratic Executive Council will aid industry players in modernising empire-wide telecommunications capabilities all around Yohannes the continent through such things as the Telecommunications Expansion Fund.

Take note, however, that millions of our people are taking part in shared property contracts and communal ownership arrangements. And with that come insurmountable problems such as outdated consenting regimes. In the 2017 March fiscal quarter Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes recorded 181,480 installation problems faced by AZ&Z Incorporated, the leading telecommunications citizen sector player in the nineteen countries. Obviously, that figure alone reveals the challenges that we have, and will continue to face as we modernise and bring our telecommunications infrastructure further into the twenty-first century.

It will not be easy, and it will take years. But take a look at this copy from a Telia Telecommunications Forum report in my hand; it says that eighteen years ago — just before the turn of this century — there were 19 per cent of our population then who had access to broadband. Five years later that percentage was raised to over 50 per cent of our population. And when this Christian Democratic Executive Council was first voted into office three years ago, that percentage had jumped to over 90 per cent of the population.

Seventeen years ago — at the turn of the century — monthly usage of the internet per household did not come close to reaching 100 megabytes. Today, monthly usage of broadband per household is over 170 gigabytes per month. These figures are the things that show the demand, well, are huge for, at first basic services, and then super-fast, and now, ultra-fast broadband. That 170 billion NSD that will be invested over the years to come to expand the ultra-fast broadband scheme all around the continent of Yohannes; together with our biggest four telecommunications citizen sector players — AZ&Z Incorporated, Terizon Communications Incorporated, Yohannes Telecom AG, and Schitz Corporation — will ensure the universal availability of high-quality, next-generation broadband services for thousands of businesses and millions of consumers. We are modernising, chugging along the metaphorical railway line to propel our technologies forward as a nation state, as Kayla Fletcher said on her Friday, 6 October speech: “Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo.” And I like that.

Well that is why I am standing here to support the movement of this Bill through parliament this afternoon. Thank you.

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): “Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo. Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo. Mate. Matee.”

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Deputy Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): What do you say, Nickel. I daresay, the Christian Democrats — I guess they call borderline unlawful rural providers’ monopoly practice ‘progress.’ The train’s moving, apparently. How did she say that again?

NICKEL FALLAGE: “Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo.”

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): That’s right. It’s called real progress. Deal with it.

NICKEL FALLAGE: “Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo.”

TORA BJÖRK (Christian Democratic Party — Christian Faction; Electorate of Kvillevägen) The previous standing Member may have missed some important things; which is understandable as the Christian Democratic Executive Council have done many important, wonderful things since 2014.

Hon Social Democratic Members: Yeah. Sure, sure.

TORA BJÖRK: But Mr Fallage, I want to tell you this: All Yohannesians will have the right to experience high quality broadband services under the watch of the Christian Democratic Executive Council. I am going to take up where Dr Nilsson left off, concerning the seemingly inevitable universality of broadband access for our nation state -- again, under the watch of the Christian Democratic Executive Council. We in the Christian Party believe that some of the progress are good, in so far as wraparound support will be provided to ensure smooth transition from older technologies (e.g., copper wires) to new ones. Nowhere have I seen by looking from this copy of the Bill in my hand the reassurance that through the transitioning period funding will not be cut for older technologies.

There are many, many people in my mainly rural electorate that do still rely on FTTN/FTTLA copper connections. I hope that during select committee hearing we will receive submissions from key industry players that will further confirm the legitimacy of my worries here. Though I am sure the Parliamentary Under-Secretary will have something up his sleeve to counter this problem. We must be realistic, we cannot just switch from one to the other, in a snap of the fingers, in the blink of an eye. Whoosh. Copper gone. FTTH I see everywhere. That is unrealistic as I am sure the Parliamentary Under-Secretary will agree. So funding must still be kept around the same level, at least for the time being, until we are sure that replacement rate has accelerated at such a pace that people will not be affected heaps during the transitioning period.

Now talking about the figure, that is a lot of delays right there, from Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes regarding AZ&Z Mobility LLC, as one example, unable to meet demand and deliver our much-promised ultra-fast broadband services to people’s apartments and houses because of, well, outdated consenting regimes from the Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008. Well, can I also just say that, maybe, just maybe, some of that 180,000, was it? 180,000 failures to meet demand can also be there because we don’t have enough skilled labour to man all the operations? Just something to think about, what with the controversial issues surrounding high net migration rate of, as Yohannes First would like to call it, ‘non-Occidentals coming here.’

Well okay then, can Yohannes First make sure that, somehow, we can train thousands of technicians and technologists in one week? Because if they will then say “that’s impossible you can’t just produce skilled workers out of the blue like that” well then, to the Member Nickel Fallage and the Leader of Yohannes First Loseton Petres: What other alternative beside having skilled people immigrating here to do the jobs and contribute to our economy then? So there you go. To meet the demand we need skilled labour, the people who can man the operations on the ground for our telecommunications companies.

MADELINE THOMAS (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Ravenmarsh): It is not too often that I can call on a Bill before parliament. So as you can see I am very happy! Look, fifteen minutes speeches, like those made by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Post, Railway, and Telecommunications or the Social Democratic Member Gretel Schürmann, are so, like, the old style — having internet from dialing a telephone number on a conventional telephone line. Yes, dialing it up, as they say. Old style and so slow.

And well? Seven minutes speeches like what the previously standing Member did then would be, let’ see —

Hon Social Democratic and Yohannes First Members: Oh look at this backbencher trying to be clever.

MADELINE THOMAS: Look, at least I am trying here. Okay? Okay, for seven minutes speeches that would be asymmetric digital subscriber line technology. Faster, but not just yet. Something that we can see all around the Social Democratic side of this chamber. They can be slow on the uptake sometimes. Five minutes speeches? These ones would be very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line two technology, well, I will have to admit, something that we have seen sometimes around the Yohannes First side of this chamber: They are faster than their Social Democratic groom in their cringeworthy marriage of convenience. Well how about my speech here then? It is fast. Ultra fast. Just like the ultra-fast broadband technology and modernisation scheme of the Christian Democratic Executive Council that will be seen all around Yohannes the continent for the years to come. Deadly and fast. Just like the Christian Democratic caucus. And look? Wow, just passing the one minute mark. I hereby support the Broadband Universal Service Bill.

RUPRECHT THALMANN (Green Party; Electorate of Ulskov): As a Member of the Green Party caucus, I will be supporting the commendation of the Broadband Universal Service Bill through this august Assembly and see to it its reading through the select committee stage. I am looking forward to seeing the recommendations, and possibly criticisms, from the citizen sector concerning property rights and rights of access vis-à-vis fibre development and network placement. I am also looking forward to hearing the views of mum and dad micro, small, and medium-sized businesses concerning inflexible FTTP service providers disrupting important business hours. I personally understand the position of the Social Democratic Post, Railway, and Telecommunications Spokeswoman Member Gretel Schürmann. And because of that I am voting AYE to seeing the Bill be moved through select committee stage for it to be fine-tuned and scrutinised by Members of the committee and important citizen sector players. Thank you.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES (Yohannes First Party; Collegian Elector — First Burmecian District): I have only skim-read through the Bill and I don’t see why I should read further, considering the Parliamentary Under-Secretary has pretty much read through some of the most contentious parts of the Bill. I noted that the Bill has three main parts. Cost of compliance for Telecommunications Expansion Fund ratepayers. Expansion of modern telecommunication networks access. Faster consent granting period. Those are the ones, right? Well can I just ask then, as it seems part one and part two are simply stuff taken out and then improved on from the old Telecommunications Amendment Act 2008, why haven’t the Christian Democratic Executive Council brought this Bill forward in 2014 or 2015? I mean, three years since they were elected into office? And when I look at the Bill itself there are some serious stuff missing there.

So now, whilst we have to deal with serious nation state matters, such as immigration crisis, schools overcrowding, child poverty and more, we are actually going to tinker around with more internet access for Yohannesians? I mean, seriously? There are larger issues out there and I can tell you some more on top of immigra —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: No you will not, Mr Petres. You will stick to the Bill.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES: With all due respect, but what —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: The senior Member will say Mr Speaker. Thank you very much.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES: Mr Speaker, with all due respect, but what I was trying to point out is that this Bill is trying to accomplish something that should be done way later after existing problems; indicators of bad nation state development — 2.7 million kids in poverty, 7.4 million people losing their manufacturing jobs, 459,000 unemployed members of the working class in one country alone — have been dealt with. So long as a typical, educated middle class person in this nation state needs to save for at least ten years to buy a leaking, non-insulated, one-bedroom house in one of the inner suburbs of our metropolises, well, forget about universal internet access or universal broadband service.

The signs of inequality and poverty are still there. Having the right to buy and own your own home, with a good backyard for your kids to play outside safely, is a Yohannesian dream. It is the Yohannesian dream. Universal broadband service is not. Sure, it will increase public sector productivity and lift up business efficiency. But so long as people cannot afford to buy any property without subjecting themselves to rip-off mortgage rates by big banks and big finance then all I can say is: This Bill is useless. Thank you.

GAUTE GRONSETH (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Hafnaross) This call is meant to be fast, just like the progress of the Christian Democratic Executive Council’s ultra-fast broadband roll-out all around the nineteen countries. I commend the Bill before parliament. Thank you.

MILAN BERG (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Höjdstigen): Good day press gallery. Good day parliament. Now that I am taking a call on this Bill, I am wondering why all the Christians and all the Democrats — they all did a bunch of one minute, two minutes, three minutes calls on the Bill? Well unlike them, we of the Opposing Forces like to productively spend our allocated minutes. This Bill, despite our collective party vote of NAY, well, I agree that it’s very important. Universal broadband will boost demand for internet resources and will see even more massive growth in internet traffic for this nation state: I am sure the lobbyists from the big telecommunications multinationals will give heaps of expensive gifts for Christian Democratic Members for the next three weeks or so.

Of course, the Green Party Members will reject those expensive gifts out of ‘principle’, but I am sure at their local environmental activist offices they will suddenly find heavy anonymous donations for their ‘Save the whales’ campaigns. Okay. What about universal internet capabilities? Oh yes, that is very important. Especially for my area of responsibility. Voters in my electorate have been telling me for the past three years: “So, Mr Berg, we have seen your wife being a member of the local Networking & Wireless forum. You see, many of us [rural families] want to see good quality internet access for our kids so that our kids can compete equally with their urban peers. Well, there is no way we can get good connectivity without having to incur extra costs because the big two telecommunications companies are the dominant players around here.”

So in a way I like this Bill. It will subsidise people in my electorate — just one example of effective transfer of wealth from the privileged urban latte sippers to the kids of hard-working farmers of heartland Yohannes, for the benefit of the whole nation state. Of course, I must sympathise with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary. Can I just say to him: I know how hard it is to have to take the responsibility of someone else who didn’t do anything properly. This piece of legislation is one example of how you can do something effectively in parliament. But where is the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; his boss? Was she the one standing there reading the Bill before parliament? No. Instead you can see the corporate raider sitting there having a cuppa tea —

[ ... I AM A BUSY PERSON. I HAVE MANY RESPONSIBILITIES OKAY? Hon Emily Kirchweger gave the middle finger... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! The Member will not mention the word raider one more time. As to the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade, I advise for her to sit.

MILAN BERG: Geez, I am sorry — Hon Emily Kirchweger the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade sat on her arse or unintentionally had forgotten about how a Bill like this can lift public sector productivity and can potentially increase general education outcomes for kids of the rural communities. Where was she for the last three years on this issue? Nope. Nope. Instead, the whole time she pretty much said: “Hey, I'm the boss round here. I have, like, a bunch of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries to do the more boring things in life; things that don’t involve being a corporate raider and raiding here and selling there — well they are not my problem.” Thank Saint Maxtopia though we have this Bill finally out of the woodwork after three long years of a Christian Democratic Executive Councillorship. Well done people.

Before I finish, I just want to ask once again: Three years? After three years in office? This is the kind of thing that will happen to you if you don’t listen to distinguished citizens of the realm; those from the citizen sector with years of experience on the ground. In 2014 Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes handed us the figure of 2.61 million; that is, 2.61 million households, businesses, health facilities, and schools able to access the Executive Council subsidised ultra-fast broadband network thanks to a marked expansion of the roll-out programme all around the continent. According to AZ&Z’s General Manager of Infrastructure Adolph Hillman, “there is growth from more flexibility, lower travel costs, and lower network and information and communications technology expenses.”

Mr Hillman further added during committee submission period in 2014: “But there are problems surrounding outdated consenting regime and big companies objecting to forced roll-out and installations during certain hours or dates. Another problem is we have got people and businesses in apartments mutually owned under a ruling company and that company or certain individuals wouldn’t give the vote for the roll-out to go ahead. Outdated regime meant going back and forth for weeks and months and no decision made or progress done to seeing ultra-fast broadband implemented around these buildings.” Mr Hillman was not the only one.

There were, I am trying to remember now, I think maybe around thirty or so submitters who have said more or less the exact same thing. Of course the local councils didn’t have the time or perhaps couldn’t be bothered with actually doing anything about it. But the Executive Council also didn’t do anything about it. Until now, three years later, after much potential increase in productivity and NSD have been lost in the process. That’s not good. Thank you.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: A vote shall be called into question. I move that the Broadband Universal Service Bill be commended to the Select Committee on Engineering and Science by the date that is four weeks following the date of first reading.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Broadband Universal Service Bill read before parliament for the first time.

[ … Amendment Bill heading to the Engineering and Science Committee… ]

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[Yohannes]

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Five Issues of Nation State — A Brief Overview: Subject to the Members of Assembly

Issues of Nation State 2017 — A Brief Overview -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Friday, 20 October 2017 — Volume 951; Yearly Nation State Issues — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Five Issues of Nation State — October 2017

Published under the authority of the [ Electoral College and Parliament — 2017 ]

A few times a year, Five Issues of Nation State — A Brief Overview is released as a report to summarise some of the key issues facing the nineteen countries in that year, i.e., for this year, 2017. How parliament respond determines almost everything about how the nation state evolves. There is very much micro-management. Parliament, in equal standing with the [ Three Executive ], controls the destiny of the nineteen countries by cooperating with the [ Executive Council ] of the day on making broad policy decisions, and also tweaking numbers. Some relevant data from our main trading partners and either one of the two largest economies in the international community of regions and nation states — i.e., [ Maxtopia ] or [ Bigtopia ] — can also be used as economic datum.



Trade in goods	[+]	5.7%	Annual bilateral trade growth
Not owning home	[+]	0.33%	Yearly movement of people not owning a home
Workers killed	[-]	160	Yearly workplace fatalities change
Research and development	[-]	$28.7b	Annual R&D spending growth
Gross debt issue	[-]	$150.7b	Yearly fundamental imperial government borrowing movement



Bilateral trade in goods

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, bilateral trade in goods indicates the level of transfer of goods — excluding investments, services, and transfers of assets, money, and property — from a nation state to other nation states of the international community of regions, i.e., merchandise trade. In the nineteen countries, bilateral trade in goods is one of the principal drivers of wealth for the economy. Annual changes in the trading of goods denotes changes in total exports combined with total imports, reported without taking into account adjustment for price changes, i.e., inflation or deflation.

The following issues confront the Nineteen Countries

As the Quertz russling continues to appreciate against the NationStates Dollar [or Universal Standard Dollar], climbing above 0.0121 NationStates Dollar in the September fiscal quarter, bilateral trade in goods is forecast to grow by 5.7% to reach 23.081 trillion NSD in the year ending June 2018. The ratio of index of the nineteen countries’ export prices to the index of its import prices reached its highest recorded level of growth — in five years — in September. It has since then declined and is forecast to continue to decline until late March or April 2018. The top two destinations of Yohannesian goods — and sources of imports to the nineteen countries — which accounted for 48% of total exports in the year ending October 2017 are [ The East Pacific ] and [ Western Atlantic ], with the rest of merchandise trade volume reaching other trading partners of the nineteen countries. Average value added manufacturing continues to decline since the last quarter of 2014 by 0.255%.

The [ Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Trade ]’s focus on reducing fundamental imperial government debt to 30% of GDP by 2025 also comes with a primary goal to increase ratio of high-technology exports vis-à-vis manufactured exports by at least 3% over the next three years and a secondary, more ambitious goal of increasing non-hydroelectric renewable electricity production by at least 120% over the next five years. As of the 2017 third fiscal quarter, trade in goods contribution for current account balance was 32.5% of [ yearly total ] (post-adjustment), accounting for 1.6% of GDP at 254 billion NSD.

Table 2 shows the top five traded goods (by value) of total bilateral trade in goods.



Goods	Export value (billion NS$)	Of total M. trade	Goods	Import value (billion NS$)	Of total M. trade
Electronic components	721.28	3.125%	Petroleum products & crude oil	1,135.58	4.92%
Parts for vehicles (civilian & military)	720.12	3.12%	Medicaments packaged	701.66	3.04%
Parts for vessels (civilian & military)	708.58	3.07%	Motor cars (civilian)	493.01	2.136%
Merchant & military vessels	643.96	2.79%	Parts for aircraft (civilian & military)	487.01	2.11%
Optics & photonics components (civilian & military)	583.95	2.53%	Automatic data processing equipment	477.78	2.07%


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.

There has been substantial growth of bilateral trade in goods from nation states and regions of the new world, i.e., fast-growing parts of the international community that the Executive Council have started to focus on since 2014 to cultivate new friendships and trade opportunities, e.g., [ Caracasus ], [ Novo Wagondia ], [ URA ], and [ Vangaziland ], amongst others. As part of the Executive Council’s foreign trade diversification programme since 2014, the value of merchandise exports to, and merchandised imports from many nation states of the fast-growing new world regions have continued to replace nation states from the declining old established world regions.

Current account surplus from bilateral trade in goods is forecast to decline until the 2018 March fiscal quarter. The contribution of non-manufacturing goods is also forecast to decline until 2019, due to over-reliance in a few volatile commodities (i.e., avocado, butter, cheese, milk powder, and orange), heavily subject to changes in overseas market prices and international incidents affecting market condition (the [ Qaidi religious incidents ] et al.). Imports have been higher than originally forecast in March 2016 due to continuing appreciation of the Quertz russling vis-à-vis the NationStates Dollar [or Universal Standard Dollar].


Home ownership

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, home ownership (otherwise known as owner-occupancy) is a form of housing tenure where a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which she or he lives. This home can be a house, apartment, condominium, or a housing cooperative. For the purpose of this issue, the definition of ‘home ownership’ largely relates to ‘mum and dad’ or family home owners, and not those of property developers or real estate investors; together with the tendency of most Yohannesians to equate ‘home ownership’ with owning a house (with a backyard or garden), not apartment or condominium.

The following issues confront the Nineteen Countries



Year	Ownership (per cent)
2010	70.1
2011	69.7
2012	69.5
2013	69.2
2014	69
2015	68.3
2016	67.9
2017	66.4


Source: World Microcredit Foundation.
The number of people who own their own homes have shrunk to an all time low at 66% of the population — a decline of more than 10% since the highest level of home ownership registered in 1980, with construction of new houses declining from one new house built for every one hundred and fifty people in 1980 to one new house built for every two hundred and thirty people today. Ownership rate is forecast to shrink by 0.33% in total from January 2017 to January 2018. In the super electorate of the Greater Halsten metropolitan area, over 25% of ratepayers polled believed that the Regency of Lindblum is experiencing a severe overcrowding in both housing and infrastructure, i.e., hospitals, schools, and public transportation. Over 50% of ratepayers polled in South East Burmecia believed that in the Kingdom of Burmecia unaffordable housing is caused by ‘too strict’ resource and management consenting regime (i.e., supply), too much immigration (i.e., demand), and lack of proper regulation on dirty (or not) money coming from overseas (i.e., foreign property investors influence).

Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes figures showed that a university-educated middle class and experienced professional in Royal Alexandria (capital city of the Kingdom of Alexandria) will need to save for fifteen years to afford the cheapest house (1.1 million NSD) in the cheapest suburb (Lindström) of the city. The average household spending on housing related matters has increased from 20% at the turn of this century to 28% in 2017, with over one third of rental properties having no proper insulation and failing to meet the latest Health and Safety regime (e.g., smoke alarms). In the year ending August 2017, empire-wide median house price was 483,000 NSD. This was an increase of 4,700 NSD from previous month and a change in price of 34,500 NSD since the previous year.

Economic Palace forecast that by the start of the 2018 second quarter total housing and commercial property stock is going to reach 20.9 trillion NSD, or 1.3 times greater than real GDP and 3.5 times greater than the market value of the Burmecia Stock Exchange, the third largest stock market in the nineteen countries. In November 2016, Economic Palace and the four major banking institutions of the nineteen countries have implemented a new public-private partnership regime and in-built mechanism to ensure financial stability, tilting the playing field towards a more conservative banking and financial capital requirements to reduce property speculation by domestic and foreign-based investors. A new ratio of loan to value of assets purchased was released to evaluate and to restrict demand from borrowing for subsequent commercial and residential properties — thus limiting excessive buying for investment purpose and not for occupation or family business purpose.

The Nation State Housing Amendment Act 2014 resulted in the release of the Central Provident Fund Housing Grant package in August 2017. CPFHG is a supplementary payment worth up to 7,100 NSD to assist struggling but hard-working families in their quests to relocate from overpriced metropolises and urban areas all around the continent to less populated, promising heartland provinces. A CPFHG household can also apply for an accommodation supplement assistance of up to 152 NSD per week. So far, primary nation state housing related schemes for Budget Reform 2017 is forecast to cost at least 21.5 billion NSD in operating funding over the next ten years, with a capital of 3.64 billion NSD.

Ratified trade agreements since the decision of the Christian Democratic Executive to remove the nineteen countries completely from [ international incidents ] and foreign military struggles and power politics in 2014 — e.g., Allanea Agreement and Equal Trade and Connecting of Economies 2017 and Connecting of Economies Arthropol Agreement 2017 — have been used to provide funding for long-term investment in various Central Provident Fund ‘FutureSaver’ schemes to help first time home buyers in the continent of Yohannes. Budget Reform 2017 saw the release of the First Homebuyer and Small and Medium Business Fund schemes, which was implemented to see the construction of 6.8 million new houses by 2025. In September 2017, Chancellor Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn confirmed that the Executive Council would increase ‘FutureSaver’ one-time opening government contribution to 1,350 NSD.

Table 4 shows the number of new dwellings consented per year.



New dwellings consented (year)	1990	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016
Number (thousand)	1,840	1,360	1,480	1,680	1,760	1,520	1,800	2,480	2,000	1,450	1,500	1,120	1,730	2,190
Non-commercial consents value (billion NS$)	268.64	201.28	223.48	250.32	265.76	250.30	328	472.59	372.00	260.75	288.00	218.40	344.27	466.47


Source: Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes.


Occupational health and safety

Background

In the nineteen countries, health and safety in places where people work follows a system of standards set by Standards Yohannes, specifically YO S1509:2014 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems — Specification with guidance for use). Parliament is in the process of seeing the tabling of a new piece of legislation to amend the outdated Health and Safety Amendment Act 1971, with focus placed on not just occupational health and safety management systems but also the environment. Under the proposed draft of the amendment legislation, a new agency will be created to support Industrial Health and Safety Administration in its task to assess and evaluate accidents and near misses concerning industrial infrastructure and structures, e.g., chemical leaks, explosions, fires, or other contingencies affecting the safety of industrial facilities.

The following issues confront the Nineteen Countries



Top five injury claims at work (/1,000 whole time equivalent)	2016	2017
Field logistics (forestry and construction)	335	338
Engineering and manufacturing	160	158
Agriculture and fishing	137	139
Sports and recreational activities	135	147
Electricity, gas, water, and waste treatment	130	128


Source: Industrial Health and Safety Administration.
Since the turn of this century until 2005, the occurrence of death by accidents in the workplace has slightly increased by an average of 30 fatal workplace accidents per year, resulting in the adoption and implementation of the Standards for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems of January 2014. Over the last three years the number of serious work injuries has decreased, from 6,031 by the end of 2014 to 4,080 in 2016 (with deaths from fatalities reduced by 160). In the year ending October 2017, the industries contributing the most to the number of fatal workplace accidents (taking into account their smaller size in comparison to other industries in the nineteen countries) are field logistics (i.e., forestry trucks and construction tractors), oil and gas (road related accidents and supporting activities for oil and gas extraction), and agriculture and fishing (i.e., lack of oversight, poor maintenance of personal safety devices, and lack of regular checks on vessels).

In comparison to foreign nation states, the nineteen countries has high work-related injury and fatality rate. There are many reasons behind this negative data, such as the over-reliance of current legislation on corporate and workplace governance self-regulation and the under-resourcing of relevant enforcement agencies since the [ 2012 Gholgoth crisis ] (e.g. Structural Standards Yohannes and Industrial Health and Safety Administration). This lack of focus and funding over the years has resulted in the tendency of higher up Health and Safety organisations to focus only on ‘important’ industries (for the nineteen countries), in the process neglecting other high-risk areas of the economy in terms of resource allocation for health and safety policing (agriculture, fishing, mining).

Members of the Labour and Workforce Committee are currently accepting submissions from important bodies and distinguished private citizens in relevant citizen sector industries. The incoming amendment to the Health and Safety Amendment Act 1971 comes with a goal of reducing workplace accidents and fatalities in the nineteen countries by at least 33% over the next eight years. The amendment Bill will replace existing focus with that of risks control; that is, all risks identified through the assessment process as requiring control will be controlled through a preferred order of control methods, i.e., hierarchy, based on reasonable practicability. Elimination will still be the first control method to be considered.

More responsibility will also be given to top management of body corporates and organisations in the nineteen countries, with blame to be allocated towards top management instead of simply middle managers (as in the previous Amendment Act). Top management will be required to regularly review existing Working Health and Safety Systems (WHSS) to ensure continuing adequacy, effectiveness, and suitability of their respective body corporates and organisations’ health and safety regimes. This shifting of responsibility towards top management will ensure that necessary information is collected and documented to continually improve on their health and safety regimes every year, with focus placed on “performance assessment and yearly Health and Safety Company of the Year Award” as incentives to eliminate risks as far as is practicably possible.



Workplace injury claims (for every 85,000 registered WTE)	2010	2012	2014	2016
16 to 25	11,920	11,760	11,901	11,280
26 to 35	8,800	8,880	8,640	8,620
36 to 45	8,160	8,010	7,790	7600
46 to 55	8,330	8,320	8,320	8,290
56 to 65	8,450	8,560	8,520	8,500
66 and older	10,480	10,330	10,070	10,030


Source: Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes.


Science and technological development

Background

Science and technological development in the nineteen countries of the Yohannesian continent are distinguished by a range of disciplines, good infrastructure, well-funded facilities, and efficient and capable workforce. The nineteen countries offers various forms of research locations: Universities, technical institutes, body corporates, and institutions run by or partially funded by governments at the national level and the Executive Council itself at the imperial level. There are around 4,500 partially state owned enterprises and institutions of science, research, and development in the continent of Yohannes. There are also a large number of research and development operations run by body corporates of the citizen sector.

The following issues confront the Nineteen Countries



Business R&D spending by 12-month moving average of monthly employee figure	Million NS$
0 to 9	32,508
10 to 49	52,013
50 to 249	57,106
250 to 449	94,973
500 and over	174,950


Source: World Microcredit Foundation.
A report of the [ World Assembly Scientific Programme ] (WASP) which criticised the nineteen countries analysed that overall productivity of the whole nation state is being held back by excessive over-investment in capital intensive knowledge-based sectors of the economy, to the detriment of non-knowledge-based sectors of the economy. Serious under-investment in non-knowledge-based industries — e.g., dairy farming and mining — have contributed to an overall decline in performance and productivity in these sectors, some by as high as 20% in comparison to overseas nation states of comparable stature with the nineteen countries. The necessity of balancing the economy has produced new challenges for key body corporates, legislators and politicians at the imperial level, and bureaucrats of the nation state.

Constrained by limited means and financial resources since the 2012 Gholgoth Crisis, and beset by continuing bias towards, and over-investment in, capital intensive knowledge-based industries of the economy, a “two economy” reality has become stronger by the year, as science and technological development, design and product innovation focus (i.e., awards and grants), and organisational expertise and human capital are heavily concentrated towards certain sectors of the economy, e.g., chemical, electrical engineering, machine tools, and photonics and optics; with other ‘abandoned’ sectors of the economy continuing their slow decline every year, e.g., non-merchant small and medium shipbuilding, iron and steel, and textiles and apparel.

The latest Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes R&D Survey in June 2017 saw total research and development spending down 4.5% since 2016 to 606.5 billion NSD (3.81% of GDP), with Executive Council spending down by 31.9 billion NSD offset by an upswing of 3.2 billion NSD on science and technological development spending by the citizen sector. The biggest beneficiaries of total science and technological development spending in the year ending October 2017 were nanotechnologies and materials technologies (14%), marine engineering technology and climate and environmental sustainable technologies (13.7%), energy technologies (8.6%), and micro, small, and medium sized business innovation (7%).

Increased funding and grants allocation (up by 1.7%) for such bodies as the [ Agriculture Network Information Alliance ] and the Agricultural Research, Education and Economics Company reflect the recent shift of focus by governments at national level and the Executive Council at the imperial level to increase the competitiveness of the nineteen countries’ dairy farming and horticulture industries, with a goal of reducing the over-reliance of the nineteen countries on imports of many commodities (i.e., avocado, butter, cheese, milk powder, and orange) which are easily affected by changes in overseas market prices and international incidents affecting market condition ([ New Edomite LGBT crisis ] et al.).


Fundamental imperial government debt

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, fundamental imperial government debt is the total debt owed by [ Executive Council organisations ], legislative branch agencies, and [ Economic Palace ], excluding [ nation state body corporate and enterprises ] and quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations. For the purpose of this issue, the definition of ‘fundamental imperial government debt’ largely relates to net debt, which includes only public debt (minus cash flows and financial assets) and which is seen as the more important indicator of how changes in public debt can affect interest rates and investment environment in the nineteen countries.

The following issues confront the Nineteen Countries

During the Budget Appropriation Declaration of the Executive Council of the Nineteen Countries (February 2017), the Office of the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund announced its reliance on two borrowing indicators: One, gross sovereign-issued debt, otherwise known as Gross Debt Issue, which excludes Economic Palace Settlement Cash Financing (SCF) — as SCF are funded by banks and institutions of the citizen sector — and Bank Accepted Bills (BAB or bills of exchange, i.e., any unconditional order in writing between relevant parties to be paid on demand or at a fixed or determinable future time, a sum equal to the order of the bearer); and two, net fundamental imperial government debt, which for the purpose of realistic assessment of real ‘government indebtedness’ excludes all financial assets and advances of, and sovereign wealth funds affiliated with the [ Bank of Yohannes ] or its partner institutions.

The table below shows the level of fundamental imperial government borrowing at 1 December 2015 and 1 December 2020 as forecast by the Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.



Fundamental imperial government borrowing	December 2015 (billion NS$)	% of GDP	December 2020 (billion NS$)	% of GDP
Gross borrowing issue	7,372.99	49.27	6,063.05	34.96
Net fundamental issue (excluding Bank of Yohannes state-owned funds)	5,336.20	30.77	4,908.99	28.31


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.

Not taking domestic and international assets of Bank of Yohannes state-owned funds into account, net fundamental imperial government borrowing is forecast to briefly rise in the last fiscal quarter of 2018 due to various Budget Reform 2017 contributions and obligations (e.g., [ Housing Infrastructure Fund ] and Central Provident Fund [ ‘Futuresaver’ ]) before gradually falling below 30% of GDP by the 2020 first quarter. This takes into account the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Trade’s focus on reducing fundamental imperial government debt to 30% of GDP by 2025. After that target has been reached, beyond 2025, the Executive Council is looking to increase spending and thus net borrowing to support under-performing sectors of the economy (e.g., dairy farming and telecommunication services).

The 2017-2018 fiscal year’s Executive Council Bond Offering is estimated to provide 2.72 trillion NSD over the forecast years, with 3.31 trillion NSD of debt already recorded to be paid back, providing an estimated net repayment rate of 590 billion NSD. There is not much variation in the issuance rate to reduce liability from volatility and to balance profile of supply over the forecast years. Beyond 2025, with increased spending in mind, the Executive Council will raise the amount of bonds issued but will ensure that it is kept below 30% of GDP over the years.



Year to the fourth quarter (billion NS$)	2017	2018	2019	2020
Face value of fundamental market issuance	680	650	660	780
Market issuance cash earnings	680	640	640	750
Market issuance to be repaid	430	1,060	810	1,010


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Subject to the Chairman of the Exiting International Incidents and Nation State Neutrality Select Committee

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Friday, 20 October 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Rt Hon SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Honourable Members, I would like to draw your attention and to welcome the Ambassador of the [ Ninth Republic of Hiram Land ], His Excellency Mr Josiah Johnson, who is sitting alongside members of the senior press gallery in parliament today.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic; Electorate of Halsten): In light of the many things parliament and its Members have accomplished this week, I seek leave for parliament to retire at half past six, or at the conclusion of the customary debate, whichever is to arrive sooner.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave for that purpose is sought. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There appears to be none.

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): I hereby move, that parliament take note of domestic, nation state issues. I have to say that it has been a pleasure to chair the Exiting [ International Incidents ] and Nation State Neutrality Select Committee. It is very liberating to be given the opportunity to talk about things that matters: Net migration rate, responsible neutrality, and how best to protect trade at sea. By ensuring diplomatic neutrality and by keeping ourselves at bay from international incidents, we will ensure stability in our market and business confidence both here and overseas. Also, I will have to admit that the Christian Democrats have done quite a good job — there, I’ve said it, people — in managing our books but, again, they can always do better. Which is why I am here.

Dr ZOE NILSSON (Green Party; Electorate of Cowrie): I would like to raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I thought this is parliament, not the local pub? Because we are talking about the guy who in 2013 ordered the Commonwealth Navy to blocka —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I want to see a robust debate and not interjection.

NICKEL FALLAGE: Mr Speaker, thank you. I want to let that Member know that the Hippostania blockade was caused by a mass of red tape. It was also all about protecting our then Ambassador in that nation state —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Today is Friday, the twentieth of October, 2017; not Friday, the twentieth of October, 2013. And this is the one hundred and fifteenth parliament, not one hundred and fourteenth parliament. I advise the standing Member not to deviate away from the topic.

NICKEL FALLAGE: According to the Economic Palace forecast in the second quarter report, the Budget Appropriation Declaration of the Executive Council of the Nineteen Countries presents what the future is like for the nineteen countries beyond the year 2018, and especially, especially beyond 2025. It highlighted a couple of things that I like — more spending for the dairy farming and horticulture industries; more spending for shipbuilding and for good old mining — and some that I don’t like; let me address one here: It indicates lack of willingness by the Executive Council to adequately fund many public service departments — the overcrowded hospitals, schools, and public transport services stuffed with migrants from second class [ non-occidental ] nation states — to meet their debt to 30% of GDP by 2025 target —

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, I would like to raise my second point of order today. That standing Member’s bragging is not just a pile of lies, but is also offensive to the ears — ‘non-occidental migrants’ from ‘second-class non-occidental nation states’? That is so racist.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: In accordance with the Speaker’s Ruling: 40/3: Tabled information and right to freedom of speech, I must rule out any violation to parliament’s standing orders. Although I understand why the Majority Leader did raise that issue. Therefore I advise the standing Member to knock it off. This is parliament, not the campaign trail. And the Ambassador of the Ninth Republic of Hiram Land is watching proceedings in parliament today — this afternoon, I do not want to see the decorum of parliament be tarnished by any tomfoolery.

NICKEL FALLAGE: But how about GDP per capita then? Using the expenditure method GDP per capita barely grew at all — I think it would be 0.852 per cent for the whole year? That is just bad. And what does that tell us? That economic growth so far has only been propped up by high net migration rate; that is, I daresay that our economic growth is driven almost exclusively by rising population, from immigration. Just look at all the key economic indicators. One, in the year ending August 2017, empire-wide median house price was 483,000 NSD. This was an increase of 4,700 NSD from previous month and a change in price of 34,500 NSD since the previous year. Why do you think that is? I know: Hot dirty money coming from corrupt non-occidental nation states, stuffed with ‘student’ migrants — with dodgy foreign qualifications written in disgustingly low-quality pidgin language wanting to scam our welfare system whilst working illegally without permit as pak choy washers and sushi chefs — and crooked rich businessmen who bank their money in our nation state by buying up prime suburban houses left and right and investing in our companies.

Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes figures showed that a university-educated middle class and experienced professional in Royal Alexandria (capital city of the Kingdom of Alexandria) will need to save for fifteen years to afford the cheapest house (1.1 million NSD) in the cheapest suburb (Lindström) of the city. How are they meant to compete against cheap, dirty money coming from overseas? Of course they cannot. So we have got a tsunami of people who we must integrate into our society — a tsunami of people that could swamp Yohannes as a civilisation. A tsunami of migrants who will surely dilute our culture if left unintegrated.

PAULINE LE MEN (Yohannes First; Electorate of Pan-de-Tallinn): Surely that must be reduced?

NICKEL FALLAGE: Absolutely. And you know what else must go down? Gross debt. Since the Social Democratic—Yohannes First Executive Council left office in 2014, nation state gross debt went up by 2.88 trillion NSD; to peak at 7.37 trillion NSD in 2015, or equal to 49.3 per cent of nation state gross domestic product at the time. That was a humongous figure: 7.37 trillion NSD. That was how much we owed to domestic and overseas body corporates and entities in 2015, and whilst since then debt has come down the Christian Democratic Executive Council has announced yet another big spending programme in the near future; to support our people in coal heartland countries Burmecia and Dali? No. To significantly increase subsidies for home ownership related funds? No. Instead they have used that to help billion dollar big businesses and borderless big banks in their multinational corporate shindigs.

Net nation state debt in 2010 was 1.83 trillion NSD. In 2015 net debt was 5.34 trillion NSD — 3.5 trillion NSD more in debt we were as a nation state. There, I have given another number for Emily the corporate raide — ahem, Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade: 3.5 trillion NSD more indebtedness. Taking into account the huge contribution of the previous Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Phillip Blocher, in their three years in office the Christian Democratic Executive Council has borrowed more than the Seventh Social Democratic—Yohannes First Executive Council in our entire eight years in office from 2006 to 2014; that is what the Christian Democrats have done. They like to borrow for big businesses and big banks. But that is fine, because apparently we had two promises from the Christian Democratic Executive Council.

We had two promises — two amongst many of such attempts of lolly scrambles for big businesses — from these people that, first, the ratio of this nation state’s high-technology exports vis-à-vis manufactured exports will increase by at least 3 per cent over the next three years, and second, non-hydroelectric renewable electricity production will increase by at least 120 per cent over the next five years — those were the two promises. I will admit that these promises are not going to be realised immediately; these are the kind of hyped up headline-grabbing goals you need to realise step by step by slowly improving exports and output through increasing efficiency. So they were growing respectively at 0.3 per cent and 25 per cent annually when the Chrisitian Democrats took office — they will need to take some steps forward, and even with huge significant steps forward, they will probably reach the 2 per cent and 90 percent figures respectively by the specified end period at best.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN (Imperial Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Clearingtonne): Hear, hear!

NICKEL FALLAGE: Pip pip, what’s going on here? Broken promises. That’s what. Because we have got Emily the corporate raider — ahem, Hon Emily Kirchweger the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade running the show round here. Unfortunately for this nation state she is running the show for big multinationals and cashed up foreign investors, not the people.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: That’s right.

NICKEL FALLAGE: Say, old chap, I daresay they would reach those goals by 2020?

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: [ “Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo.” ]

NICKEL FALLAGE: Chug-a-long-Choo-Choo, the train’s moving: Except it’s going backward, not forward, by 1.59 per cent; that is, the whole time equivalent average earnings of workers in the nineteen countries, per week, after deducting tax, has fallen by 14.57 NSD since October 2016 to 902.10 NSD in October this year. So you see, the workers’ shares of the economic growth pie have been sliced smaller and smaller by the year. But surely these mysteriously disappearing slices must go somewhere? Well, apparently Executive Council research and development spending went down by 31.9 billion NSD since 2016, so the future of our nation state’s technological capabilities is not it. Where then? I know: Employment figures in the chemical, electrical engineering, machine tools, and optics industries indicate a rise of people working in these industries by 4.78 per cent since March this year. That’s where all the money went: Export subsidies and more handout for big chemicals and big industrialists — and thus big banks.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): Nickel, nickel, always nitpicking the wrong figures. Alternative facts much?

NICKEL FALLAGE: What we also know is that home ownership rate has shrunk to an all time low at 66 per cent of the whole population; that is, we have 379 million people in the continent of Yohannes making up a total of 132 million households in the nineteen countries. Of these 132 million households, only 87.6 million own the dwelling they occupy; the rest are renters. Let me tell you: that is just shameful. Since the 1980s, the level of home ownership in this nation state has declined by more than 10 per cent —

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: And how is that our fault — considering we were voted into office in 2014?

NICKEL FALLAGE: — with construction of new houses declining from one new house built for every one hundred and fifty people in 1980 to one new house built for every two hundred and thirty people today. Under the Christian Democratic Executive Council, ownership rate is forecast to shrink by 0.33% in total from January 2017 to January 2018.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. This is ridiculous, Nickel’s just copy pasting stats from the latest Five Issues of Nation State — A Brief Overview report, and then fabricating and making up stuff along the wa —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! That is not a valid point of order. I advise the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade to sit.

NICKEL FALLAGE: Yohannesians are all saying “We give up. We are not going to try to outdo all the thousand clones of Zheng Xia the foreign steel industrialists and Yo Seung-Woo the foreign property investors out there, or Ni Hao Ma the non-occidental fish’n’chip shop owners who somehow can afford to buy million dollar houses in the burbs.”

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: I am sorry, but Mr Speaker. How can that be considered in order?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I advise the Standing Member to cut it with the ‘non-occidental’ reference; again, this is parliament, not election day campaign trail.

NICKEL FALLAGE: My apologies, Mr Speaker. Yohannesians are giving up on home ownership, Miss Emily. They are giving up, because the jobs do not pay high enough for them and they cannot compete with cheap, dirty money from overseas. Home ownership —

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Actually, we have a high rate in comparison to some nation states out there, certainly much better than [ Maxtopia ], [ Testlandia ], or Saint Maxtopia Forbid, [ Jingoistan ].

NICKEL FALLAGE: As expected, the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade has decided to shift the focus on foreign nation states overseas. Well tough luck, sunshine, this is the nineteen countries; not Maxtopia, Testlandia, Jingoistan, or for that matter, the extremely corrupt nation state [ Bigtopia ]. To our people who are watching Parliament Channel right now, I want you to know that those people sitting over that side of the chamber don’t give a flip for you and your future. Ratepayers and taxpayers, vote for Christian Democrats and you will see your dollars going to big multinationals, big banks, and borderless oligarchs. That is why we in Yohannes First Party and our friends over at the Social Democratic side of this chamber have, and will always oppose them; to provide a better alternative to their ‘tax cut tax cut’ policies. To that, we will say: “Let’s tax capital gains and charge foreign multinationals more and use the proceeds to support our people.” Yohannes First for Yohannesians first. Thank you.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Ha, ha, ha, funny! Last time they did that they used the funds to purchase a bunch of new aircraft carriers for the Commonwealth Navy to blocka —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade to wait for her turn.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Deputy Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): Emily Kirchweger, the previously standing Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade who spoke, is repeating the same lines they have used up the whole years they have been in charge of nation state management; for over three years we have heard the same old excuses. But no one believes their sad old excuse any more because suddenly people have realised the truth: Their excuses are backed up by nothing. No evidence whatsoever. In their three years, the Christian Democratic Executive Council have borrowed more than the previous Seventh Social Democratic Executive Council from 2006 to 2014. The previously standing Member of Yohannes First referred to that, and it is true — that is because the dressed-up mobs sitting over there only represent the borderless ten per cent oligarchs; they front up only for all the wrong-doers of society, not the hard-working working class and middle Yohannesians. And to top it off they couldn’t even manage the economy well. I must respectfully disagree with the comment made by the previous standing Member, Nickel Fallage, for I actually think the Christian Democrats don’t know how to manage this nation state’s economy —

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Oh dear, look who’s talking.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: During their three years in office they have borrowed more than 3.5 trillion NSD from domestic and international institutions, e.g., the Association of Chambers and Industry, Bank of Yohannes, United Investment Corporation, the Bank of the Atlantic, Lambda Financial, foreign instrument markets, and many others; more than 3.5 trillion NSD. That’s almost 10,000 NSD for each and every Yohannesian that the Christian Democratic Executive Council has indebted this nation state for. And all that time inequalities and poverty have been growing: More people are getting ripped off and not getting their fair share from the economy. 87.6 million Yohannesian households who can’t afford to buy a house and are forced to rent. This year alone, tertiary students have borrowed a total of 77.15 billion NSD to fund their study, in the process raking up huge debts for this nation state and taxpayers. These students are the future of our nation state, or as the Christian Democrats would like to call it: “The future taxpayers.” And how will the Christian Democratic Executive Council help these future breadwinners?

Those dressed-up mobs over there will say: “It’s okay people, you must be prepared for a lifetime of renting and not owning your own home whilst we allow foreign property investors snatching up all the houses round here. Oh, and please pay back the loan before you want to fly — or work — overseas; because if you don’t then we will be forced to charge you interests. And oh, by the way, just put up with the lousy salaries in this nation state. You can always work your way to the top of the food chain, and when you are there you can rip off those below you. We call it: The law of the jungle.”

At the same time that they will tell our future breadwinners and taxpayers that, the Christian Democratic Executive Council will keep student allowance as they are — long-term inflation and more expensive costs of living be damned — and will use those billions of funds set aside instead to expand the Office of Export Industry Credit and other like-minded pseudo-corporate agencies. So who will benefit? The Chief Executive Officers of Yohannesian corporations who earn as much as 73 times the salaries of the average Martin the middle class manager and Hilda the middle class clerk. Next year this time around they will instead earn 75 times the salaries of the average Martin and Hilda. So as you can see, this inter-generational inequality thing, it’s just not on, I am afraid.

Those dressed-up mobs over there know what’s up: They were there for the briefings by important World Assembly organisations such as the [ World Microcredit Foundation ] and [ World Health Authority ], which clearly showed that inequality hurts productivity in the economy and results in lower health outcomes for people. A [ World Assembly Initiative for Basic Education ] report also said that deep-seated income and general inequalities will hurt the quality of education in a nation state too; kids in lower decile schools will receive less funding because of more investments prioritised for higher decile schools: The pseudo-public elite schools for the offsprings of the top five per cent multinational and borderless oligarchs — very rich business leaders who want nothing more but to have much greater influence on how this nation state should be run.

This will of course creep into higher education as well, which will bring us back to the original tertiary education dilemma; how students are struggling as they must take huge debts to fund their higher education, and even after that they will struggle to find good jobs. And even, again, after that, they will struggle to find affordable houses in good neighbourhoods to call their own homes.

That is pathetic. That is not what the [ Yohannesian model ] should be like. Thank you.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and blank faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next to commence. Christian Democratic Executive Council response.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Subject to the Seventeenth Yohannesian Emperor and the Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Friday, 20 October 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. I would like to apologise for somewhat cutting in on this session for the third time today, but my office has just received an email and a letter from the Office of Honourable Marcella Villa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Island States of AHSCA. I seek parliament’s leave to table the letter.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of the [ Hon Marcella Villa’s original letter ]. ]

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS (Yohannesian Emperor; President of the Electoral College; Christian Democratic Party – Christian Faction): Parliament, I do not know what planet Roeltsje Veldman has been visiting for the last three years, because whilst watching his call we heard from him that this Executive Council should do many other things instead of just talking about key economic indicators — that we need to study things like jobs and we need to look at things like real wages. Well, we do look at those things, and the good thing for Veldman, Fallage, and parliament —

[ ... NOT PLANET ALEXANDROS THAT’S FOR SURE! Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn heckled.... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: — is that jobs are up by more than 2 million over the last three years, unemployment is down to its lowest since 2007, pre Commonwealth Navy expansion and Gholgoth crises, at 4.1 per cent. Participation rate for adults — that is, twenty years and over — is set to increase by 0.417 per cent this month to reach 66.2 per cent, the highest level recorded since the 2011 December fiscal quarter. Since 2014 this nation state has seen at least ten per cent higher annual average wage figure, up to 44,000 NationStates Dollars. That is 4,050 NSD higher in comparison to when this nation state was broke under a Social Democratic Executive Council. I would like for parliament to know that we clearly measure those things? I mean, please. Like, ugh. Who wouldn’t? They are also key indicators of prosperity. They let us know where we as an economy are heading, and whether the path we are taking is the right one, especially, especially, for Yohannesian households. Aha.

Um, let’s see, what other things did Veldman talk about? He pointed out: “We should have other, less economic indicators. Let’s graph up some good, non-economic, people-centric indicators.” You see, we have done just that too. On Tuesday, 5 September, we released the Economic Growth and Income Tax Threshold programme, which means that anyone earning over 7,500 NSD a year gets an additional 10 NSD per week, or, for those earning over 37,500 NSD a year, they get 30 NSD more per week. You see, these updates will support low, lower-middle, and middle income families who have been unhappy, unhappy by the inflexibility and unfairness of the Income Tax Brackets and Threshold regime of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council. Under this Executive Council, at least 125 million families will be better off by 40 NSD a week and, to top it (all) off, at least 5 million senior citizens will gain 5 NSD a week. Again, the good thing for Dear Deputy Leader Roeltsje, or Dear Comrade Nickel for that matter, and the good thing we can let parliament hear are, aha, well —

[ ... SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT THIS MILLENNIALS’ SELFIE EMPEROR UP! The Leader of Yohannes First Rt Hon Loseton Petres heckled.... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ ... SHE HAS TURNED FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE NINETEEN COUNTRIES INTO A TRIP TO THE SHOPPING MALL! ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! It is not acceptable for the Emperor to continue to call another Member ‘Dear Deputy Leader’ or ‘Dear Comrade.’ If I hear any such tomfoolery again, I will stop the Emperor’s speech. As to the Imperial Head of Opposition and the Leader of Yohannes First, I advise for them to sit.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: My apologies, Mr Speaker. The good thing that both Mr Veldman and Mr Fallage can hear is that those numbers are heading in the right direction. I want to talk, in my call today, about three things that are reflected in Budget Reform 2017 and portrayed in the response from the [ Opposing Forces ] today. The first is fiscal strategy; the second is about our attitude and how we see this international community of regions and nation states we are a part of; and the third is about the, um, frankly ridiculous higher learning policy of the Social Democrats and Yohannes First.

Okay, okay, where do we start here. How about we make this my first point: Our prudent fiscal strategy. I want to remind Honourable Members of parliament of the long, dark days of the 2014 first quarter, when this Executive Council — when we were left with a huge financial mess. Upon seeing us assuming command of Economic Palace, Members of the opposing forces very deliberately disrupted proceedings in parliament by heckling us, like, all the time, about what they think was right and how we were doing all the wrong things. As we struggled with handling the aftermath of the Gholgoth crises, they boasted day by day about how under the Seventh Social Democratic Executive Council, from 2006 to 2014, this nation state had had eight years of current account surpluses. Well actually, they were not being entirely honest. Aha.

When we took command of Economic Palace and the Treasury and Wealth Fund books for the 2013-2014 fiscal period, when our dedicated public servants presented us with the books; well it showed the start of a 70 billion NSD deficit that would grow to become 120 billion NSD deficit by May if things were left untouched as they were. If things were left untouched as they were, also, at the time, Economic Palace had forecast a humongous figure of 10 trillion NSD in long-term gross debt facing this nation state by December 2017. So as you can see, their paper thin surpluses were made by sacrificing the future books of this nation state. And the whole time they racked up military spending for Yohannesian gunboat diplomacy, [ international incidents ], and power politics. They taxed businesses and used the proceeds to buy a bunch of military toys and maintain our huge diplomatic and military obligations outside the continent of Yohannes.

They, the previous Social Democratic Executive Council, had handed lollies for everyone in their cringe-worthy attempts of holding on to power — free allowance this, extra grants that, no need to pay for this, increase services there; they gave lollies to everyone — except one group: Businesses, especially mum and dad small and medium sized businesses, which were overtaxed and overburdened by so much red tape and unnecessary regulations from 2006 to 2014 that I was surprised there were still many of them operating in 2014. Those are not figures and sentences made up by us: Those are the figures from Economic Palace and the civil servants manning the many [ Executive Council Organisations ] out there.

So as you can see, the whole time this afternoon during Mr Fallage’s call I have kept silent, but in fact I was cringing watching his live stand up comedy performance — full of lies — pretending that he’s a Misstra know-It-All about nation state economic management.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES (Yohannes First Party; Collegian Elector — First Burmecian District): But he do know it all though?

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Mr Petres’ best mate, the then Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Phillip Blocher was running around like a kindergarten kid. Mr Blocher ran all around parliament singing: “People, I have wasted heaps of ‘em all. All the paper money’s disappeared; I have wasted all the paper money and gold reserves away on gunboat diplomacy, lolly scrambles, and universal standard bribes to keep us in power.” He used to hoot about that like an owl — about how there was no gold, no paper money, and no immediately cashable resources left for anyone to use. Executive Council spending between 2006 and 2014 — under the Social Democrats’ watch — went up by 90 per cent over the eight-year period that they were in office. It was a circus, and we had to waste three years fixing the books and turning the books green from red. So you see, this Christian Democratic Executive Council, we are responsible and we are prudent. We are good fiscal managers and responsible nation state administrators — that parliament can see from Budget Reform 2017 last month. And parliament will see it again with our future Budget Reform 2018; that is, after we have won the 2018 empire-wide election just as good as we have won the 2014 empire-wide election.

So just to repeat, our September Budget Reform Declaration has shown responsible governance by this Executive Council, and the supplementary budget allowances for Budget Reform 2017, it further reinforced that message — written where everyone can see only 80 billion NSD new supplementary spending allowances being put there. And as for the future Budget Reform 2018? There will be 200 billion NSD for Budget Reform 2018, and then for the next Budget Reform, proportionally lower to GDP growth, again and again, in 2019 and 2020, from where we will then increase new spending allowances considerably to reflect increasing account surpluses and export successes by then — because of the good stewardship of this Christian Democratic Executive Council.

Our supplementary spending allowance figures are way, way down there in comparison to the bloated supplementary spending allowances of a theoretical Social Democratic Budget. After bankrupting this nation state, the Social Democrats used to mock us saying that the books would never be turned black under this Christian Democratic Executive Council; black — like the signature political party colour of their awkward bride in their cringe-worthy marriage of convenience, Yohannes First. In fact, even Jeremy Robyn himself muttered in his dream that: “You know what Veldman, this marriage of convenience is so cringe-worthy that I saw our social democratic ancestors crawling up from their graves in agony, watching us being in bed together with the homophobes, the racists, and the religious lunatics.” So as you can see it must have been very, very agonising for him to watch our Budget Reform Declaration two years ago today clearly showing a tiny — teeny-weeny — but very solid current account surplus. That was what this Christian Democratic Executive Council had accomplished in just one and a half years. Imagine what we can accomplish for the next eight years going to 2025!

Um, and so, just what is the Social Democrats’ latest stratagem? The Social Democrats’ latest stratagem is to drive here with their taxpayer-funded cars and cry, cry, and cry; crying out about gross debt, net debt, and many other debts. Oh, wait I am sorry parliament, that is not the Social Democrats’ tactic: That is the tactic of Yohannes First. Why? Because their overbearing groom told them: “You must do it or else.” Good old sexism, though this time not from Yohannes First but from the beacon of social justice, the Social Democratic Party. Very disempowering much? Then again, Yohannes First themselves do not stand for gender equality or minority rights. Instead, they like to bash, to quote, [ non-occidental ] immigrants. They are also not friendly towards the LGBT community either, though I am not surprised, as they are, after all, together in a grand alliance with that party that cannot even meet the six per cent threshold to make it into parliament —

KAYLA FLETCHER (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Geoscience and Natural Resources; Green Party; Electorate of Weston): Family First Party. Anti-abortion.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: That’s right. Thanks Kayla.

Dr ZOE NILSSON (Green Party; Electorate of Cowrie): Anti same-sex civil union and marriage.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: Thank you Zoe! This feels like last time’s customary debate all over again. Aha.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! The Emperor will not deviate away from the main topic.

HM GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS: I am sorry, Mr Speaker. But see, we have Jeremy Robyn fuming over there, and every day without fail — you can set your watch twenty-four seven — he will do some [ stand up comedy ] here in parliament, where the well-meaning granddad joke around about how this Executive Council have borrowed too much money in comparison to the previous Social Democratic Executive Council. Well, can I just tell parliament that his stand up comedy is not just comical but is also almost always offensively inaccurate, as when they were voted out of office in 2014, the Opposing Forces said: “You’ve got to go on a binge spending. You’ve got to go super mad and go all the way, mad-key Keynesian multiplier binge spend your way to stimulate the economy from the after-effects of the 2012 Gholgoth crises” — borrow, borrow, borrow, and borrow.

Well we say to them: “No thank you.” So they then heckled and screamed like kindergarten kids. Well look now? They actually are brave enough to come and face us complaining about how we have got too much debt? When in fact we told them kindly: “No thank you. We will borrow only for what we really need.” Well they now criticised us for actually borrowing for the essentials? Like, as an example, the universal interest-free student loan scheme that was created by the previous Seventh Social Democratic Executive Council to bribe university and technical students. Now they have the audacity to tell us about how beautiful and great their alternative budget plans are? Like, budget plans full of subsidies for World Assembly Gnome university reading classes and Maxtopian-style author mentoring? How will those two courses advance the research and development capabilities of this nation state? Please.

My second point, I want to talk about what last month’s Reform 2017 has shown to us all about our view towards this international community of regions and nation states we live in, because we have I believe increasingly crossed the divide here and there, politically. Budget Reform 2017 clearly identified the support measures in places to realising an internationalised, internationally competitive nineteen countries trying its best to compete in a rapidly expanding and constantly evolving international community. We can’t be stuck in the past. The prosperity and wealth of this nation state must be increased through us showing overseas nation states what we can do as a nation state economically; building new footholds in foreign markets overseas, and cementing new friendships with foreign nation states of the new world regions. But unfortunately for the nineteen countries, the Social Democrats — and especially, especially Yohannes First — have decided instead to spend all these years since they were voted out of office to bash international trade, bash foreign investment, and they have now even stooped so low by bashing immigration.

I would like to reference the [ Arthropol ], [ Allanea ], [ German Nation ], or [ the Scandinvan ] agreements, because these are just four out of the many latest initiatives by the hard-working and industrious Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade, Hon Emily Kirchweger to build for ourselves new friendships with nation states of the outside international community of regions, and it is truly amusing that the Social Democrats; the people who kick-started Yohannesian military and power politics involvements in many historical international incidents — supported by their bride Yohannes First, especially Nickel, who was very much trigger happy with pressing the Commonwealth Navy button — will now suddenly complain about us being too internationalised. They have also demanded that we cull something so basic like regulated — yes, regulated, not even open — immigration. Nickel Fallage knows regulated, properly managed immigration is good for the nineteen countries. After all, it was under his watch that immigration — from [ occidental ] nation states, yes, but still immigration all the same — started to reach its high-growth phase.

Or is he not okay with immigration now because the people coming here are from, to quote what he said in this chamber before, ‘second class [ non-occidental ] nation states’? The Imperial Head of Opposition, Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn, who of course was the previous Councillor from 2006 to 2014, knows that immigration of hard-working, enterprising people with money to spend is good for the nineteen countries. So why is he suddenly up in arms against bilateral trade treaties, and become chummy chummy with Nickel Fallage with his habit of attacking ‘non-occidental’ immigration? I know: The Social Democratic leader wants some of those lucrative, previously Yohannes First exclusive redneck votes from bigots and racists to turn his electoral fortunes around. Parliament, let us see, the Social Democratic Party — they are supposedly a ‘centre-left, social democratic party that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice’, according to Encyclopaedia Maxtopia. Well I don’t know that attacking racial minorities is a part of that intervention to ‘promote social justice’?

I will tell you how we can promote social justice today. This Executive Council, we have set aside at least 79 billion NSD for a Housing Infrastructure Fund. Do you want to know what that Fund does? It will assist — over the next four years — local government authorities of fast growing regions in developing new infrastructure projects concerning housing and related areas, e.g., electrical grid, mass transit, and water treatment. This infrastructure expansion will support the construction of approximately 800,000 new houses to be started by March 2019. That is how we can promote social justice today. We build the right infrastructure so the community can thrive. When communities thrive, they will look after themselves well. Last year we have also injected 31 billion NSD more into Health Yohannes and an additional 21.6 billion NSD into the education sector. These financial resources we can accord because of higher tax revenues from prospering mum and dad small and medium sized businesses and large companies. We did not increase taxes indiscriminately across the board. We let prospering businesses of the citizen sector increase tax revenues for us. How? Because we are good nation state administrators and responsible economic managers, and so businesses in this nation state thrive and grow larger by the day.

What the Social Democrats would do instead is to indiscriminately raise taxes across the board, and use the proceeds to fund the Commonwealth Navy, from where then Nickel Fallage will tell the First Earls and Admirals of the Fleets to ‘settle abandoned islands and colonise the latest backwater nation states out there,’ and they would go: “Dear Bigtopia...” It would be a return to the days of high colonialism, except this time we would not be able to afford a huge sprawling empire — unlike last time — because you know why? Because the international community of regions has moved on from the age of high colonialism and imperialism. Unlike Nickel, everyone it seems have moved on to the age of internationalisation and the age of multinational commerce and trade, where business confidence and market stability depend on a peaceful, responsible and stable government leading the nation state. And this Christian Democratic Executive Council is just that kind of government. Together, we will lead the nineteen countries of the Yohannesian continent — and its people — to a brighter future.

Let’s do this.

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN (Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Altbrandenburg): I am pleased to be given this opportunity to take a call on Customary Debate this week. I am busy, almost always overseas signing the latest agreements, visiting far away embassies and consulates, and shaking hands with the latest of our trade partners . So it is not too often that I can speak before parliament like this. As I believe that the Emperor has explained our position concerning core matters of nation state governance well — the economy, infrastructure, and social welfare — I will this afternoon limit my call to defence and military matters. I am going to touch on the latest key policy document which provides the Executive Council’s vision for defence for the next decade: The 2017 Navy White Paper, which was rooted in consultation with key players and important members of the citizen sector in 2016. If I have to recall I believe there were just over one thousand public meetings and over twenty-six thousand submissions — fifteen thousand from the citizen sector and eleven thousand from personnel of the Commonwealth Navy — made during the process.

The fifth most common theme I read from the submissions was concerning international anarchy, instability, and terrorism, such as the, excuse me for this very offensive word, [ ‘Homofront’ crisis in New Edom ] or the [ religious crisis in Qaidi ]. I want parliament to know that ever-expanding imperialist powers such as [ Allanea ] and the various member nation states of [ SACTO ] were heavily involved in both crises. So as you can see anarchy, instability, and terrorism are all three big things today, and the submissions pretty much said that we want to make sure that we have what it takes to protect our commerce and trade from any of these three things; even as we maintain our diplomatic impartiality and military neutrality.

What the Navy White Paper assured was to put into operation — in terms of where the funding will go to — the Executive Council's commitment for a 1.57 trillion NSD modernisation of the Commonwealth Navy — funded by [ Bank of Yohannes ] and [ Bank of the Atlantic ] state-owned funds — and we discussed that with officials during the hearing. That 1.57 trillion NSD modernisation of the Commonwealth Navy included 1,027 important purchases. Some of these important purchases included the procurement of [ ZM-7L Dreadnought ] aircraft — I will not go into detail for now as there is the time and place for it, and the Customary Debate is not it — and procurement of [ Commonwealth Class ] carriers and [ Phlegethon Class ] frigates. I know, certainly from seeing public reactions in the Regency of Lindblum, that the Lindblum National Government is pleased to see that merchant vessels is also included for procurement, such as [ tankers ], [ icebreakers ], and [ cyber and logistical ] vessels. A broad, commerce and trade support focused, defensive and peaceful Commonwealth Navy is what these procurements are trying to realise.

I had the satisfaction of seeing the Central Halsten infrastructure cyberspace exposition last week. I saw the new technologies being developed by the citizen sector; e.g., real-life time industrial control networks to monitor changes in critical infrastructure control process, allowing authorised personnel to identify cyber and malicious insider threats. All these included as part of the Navy and greater border and customs modernisation programmes. Members of the citizen sector also demonstrated a few of the new systems that we have been considering for the past few months. There were some light armoured vehicles displayed, but we are not interested nor do we have the budget for those at present. So in closing, in matters of military spending, our focus remains solely on the Commonwealth Navy as a defensive force that protects Yohannesian commercial and trading interests in the international community of regions and nation states.

Before I conclude, I just want to touch on customs and other Continental Security matters also. [ Continental Yohannes Customs and Border ] agencies carry on with facing ever-increasing tourists and travelers every day. In doing so it has been helped by our recently updated electronic border control system, BorderWatch, which is a very good and productive supporting system in terms of how it efficiently process data. This of course allows relevant agencies to focus and concentrate on other continental security matters. Last month alone BorderWatch registered that 26 million people ‘have passed through the gate’, so to speak. I have also been briefed by officials that Border and Customs modernisation budget will include 300 million NSD over five years for increased security for Continental Yohannes Customs and Border ‘checking points’ in a long-term package of 1.71 billion NSD over the next five years to mitigate identified risks —

[ ... Sound of ringing bell.... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Madam Chancellor.

Rt Hon ANNABELLE THORNDON-STEVENSONN: My apologies, Mr Speaker. But I think what all these have shown is that this Executive Council also do look at military matters closely. Defensively speaking; that is, we do not throw away money willy-nilly. We concentrate only to invest in protecting our commerce and trade and ensuring the internal security of the continent of Yohannes. But no further beyond that. Thank you.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next to commence. Inter-Party Customary Debate.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Inter-Party Discussion

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Friday, 20 October 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon ALICE SCHNEIDER (Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Altmark): I want to limit my call this afternoon to matters concerning the Central Provident Fund, one of our five nation state investment funds, and I want to refresh parliament’s memory on why we should scrutinise the undertakings of the CPF. The fund was established under the Seventh Social Democratic Executive Council in 2013 by the previous Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Phillip Blocher, protected by a carefully drafted legislative parameter that was designed to allow our nation state to afford additional, otherwise fiscally unaffordable costs of universal healthcare and otherwise unsustainable social welfare for 132 million households in the continent of Yohannes.

In fact, it is pretty much a pseudo-ministry in a way that its existence has allowed tax rates across the board to remain fixed even as we expand healthcare and social welfare spending by more than what they are now, e.g., free hospital check-ups for under-sixteens, nation state housing programmes, and free first year university studies for college (i.e. high school or secondary school) students. Therefore it is in fact a kind of extra savings for Yohannesian ratepayers and taxpayers today, where our people can avoid tax hikes in future to afford the luxuries we have today.

Well my worries is that the Central Provident Fund is getting rather bloated, in an unhealthy way. Even though we have removed contributions from Bank of Yohannes investment returns and VMK corporate and industrial taxes since we were voted into office in 2014, over the last three years —

SALVES VAN DER LEY (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Selgarás): Removed? And why would that be?

Hon ALICE SCHNEIDER: — well, we removed the payment requirements from institutions affiliated with the Bank of Yohannes, VMK, and Alleswerken because we did not think that it was wise to overtax our key industry players whilst they are trying their best fixing the blunders of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council, i.e., we are a declining nation state today because of the many irresponsible decisions of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council to participate in many international incidents until 2014. So I want parliament to know that unlike the irresponsible 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 days, we cannot afford to have our cake and eat it too. That is unrealistic. So what would be the other alternative then? To borrow from the citizen sector — both here and overseas — to afford our annual contributions to the fund, which is a complete no-no for us too.

Notwithstanding the irresponsible conducts of the previous Executive Council, CPF has made good returns on its investment projects overseas, although ironically it is not doing too well in the continent of Yohannes itself. But even if we can go back to the past, the Executive Council — we will still not backtrack and change our views concerning the decision to not make any further injection or payment for the fund until at least the 2020 second quarter. Because of the healthy returns on investment overseas, the Central Provident Fund has grown to be a 1.97 trillion NationStates Dollars investment fund spread in more than fifty nation states outside the continent of Yohannes.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: Due in no small part to the strategic foresight of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council.

Hon ALICE SCHNEIDER: Sure, sure. So as Honourable Members would know by now, The CPF has become a kind of mini treasury in its own right; that is, a mini treasury for the future books of this nation state, and for the future of the taxpayers. Actually, if I read the figures presented here, it is forecast to contribute to the books over the next few years by upward of 3.5 trillion NSD, and by the next eighteen years that contribution is forecast to hit the 5 trillion NSD ceiling. The populist-like sing along song I have heard from Members sitting opposite our side in this chamber is that we must increase taxes across the board because taxpayers are rich; they own businesses and they should be taxed because otherwise how are we meant to protect our historically-written commerce, investments, and trade, on top of making sure our consulates and embassies are safe in more than five hundred nation states?

The Social Democrats would say: “So we should use the [ proceeds to fund ] the Commonwealth Navy.” Tax the wealth of mum and dad small and medium businesses — alongside the ‘big companies’ — until they are all but dried up. But I mean, c’mon, what is this? Third-grade elementary school ‘International Incidents Questions Ask Here’ classes? You don’t just tax the citizen sector’s wealth indiscriminately across the board and hope that nothing bad will come out of it. This ain’t a Maxtopian science-fiction storytelling, roleplaying board, I would like to tell those Social Democrats sitting there looking smug —

[ ... LOOK AT THIS LADY TALKING! Three Social Democratic Members heckled.... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund to cut it with the off-topic snark.

Hon ALICE SCHNEIDER: So the fund might have once been dependent on the citizen sector alone, because the citizen sector reigns supreme. But as it grew there was a need to diversify. It was just not feasible to push along the same old pathways anymore; one example being the partially funded and privately-owned water and wastewater treatment systems all assembled together are probably around, say, 150 billion NSD. The Central Provident Fund is more than ten times the value of all water and wastewater assets in the nineteen countries combined. That was just one major infrastructure sector. So we should look into how we can diversify the fund further, just like our other older nation state investment fund, the Navy Expenditure Fund. Over the next few years the Central Provident Fund and the Navy Expenditure Fund will continue growing.

Well, as growth continues and so will the assets, liabilities, and capital of the fund itself see more shares and bonds owned by the Treasury and our close trading partners. Looking at the data provided here I believe that the shares of infrastructure — roads, schools, public properties — possessed by the fund have remained steady over the last three years, whilst the amount of citizen sector enterprise shares possessed by the fund has continued to decline by around ten to thirteen per cent. This trend indicates that for the next five years or so, the business acumen and managing skills of those managers who are in charge of Executive Council nation state funds are going to become more and more important for the nineteen countries economy. Well if the quality of these people — who are supposedly hired normally as citizen sector managers would be hired — are going to be that important then we need to start scrutinising them and treat them as pretty much public servants in all but name; especially as their actions will start to really impact taxpayers of the realm.

And that is the reason this Executive Council has recently released our nation state fund policy statement, which seeks to increase management efficiency and minimise risks as these are going to be, after all, years of taxpayers’ contributions we put here. We should look after the interests of the taxpayers — and ratepayers, if possible, concerning certain infrastructure holdings of the fund. Although my call will be limited to the Central Provident Fund, I would like to inform Honourable Members that we are also looking at increasing regulation and increasing the standards — within the bounds of realism — of our other nation state funds: The Navy Expenditure Fund, the Housing Infrastructure Fund, the Current Account Surplus Fund, and, the one foreign observers tend to hear because its listed under the Bank of Yohannes international private wealth category, the Imperial Cash Fund. All those funds are getting rather bloated and I would like to see major restructuring to be realised within the next two or three years; so we can minimise losses — within realism — and possibly cut costs here and there where needed. Sure, the benefits are probably small anyway, but I want parliament to know that — over a long time period — all these will make a huge difference to our returns on investment over the next twenty or thirty years from now.

So we need to look at the long-term, not just the short-term. Talking about long-term, my biggest worries are things like, if in future certain populist, ahem, politicians will try to gain popularity by unrealistically exploiting these funds and telling the Board members: “Here you should invest here and there.” Well that kind of intervention is never good for the taxpayers’ balance sheet. I hope the day will never come that certain politicians in future will try to amend existing legislation carelessly so they can, or so they think, tell the funds where to invest and how. Again, that never ends well for both taxpayers and all those involved including the Executive Council itself. Diversifying funds like the Central Provident Fund are of course never easy, so the Board has diversified holdings overseas, outside the continent of Yohannes in international equity and debt instruments.

Now that we are talking about foreign investment, I want to remind parliament that it was just this afternoon earlier that the Member Nickel Fallage and the Deputy Head of Opposition Roeltsje Veldman went all loony-loony like, denouncing foreign investment and oligarchs and all those things. Well, parliament, if at least 120 million Yohannesians do tune here and there to watch Parliament Channel, what made Honourable Members think foreign Ambassadors and diplomats wouldn’t do the same? They do watch the — frankly terrible — performance of parliament, and I can tell you now all those important foreign Ambassadors are probably thinking: “That’s not parliament. That is a zoo! All those supposedly respectable tax-payers’ funded parliamentarians dancing and heckling like kindergarten kids. That’s just nuts!”

Some are even sleeping, my my — I am looking at you, Rt Hon Loseton Petres.

[ ... I AM SLEEPING BECAUSE I CAN’T TAKE HER RUBBISH A— ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! The Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund will conclude her call. As to the senior Member and Leader of Yohannes First, I advise for him to sit.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: Honourable Members, I am happy to hear that the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund has at last decided to acknowledge the strategic foresight of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council. The nineteen countries is a fast-growing foreign investor in our trading partners abroad, where I imagine that our investment holdings are protected from corruption or intervention by the governments of those nation states —

[ ... YOU MEAN LIKE HOW SOCIAL DEMOCRATS AND YOHANNES FIRST ARE THREATENING FOREIGN INVESTORS HERE ALL THE TIME? Hon Emily Kirchweger heckled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ ... FOREIGN INVESTORS ARE BUYING UP MUM AND DAD BUSINESSES, HOSPITALS FULL OF IMMIGRANTS — VOTE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND YOHANNES FIRS — ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I must ask the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade to leave this chamber — outside, from where I hope the Minister can reflect on her tomfoolery.

[ … Members of parliament beamed, as the smiling Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade was escorted out of the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: To start again — Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. That our investment holdings are protected from corruption or intervention by the governments of those nation states. Of course, I fully respect the integrity of of our trading partners, such as [ Tekeristan ], and other nation states, both from the old world regions and the new world regions, and I believe that as the nineteen countries has been a responsible member of this international community, we will not be victim to populist policies and unfair accusations by foreign politicians overseas.

[ ... LIKE YOU AND NICKEL? Members from the Christian Democratic section laughed... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: First, I want to see the Central Provident Fund complying fully with existing best practice standard as set by World Assembly laws, e.g., General Assembly Resolutions #409 [ Stock Exchanges And Foreign Investment ] and #209 [ World Assembly Trade Rights ]. Second, from there I also want to see the Board ensuring that the facilitation and management of investment standards are not relaxed in the nineteen countries. I do not want to see the CPF competing with foreign multinationals to drive up prices of assets and properties in the nineteen countries. It’s bad enough that we already have a bunch of foreigners doing it; we don’t need one of our own doing it too. Third, I want to see more flexible governance from the Board so that we can increase risk to reward ratio and raise structural efficiency.

I am also thinking of allowing Members of the Board to appoint sub-delegates to manage CPF investments on their behalf. As it stands, the framework of the Central Provident Fund Act 2014 explicitly states that the fund is not an independent entity of the Executive Council, unlike certain body corporates and commissions of the realm. I want to see more research being done to see the potential benefit of making the CPF less dependent on the Executive Council, which is something that I know the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund will disagree with. Thank you.

ELISA VAN HOUTEN (Independent; Electorate of Salzhofen): Mr Speaker. Parliament. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak my mind this afternoon. I want to limit my call to matters of Continental Yohannes Customs and Border.

Formed in 1801 under the Border Control and Continental Protection Act 1801, Continental Yohannes Customs and Border is not only the largest law enforcement agency of the Ministry of Continental Security, but is also the oldest, tasked with administering customs allowances, charges, and duties; enforcing border regulations at the imperial level for things such as intellectual property infringement, immigration, and the movement of goods and services to and from the nineteen countries; and facilitating and regulating matters of international trade in relation to the nineteen countries. As Chair of the Select Committee on Navy and Merchant Navy, it is my pleasure to inform parliament that we have predicted that in the year ending December Continental Yohannes Customs and Border will collect 1.04 trillion NSD from excise duty rates, goods and services taxes, and tariffs.

Currently, we are accepting submissions concerning the adoption of new technologies to prepare the agency for a forecast increase of goods and people crossing our borders next year. In a bid to raise efficiency in processing low-risk cases and green identified travellers, we have fully introduced BorderWatch earlier this year, where it has registered 280 million people entering and leaving the continent of Yohannes to the year ending October. This has allowed Border and Customs Yohannes officers on the ground to focus more on high-risk cases and red identified travellers.

In no small part due to our historically good trading relationship with reputable nation states outside Yohannes, we have cooperated with foreign and Yohannesian key enterprises to develop a regional border management strategy, where we cooperate to increase efficiency in processing and managing imports and exports, real-life time, twenty-four seven, where 273 million transactions have been flawlessly registered this year alone. This is good for everyone, except, of course, the diabolical organised and [ well-armed pirates ] out there, who are always up to no good.

I believe that I am not alone in wanting to recommend Border and Customs Yohannes before the World Assembly next year, in accordance with General Assembly Resolution #209 World Assembly Trade Rights, to see how far our agencies can get along with the customs authorities of other World Assembly member nations out there — there are over 24,000 member nations of the World Assembly, where I think we will do quite well, at the very least I believe that we should not be at the bottom of the heap — for securing trade and for having acceptable — by World Assembly standard — border clearance requirements.

I want to see the nineteen countries as a nation state to always improve, improve, and improve. Nothing is impossible if we put our heart into it and keep a positive mindset. International customs authorities — all those authorities like to work together with one another, and we want to tell them again, again, and again, that: “Look. The nineteen countries is a good member of the international community of regions and nation states, and we want to cooperate together in this matter with you people.” There are, after all, over 24,000 World Assembly member nations out there. The continent of Yohannes is but just one tiny dot in this international community, and consequently this nation state wants and this nation state needs to have first-class border authorities.

Thank you.

TORBEN EICHMANN (Independent; Electorate of Houilès): It is an honour to be given this opportunity to address parliament. I will make this call very short, as it would be limited to matters concerning the Commonwealth Navy. Last week, I received a report from the previously standing Member — who happens to be the Chair of the Select Committee on Navy and Merchant Navy — which summarised certain recommendations based on citizen sector submissions received over the last five months. Surprisingly, I noted that the report missed certain things that should have been put there, had it truly been drafted out of citizen sector concerns.

I want to inform the previously standing Member that her report conflicted with her message this afternoon concerning raising border authorities efficiency. I want to ask her whether she had fully understood about the role of the Commonwealth Navy when she wrote that report, especially when parliament take into account the 2017 Navy White Paper announced by the Christian Democratic Chancellor Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn, and especially when parliament also take into account the [ Tuesday, 19 September ] speech by the Minister of Agriculture and Resources about the formation of the Sånfjället Sanctuary and Island Reserve.

Firstly, I have not seen any mention of how foreign nuclear submarines have occasionally entered our maritime highways of trade without declaring their presence to our vessels? I have received letters from service personnel that when collated together have given me the impression that there should at least be around ten or so nuclear submarines out there, entering our overseas trade nodes and failing to declare their presence to our vessels. These are mainly vessels of friendly maritime powers. Some complaining letters went as far as saying that there were at least fifty or so nuclear submarines, and this time worse, from known imperial powers such as Allanea.

When I look at the committee report there is absolutely no sentence or word dedicated to that problem. Maybe the Christian Democratic Executive Council don’t want to offend our trading partners, some of which are known or historical imperial and military powers? Maybe we are a declining nation state so we should just be happy with seeing our neutrality be violated? That will not do, at least to us Independent Members, Chancellor Thorndon-Stevensonn.

My second issue. I see the pay differential between the Chief of Expeditionary Force [of the Commonwealth Navy] at 713,000 NSD and that of a soldier of the Expeditionary Force — the men and women who risk their lives to safeguard our commercial and trading interests abroad — which stands at 51,000 NSD. That is almost fourteen times differential — more than thirteen times, dear Saint Maxtopia. Chancellor Thorndon-Stevensonn, again, I am sorry but that won’t do. I remember when my grandfather told me about back when the pay differential was more fa —

Hon ELTON HOLMQVIST (Minister of the Commonwealth Navy; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Vonde-Åsmund): I call humbug on that one.

TORBEN EICHMANN: Well, these are parliamentary analysis archive stats from your office, Mr Holmqvist. Are you saying that parliament is misleading the public? Hon Elton Holmqvist is trying to pretend: “Parliament is lying. Parliament is lying”, like a cyborg. In my hand I have, to let parliament know, a letter, dated Wednesday, 9 August 2017, which was sent to my office and signed with the full name of Rear Admiral L J Bödeker, Commonwealth Navy. So the Minister says that an actual navy rear admiral is lying to mislead the public, and parliament is lying too? If I have to place my bet on which side I want to gamble on, I would pick the side of the read admiral.

Rear Admiral L J Bödeker’s written words are: “Chief of Expeditionary [of the Navy] Force is remunerated with 713,350.18 NSD; an Expeditionary Force sapper or soldier, meanwhile, is remunerated with 51,307.85 NSD.” Is a fourteen times pay differential fair for someone who would risk his or her life on the front line for us — for this nation state?

NICKEL FALLAGE: No, it’s not fair.

TORBEN EICHMANN: No, it is not fair. We think that the pay differential between foot soldiers who are risking their lives on the front — that’s not just on, and that is but just one symptom of the increasing societal inequality in our nation state the Member Roeltsje Veldman did talk about this afternoon. I urge the Executive Council to do something about this. Thank you.

CHLOE ALLEMANN (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Järventee): I am happy to be given the opportunity to close this debate. This backbencher gets to be the last caller and will have the opportunity to inform parliament of just some of the many wonderful things the Christian Democratic Executive Council has achieved since it was elected into office three years ago.

There are 220,000 to 240,000 new residents and migrants coming to Greater Halsten every year, and more entering the continent of Yohannes. Why? Because these hard-working migrants knew that this nation state is the place where those who strive to achieve can move up the ladder of society. Where those who strive to put in just a little bit more will receive their reward. Because the nineteen countries economy — forecast to grow by at least eight per cent over the next three years — will create 17 million new employment opportunities by 2025. Because average weekly earnings have been going up since 2014 by more than ten per cent. And because the Christian Democratic Executive Council is investing strongly into this nation state’s infrastructure: 2.51 trillion NSD over the next eight years, so that industries of the citizen sector can export their products to make this nation state richer.

I am happy that the Christian Democratic Executive Council is bringing all Yohannesians into the future, with no one being abandoned in the past. Despite the constant complaining by Members of the Opposing Forces, we believe in supporting struggling but aspiring Yohannesians, especially those who have inherent potentials but are deemed at risk without social intervention. So we have been investing in them; to see to it that they will be transformed into future success stories. We have provided wraparound support funded by such things as the 2.2 trillion NSD Allanea long-term investment agreement, over the next eight years, to make sure struggling but aspiring Yohannesians are not trapped in a life cycle of unrealised potentials and poverty.

Finally, I want to remind parliament that we are the first Executive Council in this nation state’s history to make higher learning free for all first year tertiary students. We are the Executive Council that has seen this nation state being commended by at least 5,000 member nations of the World Assembly Security Council, thanks to the huge support of our friends and trading partners. We are the first Executive Council to invest 125 billion NSD in our Re-skilling and Vocational Support Scheme to support the education of future tradespeople in our land, and that all can only be afforded by prudent management of the books.

When we remove ourselves from international incidents and power politics in 2014, we increased healthcare spending so that today, seven per cent of the nineteen countries economy, or 1.11 trillion NSD in total, are being invested and spent on Health Yohannes and all its public or partially state owned programmes. A further 630 billion NSD in capital and money have been registered as partially subsidised investment and spending coming from the citizen sector; making up a total health expenditure of 1.74 trillion NSD, or eleven per cent of our nation state’s gross domestic product. We have brought free general practitioner services for children and under-fifteen adolescents; we have brought 428,000 new doctors and nurses for our public hospitals; and we have subsidised 3.82 million new surgeries for our people.

In the Noble Republic of Treno and the Kingdom of Burmecia alone, at least 3.74 million children have benefited from our under-fifteen free doctors visits. I know personally that it is amazing that I can just bring my son to the doctor to get that early service and protect my son from any bad thing that may affect him. When my son will one day graduate from college (i.e., high school or secondary school), I know that he can go on to higher learning without having to worry about financial issues, free of charge for his first year study. So we are not just providing fantastic healthcare services for our future generation of taxpayers but we are also subsidising their learning to provide that foundation for a future focused, high-technology and knowledge-rich nineteen countries.

The Christian Democratic Executive Council is the Executive Council of the future.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: The debate expired and concluded.

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[Yohannes]

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Weekly Adjournment — Subject to the Members of Assembly

Visitors Present; Weekly Adjournment -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Friday, 20 October 2017 — Volume 951; Weekly Adjournment — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, I believe that parliament has seen good progress in nation state development this week; and for that reason I seek leave for parliament to rise at this point.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and smiling faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Is there any objection to that?

[ … Members leaving the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: How many times do I have to tell Honourable Members not to ruin the decorum of parliament by moving before being told to do so upon conclusion of motion. Honourable Members should know that they are not schoolchildren but legislators at the imperial level of governance in this land. However, there appears to be no objection.

Parliament to adjourn.

[ … More Members leaving the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: This week has certainly been a busy one. This Assembly has moved at least two Domestic Acts and one Foreign Agreement — whilst I have presided over thirty questions for oral answer, though I do not have a percentage of how many were answered to the satisfaction of the questioner.

During this weekly Assembly, we have seen visitations from His Excellency Mr Wilfried Strickland, the Ambassador of the Diarcesian Monarchy; His Excellency Sir Enzo Maschiarro Floronni, the Seventh Duke of Bellasto, the Ambassador of Secundus Imperium Romanum; Her Excellency Ms Myra Peralta, the Ambassador of the Confederacy of Ayamya; and His Excellency Mr Josiah Johnson, the Ambassador of the Ninth Republic of Hiram Land.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big “thank you” to all the visitors’ chief delegates and governments, on behalf of all Members of Electoral College and Parliament, for the professional and apolitical way their consideration and observation have been to us all. My personal thanks to the Heads of State and Heads of Government of Diarcesia, Secundus Imperium Romanum, Ayamya, and Hiram Land for making possible the visitations of their government representatives —

[ ... More Members leaving the chamber... JUST END IT ALREADY MR SPEAKER! The Leader of Yohannes First Rt Hon Loseton Petres heckled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ ... WE WANT TO GO HOME! More Members leaving the chamber. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: In two weeks’ time, parliament will assemble as this week. Honourable Members, I wish you all the good weekend that you deserve.

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[Yohannes]

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Business Statement — Weekly Formation; Higher Education Amendment Bill 2017: First Reading

Higher Learning Facilities 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Monday, 30 October 2017 — Volume 951; First Reading — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Taking the Chair, introductory business of parliament — Eleven Ante Meridiem.

[ ... Mr Speaker read the [ Holy Bible ]... ]

Hon Members: Almighty Saint Maxtopia,

Gracefully realising our vulnerability to anarchy, chaos, and wars found all around the [ international community ] of regions and nation states, we ask humbly for the assistance and grace of Your Lordship in conducting the affairs of nation state significance; in overseeing developments of nation state importance; and for guiding us today, and for the rest of this week, in realising the decorum of this most august assembly — in this parliament of the nineteen countries of the Yohannesian continent.

May glory be in Thy name; may prosperity and stability be realised; and may industry and welfare be brought for our people. Saint Maxtopia Save the Emperor. Amen.

Allsmäktiga sankt Maxtopia,

Älskvärt se vår svaghet för anarki, kaos, och krig funna runt om världen bestående av regioner och nationalstater, vi ber ödmjukt om hjälp och gunst av ers nåde i vår nationalstats göromål; Överse utvecklingar på nationalstaters skala; och för att du vägleder oss idag, och för resten av veckan, för att du ger oss hyfs för denna mest välsignade församlingen, i dessa nitton länders i Johannesiska kontinentens parlamentet.

Helgat vare ditt namn, må rikedom, och stabilitet vara oss givna; Och må industri och välfärd be givet till vårt folk. Sankt Maxtopa skydda Kejsaren. Amen.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Honourable Members, I would like to draw your attention and to welcome the Ambassador of the United Island States of AHSCA, Her Excellency Ms [ Suna ], who is sitting alongside members of the senior press gallery in parliament today.

It is with great sadness that I inform parliament of the death on Thursday, 26 October of the Honourable Niklas Böhme, Emperor’s Counsel and Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the Yohannesian Realm, who was a Judge of the [ Royal Court of the Kingdom of Burmecia ] from 1966 until his retirement in 1987. Before his appointment to the Royal Court of Burmecia, the late Niklas Böhme was a Judge of the Regional Court in Mosfellshöfn from 1963.

After graduating Master of Laws with First Class Honours from the University of Yohannes, the late Niklas Böhme was for eight years a litigation partner in the commercial firm Denzinger Rothenstein before joining the Imperial Bar Association as an independent bar member in 1962 and being appointed Emperor’s Counsel in 1970. During his more than twenty years at the senior bar, the late Niklas Böhme handled an extensive range of civil cases and practice, and also led inquiries for the Administrative Financial Security Commission of the Nineteen Countries into the Commonwealth Navy and the Continental Emergency and Contingency Corporation and for the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund into scandalous matters relating to CEC Chief Executive Officer Rudolf Tiller.

It is to my wish that parliament see to it the Standing in Mourning to express our sympathy for the late Niklas Böhme’s family and relatives.

[ … Members stood in mourning… ]

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party – Democratic; Electorate of Halsten): I would like to raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek parliament’s leave to table the letter and documents submitted by the Executive Office of His Majesty the King Alexander Blaken-Kazansky of Allanea.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave is sought to table that particular petition. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and blank faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of HM Alexander Blaken-Kazansky’s original letter. ]

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: I seek leave to consider sections three and four of the Higher Education Amendment Bill 2017 for first reading.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave for sections three and four to be read for the first time is sought. Is there any objection?

[ ... Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and grumpy faces seen all around the chamber... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There appears to be none. Higher Education Amendment Bill 2017. First reading. The Bill is now presented before the Assembly. Taking the Chair, Electoral College and Parliament.

FERDINAND GOETHE (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Lifelong and Vocational Education; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Hallzing) Good morning parliament. Press Gallery. Representing the Christian Democratic Executive Council, I hereby move that the Higher Education Amendment Bill be read for the first time. I have named the Education Select Committee to see to it that on the date that is two months after the date of first reading, this Bill shall be commended before its Members.

We have drafted this Bill with one of our 2014 election promises in mind: Free first-year and second-year university and higher learning education for college (i.e., high school and secondary school) students in the nineteen countries. To ensure that this opportunity will realise the true potentials of this nation state’s brightest minds, the scope of free education will be limited to those courses and programmes included within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics category. Higher standard programmes (e.g., Bachelor of Civil Law [course code: BCL or equivalent] and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery [course code: MB ChB or equivalent]) will also be included within the scope of this Bill.

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): Let’s all pay first year uni students to get drunk!

FERDINAND GOETHE: Sure — and that’s why only those ‘Achieved with Merit’ and ‘Achieved with Excellence’ secondary school students will be eligible for free first and second year study under this amendme —

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN (Imperial Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Clearingtonne): Why only ‘Achieved with Merit’ and ‘Achieved with Excellence’ students? What about the majority; the rest?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): Because we don’t have the money for it. Or, would you like to pay out of your pocket and life savings for this amendment Bill, Dear Leader?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise both the Imperial Head of Opposition and the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade to sit.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Deputy Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): Why only first and second year students?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

FERDINAND GOETHE: This amendment will persuade our future graduates to stay in the nineteen countries, because they cannot leave the continent of Yohannes once they have received the funding for their free first and second year study.

If they do, they will be charged a weekly interest by Imperial Taxation Authority (ITA) based on the original tuition costs from their courses and programmes. There are 24,000 World Assembly member nations out there; there are 24,000 real nation states that our best and brightest can go to — some, such as the extremely corrupt, corporate bordello superpower [ Bigtopia ], have the wherewithal to offer our top STEM graduates twice as much for doing the same kind of work here. This is internationalisation. We have to provide incentives for our best and brightest to stay here. Of course, one Member who has opposed this Bill has been Roeltsje Veldman, the Deputy Head of Opposition — who in 2009 when he was just a backbencher said that when he become a part of the party’s leadership, he would remove tuition fees that the then Social Democratic Executive Council had upped for tertiary education, and that those big and tall concrete walls on higher learning would go away.

However, when the Social Democrats got reelected in 2010, funnily he stopped going to university grounds to campaign for his party. Why? Because he did not remove those big and tall concrete walls on higher learning. What did he do then? He made them walls go double the height instead, and he even had the temerity to make the interest rates propping up those walls go up three to six per cent every year that the Social Democrats were in power with Yohannes First. And that is why, parliament, we will never see him back campaigning in front of university students in their campuses. And if — and that would be a big ‘if’ — he would one day have the guts to enter any university ground, he would have to first check all the foyer emergency exits or side windows first to make sure that he can quickly escape unharmed. Funnily enough, he now says that this amendment won’t go far enough, and he will promise free study for everyone — not just STEM students or first-and-second year students. That’s election periods for you.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES (Yohannes First Party; Collegian Elector — First Burmecian District): You would rather give lollies for your own daughter, who is a STEM student herself.

FERDINAND GOETHE: Even Loseton Petres — the seventy-two-year-old super-annuitant and leader of Yohannes First — has got something to say for the next generation of leaders.

[ ... UNLESS THEY ARE [ NON-OCCIDENTALS ] THEN IN THAT CASE HE WON’T CARE! Members from the Green section laughed... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

FERDINAND GOETHE: Emphasis on the ‘next generation’ bit. Last time I hear, those backing him the most — the Elderly Power and their rowdy seventy-year-old and eight-year-old demonstrators — were the people most against interest-free student loan in 2010. So you see, that’s why we over here on this side of Assembly back in 2014 just couldn’t fathom seeing them being in bed together with the supposedly much more egalitarian Social Democrats. But there they are in their marriage of convenience, as you can see now. I believe there is a name for that: Something about selling yourself to the highest bidder. Or in this case, the only bidder. It’s called —

TYRES ALMGREN (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Villuoja): Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. I am sure you know what word that Member will say next. How can that be something in order?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I will have to agree with the point of order. I thank the Member for raising that possibility out.

FERDINAND GOETHE: Damn right!

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: ‘Damn’ right, Mr Almgren is. I expect that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Lifelong and Vocational Education will be in order.

FERDINAND GOETHE: And order I will follow. On this side of Assembly, we know that since we have abolished the interest rates for student loan in 2014 we have seen many more students from working class families — those families that supposedly fall under the natural constituency of the Social Democrats — entering university and earning professional qualifications. And the results speak for themselves, today we have an unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent and weekly wages have gone up by 10 per cent since 2014. According to the Social Democratic Party, we have to stop doing the practical things that are working to encourage hard-working citizens to move up the ladder of society. Instead, Social Democrats will tax those who have worked hard to earn what they have. By making tax rates higher for mum and dad small and medium sized businesses — and at the same time making sure that those with high aspirations but limited means are worse off due to less opportunities to climb the ladder of society.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: Honourable Members, before mocking other parties in parliament, maybe the Parliamentary Under-Secretary should first check that his own side is in order, considering that the millennials’ selfie Emperor is going truant as usual today. Also, the Chancellor’s seat is empty. And what about the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade? The corporate raider got an official warning from the Speaker two weeks ago, on Friday, 20 October, and was consequently kicked out from this chamber.

[ ... THE GUY WHO GOT HIS PARTY DOWN TO BELOW THIRTY IN THE POLLS TALKING RIGHT NOW! Members from the Christian Democratic section laughed... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

FERDINAND GOETHE: Concerning overseas borrowers’ interest penalty, that will only be applied for those borrowers who are living outside the continent. We believe that free first and second year higher learning study is a privilege, not a right. If students are happy with studying for free, then they should be prepared to comply with the terms and conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Education. This amendment Bill will also ensure that the Imperial Taxation Authority will have more jurisdictional reach to deal with those who have reneged on repaying their student loan overseas, including giving the agency the power to cooperate with like-minded agencies in our embassy programme and trading partners — over four hundred nation states out there — to arrest non-compliant borrowers of more than 5,000 NSD in tertiary study; which is pretty much anyone who have completed a two-year tertiary programme. The money that we will earn from this endeavour will go towards funding the free first and second year study scheme for STEM and high standard programme students.

This amendment will also alter the terms and conditions of borrowers outside the continent of Yohannes so that the amount they must repay back will be based on their level of earnings, and not the amount of loan that they have. This is the case for borrowers living in the continent of Yohannes, and we believe that in the past many new graduates have opted to go and work overseas so that the amount that they will have to repay back periodically — as their salaries increase — will be less than those of their peers who are living in the continent of Yohannes. The money that will be raised from this change will also be used to fund free first and second year study for STEM and high standard programme students.

Another way that this amendment will also ensure more equal treatment for borrowers staying in the nineteen countries and those who are living abroad is that we will significantly increase interest penalties for those borrowers living overseas with student loan balance figures of more than 30,000 NSD. We hope that by doing this high-earning graduates who are living overseas will have more incentives to pay back their loan faster than they would otherwise do at present — especially those earning far more than their domestic counterparts in extremely pro-market and unequal societies such as Bigtopia and [ Maxtopia ].

Lastly, I want to again stress the reason why we are going ahead with this Bill. This Bill will put greater incentives for the best and brightest of our young people — the cream of the crop of our future breadwinners and taxpayers — to stay in the continent of Yohannes. Realistically, we will always struggle to compete with those nation states which are very, very unequal in terms of how they treat their citizens. We will never be able to compete with hellish nation states like Bigtopia or Maxtopia, where the top ten per cent of STEM graduates will easily earn over three times as much as their non STEM or less bright counterparts within the next five years that they are entering the workforce. We cannot realistically compete with those unequal societies. And there are 24,000 World Assembly member nations out there, so at least a hundred or so will be nation states with very unequal societies which reward the best and brightest STEM students disproportionately. Those with high aspirations will almost always be attracted to have a five-year stint to work in nation states like that, so that they can earn as much salaries as they can whilst doing the same kind of work they are doing here in the nineteen countries. But an unequal society is just that; an unequal society. There is no way a Yohannesian would want to live outside the continent of Yohannes for long. They know that this land and society is where they truly belong. In the end they will always come back here to start their own families.

The ultimate idea has always been to replace the student loan arrangement altogether and to make tertiary study truly free; that is, universally free as Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn did inquire about just before. But even for a nation state with an economy such as ours, even the nineteen countries — prosperous and thriving as it is — cannot afford such a big spending programme. Maybe one day we will be able to afford such a universal programme, but as that would be unrealistic and unaffordable to have for now, we have opted for this amendment instead. We want the best and brightest to study STEM subjects and help propel the nineteen countries into the future, as a high-technology, knowledge-rich nation state. I have seen how graduates and students all over the continent have welcomed our announcement to amend the Higher Education Amendment Act 2005. We know that this amendment will not realise a truly universal higher learning due to lack of financial resources to realise such a thing, but this amendment should do for now.

Subsidising tuition fees fully for STEM students will bring nothing but good for this nation state, whilst increasing repayment interest and other penalties for those deciding to work outside the nineteen countries will result in even less of our brightest minds leaving the continent of Yohannes. In October alone, there were 79,000 fewer struggling STEM students getting supplementary allowance than at the same time last year — a decline of almost two per cent. The Christian Democratic Party — we welcome the possibility of not just making lives easier for STEM and high standard students, but also making sure more of those students stay in the nineteen countries to build this great nation state.

Whilst standing here before parliament, I want to thank Members of the Education Select Committee for its decision to hear this amendment. I look forward to discussing with the committee in two months’ time concerning conditions for arresting offending parties that can realistically be realised and be enforced by a [ Regional Court ] on loan borrowers and free study beneficiaries. We have also increased the standard that the Ministry of Education will expect from borrowers when they provide or update their contact, earnings, and other relevant information, or they will be at risk of offending their contracts.

Free learning for science and engineering and high standard students. Stricter repayment requirements. More penalties for those who move overseas. This amendment is good for the nineteen countries. I commend the Higher Education Amendment Bill 2017 before this august assembly.

Hon JENNEKE HYLKEMA (Social Democratic; Electorate of Obelpeda): Hereby I rise to opine on the Higher Education Amendment Bill. Can I just inform parliament of the approval by the Social Democratic Party to the moving of this Bill through its first reading. However, I have three things that I want to say first concerning the Bill itself. I do not want to see the Bill be moved through first reading to the select committee only to have some basic things left out in this chamber.

From reading the Bill, I am seeing that the administration of this first-year and second-year study subsidy scheme, and the whole student loan and allowance scheme itself — ‘EducationPathway’ — will be handled entirely electronically, e.g., electronic format and interoperability and services delivered primarily through electronic documents. From the Parliamentary Under-Secretary I am getting the explanation that this will make it easier for tertiary students or would be tertiary students to communicate with EducationPathway or Vocational Education Authority staff. I agree with this, we need to bring [ Executive Council organisations ] into the twenty-first century.

This will raise efficiency and reduce operational costs in the long run. Yesterday afternoon I received a call from a Bachelor of Science (in Mathematics) student who have been flatting in my electorate for the last three years. Hannah Maryann informed me that he was having an issue with EducationPathway concerning course cancellation refund policy. Well I tried to look into the matter further this morning, and I was surprised to see that EducationPathway is still using the same application forms that I myself used to deal with daily when I was an enrollment officer at the University of Yohannes fifteen years ago. And that is why I am happy to see that this amendment Bill will modernise administration of EducationPathway and bring it into the twenty-first century.

Many students and parents of students are not used to dealing with the bureaucratic mess that is EducationPathway — it is bloated, outdated, and overdue for administrative overhaul.

[ ... AND GUESS WHICH PARTY STARTED THE WHOLE THING! Members from the Christian Democratic section heckled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I want to hear the Education Select Committee Chair’s call.

Hon JENNEKE HYLKEMA: If you are a twenty-something Yohannesian, and you have been studying ‘at uni’ or ‘training for trade’, you will know how excruciating is the whole process — not just applying for loan, but also sending your ICEA (Imperial Certificate of Educational Achiement) record and school recommendation letter, updating with new information or new record from your institution of higher learning, employer or internship record, and many other things, including repaying your loan back. The last one is very important, because I know from hearing this personally that many newly employed graduates believed that they have followed the right process and fill the right forms, tick all the (right) boxes, to start repaying back their loan weekly, and then lo and behold, three months later they have found themselves being charged penalty interest rate. For some it took them as long as two years until they realise they have done something wrong, and of course by then they have racked up penalty interest by the hundreds of NSD.

The paperwork thing has been a huge mess for years now, and it is good that this Bill will modernise the whole EducationPathway institution. The Social Democratic Party is looking forward to this change affecting the lives of tertiary students and would be tertiary students in a positive way.

KAYLA FLETCHER (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Geoscience and Natural Resources; Green Party; Electorate of Weston): Oh, look, no partisanship from the Social Democrats today?

Hon JENNEKE HYLKEMA: Not when the Christian Democrats have actually done something right, for once.

The Social Democratic Party also like the part that will try to make repayment setting identical between loan borrowers living outside the continent of Yohannes and those living here. There are billions of NSD of overdue loan payment between late payers and EducationPathway. Billions of taxpayers money, and we are of course talking about financial assets of the Executive Council here. Imagine what we can do with those billions of overdue payments. There is one possible negative side effect that can come from this change, however, and that is mainly concerning the shifting of repayment kick-starting criteria from yearly salary to weekly earnings. I don’t want to see those tertiary students who are working hard over the summer — by doing crazy shifts and then being paid above the 400 NSD barrier — being penalised for, well, working hard. I think that we need to look at this further, which is what the Education Select Committee will be doing in two months’ time. I have no doubt that we will also hear many criticisms of moving to this new approach to repayment criteria during select committee submission process.

In regard to the new requirement that students must pass at least half of their EFTS (Equivalent Full Time Study Period) every year to be eligible for allowance, loan, and of course for STEM, Law, and Medicine and Surgery students, free study for first and second years, I have no problem with this personally, and the Social Democratic Party support this approach to restricting costs by ring-fencing the whole scheme further from spending waste. What we disagree with is, however, the five-year limit on loan and allowance for students. We believe that it is too shortsighted and too restrictive; how about Medicine and Surgery students? The whole thing will take at least seven years to complete, and how will they fund their studies for the sixth and seventh years — the two most important years of their whole study? This is something that I am planning to personally dissect into pieces during the incoming committee hearing.

In closing, AYE from the Social Democratic Party. But a very, very weak AYE. Thank you.

[ ... VERY VERY VERY WEAK AYE! Members from the Christian Democratic section laughed... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and smiling faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next to commence. Inter-Party Bill Discussion.

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[Yohannes]

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Higher Education Amendment Bill 2017: Inter-Party Discussion

Higher Learning Facilities 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Monday, 30 October 2017 — Volume 951; Inter-Party Discussion — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. I seek parliament’s leave to table the letter and documents submitted by the Office of Hon Erina al-Ahmadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Isentran.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is no objection. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of Hon Erina al-Ahmadi’s first and second letters. ]

HAUK SMIT (Christian Democratic Party — Christian Faction; Electorate of Kirchheim): Parliament, thank you for this opportunity to take a call on the Higher Education Amendment Bill. Watching the stand of the previous Member, Hon Jenneke Hylkema, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is she truly the champion of hard working students from the working class that she’s portrayed herself as? We are talking about another [ beltway politician ] here, just like the Deputy Head of Opposition Roeltsje Veldman. She represents, and is herself a life-long resident of, the electorate of Obelpeda, where people are earning at least 300,000 NSD each year, and where everyone can buy any 1 million NationStates Dollars two-storey green backyard suburban house without even having to try.

We are also talking about the former Social Democratic Minister of Education who scraped away the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 1987, and instead expanded the Higher Education Amendment Act in 2005 to include things that the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act used to do. Of course, it was not an effective move, in hindsight, with the revised legislation unable to cope with the demanding requirements previously set under the original Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act. She and her ilk have also shied away from reminding parliament of the Vocational Education Authority's Night Learning and Re-skill Programme, with the Executive Council investing over 300 million NSD for the next three years in specific reskilling and vocational schemes.

To know why they have done that, a person just needs to visit parliament and watch proceedings by sitting in the press gallery. The last two months have been the Social Democrats hammering our amendment Bills with demand of more spending for this, supplementary allowance for that, and more pork pies laden with NationStates Dollar paperback for the unions. They would rather this nation state having universal student loan scheme but then having taxpayers’ contribution be increased by more than 3 cents to the NationStates Dollar. Otherwise how can they afford such a universal, big spending programme? It should not even be ‘universal.’ In many nation states out there; yes, many of the 24,000 World Assembly member nations out there, people don’t even have anything close to the level of service and welfare we provide for our tertiary students in this nation state. So free first and second years study for STEM, law, and medicine and surgery students should be seen as an investment, not free hand-out.

We are also being very generous with our 250 NSD per week student allowance, and of course, the interest-free student loan scheme of EducationPathway. But even a nation state with economic and investment presence in more than four hundred nation states like us, even the nineteen countries would never be able to afford a truly ‘universal’ and free higher learning for everyone. Do you know how much that would cost? A preliminary forecast made by Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes shows that such a universal programme would cost this nation state 1.7 trillion NSD within the first five years that this programme is being launched. And it would only increase as everyone and their mother decided to study useless courses that would do nothing to advance this nation state’s scientific and technological development, whilst we throw away billions after billions on what is pretty much a luxury.

That 1.7 trillion NSD forecast in five years is much, much more expensive than what this Executive Council will commit, according to the [ Navy White Paper ], for modernisation of the Commonwealth Navy over the next ten years: 1.57 trillion NSD. How can you justify something so useless and wasteful like ‘universal’ higher learning? ‘Universal’ support for science, technology, engineering, mathematics, law, and medicine and surgery students? Sure, I am all up for it. That will advance our interests in the long run. But not ‘Universal’ support for useless courses and programmes, thank you very much.

PAULINE LE MEN (Yohannes First; Electorate of Pan-de-Tallinn): I rise to take a call on the Higher Education Amendment Bill. I will make this short. Can I just say that that was quite the attempt at editing the record of the previous Seventh Social Democratic—Yohannes First Executive Council. The Member Hauk Smit did not even thank the previous Executive Council for kick-starting the whole EducationPathway institution, which today has helped over 12.8 million Yohannesian households, many from the working class or low middle class background and occupations. Also, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Lifelong and Vocational Education Ferdinand Goethe did not mention the fact that the previous Executive Council had to apply interest on student loan because by 2013 we were in the middle of a huge downturn, and not to mention crises not just domestic but also international.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: That’s rubbish! The only reason we have got huge deficit and forecast trillions of debt was because it was under their Executive Councillorship that we were involved heavily in [ international incidents ] and overseas power politics, not to mention frivolous gunboat diplomacy.

PAULINE LE MEN: I want to offer my congratulations to all the staff of EducationPathway for putting up with the Christian Democratic Executive Council’s high-handed approach to nation state management. They only care about cutting spending without considering the side effect of service cut being applied everywhere. Well, with this legislation they have actually done something right for once. In fact, it would have been better for everyone had the Parliamentary Under-Secretary concluded her rise here: “There were 79,000 fewer struggling STEM students getting supplementary allowance than at the same time last year — a decline of almost two per cent.” Why do you think that is? Because of the Christian Democrats’ extensive cost cutting measures that resulted in at least 30,000 public servant redundancies since 2014.

As what the Member Nickel Fallage said in his Tuesday, 19 September rise: “Well obviously there have been cuts, cuts, and cuts. Rock–paper–scissors mate; Minister, you have been caught empty-handed.” We have more part-time out-of-high-school assistant customs officers than actual trained drug detector dogs in Continental Yohannes and Customs and Border. Eco Sanctuary Authority, Forest Yohannes, and related agencies have lost 16,152 front-line sanctuary land keepers, at least 400 facilities, and according to the Forest Yohannes document tabled last month, over 240 information and public assistance cen —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: No the Member will not. I advise the Member to stick to the Bill.

PAULINE LE MEN: and now tertiary support service cut for 79,000 struggling STEM students. The Christian Democratic Executive Council, they like to take all the credit for driving this nation state forward into the twenty-first century; something that they do by making thousands of public servants jobless and millions of students finding it harder and harder every week to afford their study-related costs.

MATTHIAS BLUMENFELD (Christian Democratic Party – Democratic Faction; Electorate of Fürstenbeck): Then they can go look for work over the summer.

PAULINE LE MEN: So as you can see, the Christian Democratic Executive Council could not support our students. We agree with their decision to remove interest from student loan, but we do not agree with their decision to restrict free first and second year study for STEM students only.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Even a prosperous nation state such as ours will never be able to afford such an unrealistic thing: Wake up!

PAULINE LE MEN: Yohannes First, we want to see free first and second years tertiary education for everyone. Under a future Social Democratic—Yohannes First Executive Council, we will subsidise first and second years study for those students who are eligible for post-secondary study in accordance with ICEA criteria. Yohannes First for Yohannesians first. Thank you.

[ … All Christian Democratic and Green Members shook their heads, frowning in disbelief… ]

TIMOTEUS ASGEIRSSON (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Skrunza): As a Member of the Education Select Committee, I rise to commend this Bill before parliament. It seems that most Members are going to vote for the moving of this Bill through first reading to the select committee. There are, of course, differing positions and general disagreement here and there, but from what I am seeing so far it seems the majority of Members like the general idea of this amendment. I want to thank the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for delivering this Bill before parliament today —

[ LADY ALIENA IS GOING TRUANT JUST LIKE THE MILLENNIAL SELFIE EMPEROR WHERE’S THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION! Three Social Democratic Members heckled. ]

TIMOTEUS ASGEIRSSON: She is busy. I commend EducationPathway public servants for putting up with many implemented changes over the last three years. We are moving into the twenty-first century. More and more people are doing their banking through internet banking. From their smartphones. I have been contacted by many students through social media sites of the Ministry. The views of the majority it seems so far are: “Go ahead with doing the good job, and thank you for modernising EducationPathway Christian Democratic Party!”

[ GOOD LORD HELP US SAINT MAXTOPIA! Laughing heard from the Yohannes First section. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I want to hear the Member speak.

TIMOTEUS ASGEIRSSON: Students do their banking, transactions, and other trendy things online. If students want to see the latest changes concerning their loan or allowance matters, they go online to read the changes. Students are always busy, going to the latest tutorials; going by working part-time to support their study; socialising with their mates; meeting up with onsite recruiters; and many, many other things.

[ LIKE GOING TO A YOUNG CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT’S MEETING! More laughing heard from the Yohannes First section. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: How many times do I have to say: Order!

TIMOTEUS ASGEIRSSON: Students and young graduates want to see what they must pay and when they have to do it, quickly and efficiently. This Bill will streamline EducationPathway bureaucracy — thank you, Christian Democrats — and thus benefit not just the Executive Council but also all students of the realm. Before I am going to commend the Bill before parliament, however, I want to just point out some things about a letter that I have in my hand, submitted by Mr Patrik Holderman, who is one of EducationPathway’s thirty Policy Advisors. Mr Holderman wrote that he was afraid of an oversight in the Bill — as it stands — which would allow students, or any borrower of EducationPathway’s study loan scheme really, to dispute the [ Tertiary Education Commission ]’s judgment on whether or not a student loan borrower should be granted exemption from EFTS (Equivalent Full-time Student) status (i.e., one EFTS assigned in fifty weeks’ worth of study), whilst still enjoying the universal allowance (i.e., 250 NSD per week) status.

Another oversight that I have personally seen myself from reading this amendment is that it would possibly allow students to escape repayment obligations whilst they are still studying at a postgraduate capacity; although they already have a full-time, above salary threshold job at the same time. So as you can see, there is a possibility that borrowers can milk the system, and what can possibly make it worse is that these students who can get away with doing this will of course be those who already have good jobs and are on their way on completing a rewarding postgraduate qualification. This is something that I cannot accept personally, and so as a Member of the Education Select Committee I will make sure that we will fix the previously mentioned oversights concerning the amendment Bill. Thank you.

Dr ZOE NILSSON (Green Party; Electorate of Cowrie): Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of orde —

Hon Yohannes First Members: Are you serious?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I want to hear the standing Member’s point of order.

Dr ZOE NILSSON: Thank you Mr Speaker. Can I receive a confirmation from the Imperial Head of Opposition that he will agree to this Bill be tabled through parliament and submitted before the Select Committee in one week’s time, as opposed to the original date proposed by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Lifelong and Vocational Education?

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: I see no problem with what the Member has proposed. The Social Democratic Party will agree to that change.

Hon Social Democratic Members: See? We are a reasonable bunch! Unlike your side of the —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ OH C’MON THIS IS DEMOCRACY IN ACTION MR SPEAKER! Three Yohannes First Members heckled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I say: Order! And the Bill shall be tabled through and be brought before the Education Select Committee next week. This is the opportunity for the Majority Leader Pro Tempore to raise any possible issue —

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Well, we did not expect this suggestion being brought before parliament by the Green Party, but I see no problem with this change. There will be some disgruntled public servants who will now have to work overtime because of this change, but sure. No problem for the Christian Democratic side of Assembly.

MAGDALENA VON WEBER (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Groneuzen): Hereby I rise to give my call before parliament concerning the Higher Education Amendment Bill. Can I just congratulate the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for bringing this amendment before parliament today.

[ IT’S RAINING OUTSIDE SAINT MAXTOPIA IS WEEPING HEARING THAT! Laughing heard from the Social Democratic Section; the standing Member beamed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! This is parliament, not the kindergarten.

MAGDALENA VON WEBER: The current Higher Learning Act necessitates that a thorough examination of each eligible or potential student’s application for allowance and loan must be made by the ITA, with each stage of financial debt and obligations be reported throughout the duration of borrowing by the student. This of course concludes with the final year liability report that is then made about the borrower, or in the case if the borrower has borrowed too much, will result in penalty interest be applied in future when the borrower has entered full-time employment. The majority of our students abide by this requirement and whilst there are a few problems here and there, this system has been working well since 2005.

This amendment seeks to remove the end of year examination which, by the way, comes with an administration fee of 270 NSD. Removing this end of year liability examination regime will result in less compliance and associated costs for borrowers, but will, of course, remove yet another source of income for EducationPathway. I have no problem with this so long as it will help students from working class background.

Section four, clause three pretty much says that if a student has more than two jobs whilst she or he has an existing student loan contract, that student can list her or his lowest paid job as her or his primary source of income whilst studying, so long as both jobs combined do not give her or him more than 400 NSD per week. A student can now do this by informing ITA so that changes can be made to their existing contract. I like it. As it stands, with the 2005 Act a student cannot do any of that and will instead be forced to apply for the special student loan tax code, RI SL, i.e., is an imperial taxpayer, student loan borrower, and has an income within the range of 18,000 to 36,000 NSD.

Changing a new borrower’s tax code to RI SL will result in an administration fee of 50 NSD, which I believe many students past and present very much dislike, and for good reason. So this amendment is good in that it will indirectly remove that fee, because new borrowers don’t need to change their tax code no more, so well, the administration fee’s gone. This change will also result in flexibility concerning ITA record, so employees will not be required to change tax codes so often, letters of tax code changes won’t be needed no more, telephone calls after calls trying to inform students to change their tax code to RI SL will be gone; EducationPathway staff can instead spend their time to do more productive things.

I personally will support this Bill during select committee hearing. I thank the Christian Democratic Executive Council for doing something right, for once.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: I am pleased to be given this opportunity to rise before parliament and to call upon the Higher Education Amendment Bill. I vote FOR this legislation. I want to see it be brought before the select committee.

[ OF COURSE OF COURSE! The Leader of Yohannes First Rt Hon Loseton Petres heckled. ]

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: It pleases me to see Yohannes First voting for this Bill. I am surprised! Them voting FOR this bill has brought memory for parliament once again that, hey, after all, they did campaign about helping ‘true’ heartland Yohannesians and to seeing their welfare and concerns be brought before this august Assembly.

[ LOCK HER UP LOCK HER UP! Nickel Fallage heckled. ]

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Well the sun is shining, the rainbow’s pretty, and I am sure it will all be alright! The money will come pouring in from the heaven, good Lord Saint Maxtopia, and then we all can hold hands together, the peace train, as Yohannes First stands for unlimited spending and riding the gravy train all the way to Jennifer Government’s fictional paradise, [ Jingoistan ]. That’s what Loseton First, I mean I am sorry, Yohannes First stands for: paradise. Along the way they will kick out ‘big money’, ‘foreign interests’, ‘pak choy washers’, and ‘sushi chefs’; hey, don’t say I am racist, okay? That comes straight from the mouth of Nickel Fallage last week. If anyone’s racist, it’s him.

NICKEL FALLAGE: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. You will know, as you have announced more than a thousand times this year already, that a call before parliament concerning a Bill should be focused towards the Bill and relevant areas, and not other matters unrelated to the Bill. This is what happens when you have a corporate raider standing before parliament —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise the Member to make his point loud and clear.

NICKEL FALLAGE: Whether I am ‘racist’ or not is irrelevant to the Higher Education Amendment Bill. The Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade should not make a call for the sake of making a call: she should know this already.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I thank the Member for pointing that out. I suggest the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade, and the Member himself, refer to the Speaker’s ruling: 40/5 —

NICKEL FALLAGE: Thank you Mr Speaker for seeing the light!

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I am standing. The Member will sit. But to satisfy the Member, I rule that the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade will conclude her call and thus come to order. I am not happy.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Nor am I —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I am standing.

MARWIN NAGELBERG (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Herven) I rise to give my call before parliament. EducationPathway as an institution has ensured that each and every single tax-paying resident of the nineteen countries can afford to become a full-time student at any tertiary institution in the continent of Yohannes. Beside the loan itself, EducationPathway also provides contract for universal allowance (i.e., up to 250 NSD per week), course-related costs subsidy (i.e., up to 1,000 NSD per trimester), and student hardship support service (i.e., free counselling and mentoring services). When I joined the Social Democratic Party fifteen years ago, It was to my belief that one of the core values of the Social Democratic Party is the universal availability of tertiary education for all Yohannesians. The student loan scheme expansion in the mid 1990s and the 2005 amendment have further opened access to higher learning for Yohannesians, but at the same time have also saddled many young Yohannesians through the years with huge debts. In my constituency I have seen cases where students have borrowed up to 50,000 NSD to finance their study.

Once that student will graduate he will, of course, be obligated to pay back that loan, and understandably so too, as he would eventually have a good job or at the very least a semi-decent middle position job. So I have no problem with the loan scheme itself. What I have a problem with is the stress level that such a student must have experienced, as he looked at his loan balance sheet every week, whilst having to pay for seemingly ever rising year by year food, flatting, and transportation costs. Putting aside the removal of old compliance costs by this amendment’s decision to create an integrated electronic document and records management system for the institution, the inevitable replacement of EducationPathway’s old annual administration fee by that of a new one — according to section four, clause two — will increase the cost of a borrower’s student loan by 110 NSD or so over a three-year period. I consider both the proposed EducationPathway administration fee and the loan establishment fee to be unnecessary and will challenge their introduction during select committee hearing. Thank you.

TORBEN EICHMANN (Independent; Electorate of Houilès): It is a pleasure to close this discussion with the last call of the day —

[ YEAH CLOSE IT ALREADY! Two Christian Democratic Members cheered. ]

TORBEN EICHMANN: I am trying, I am trying, okay? I have a couple of things that I want to say here. From reading the submission of the Tertiary Education Commission it seems that EducationPathway related lending cost has increased by quite a lot since the mid 1990s; it was 11.5 cents for every NationStates Dollar in 1993, 23 cents for every NationStates Dollar in 2005, and finally hitting the 41 cents for every NationStates Dollar roof in 2014, to reflect the fact that interest-free student borrowing was fully released already by then. I am a wee bit concerned by this and I urge Members of the Education Select Committee to explore further ways for us to cut lending costs during select committee hearing next week.

When talking about tweaking the way we run things, we should know that it can be any one of the following: tweaking by legislation, tweaking the regime itself, or by tweaking the way EducationPathway itself is being run. With this amendment it seems that we will concentrate primarily with only number one, with a bit of number three being applied, i.e., integrated electronic document and records management system to cut administrative and compliance costs. I am confident that we will see the reduction of compliance costs and more administrative efficiency with the increasing use of emails, mobile texts, and other communication methods used commonly by student borrowers out there. Switching from our old system will not be easy, however, and I expect that some hard questions will be raised before the Education select committee next week. I look forward to these changes taking place, just some of many other things proposed by this amendment Bill.

Thank you.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: A vote shall be called into question. I move that the Higher Education Amendment Bill be commended to the Select Committee on Education by the date that is one week following the date of first reading.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Higher Education Amendment Bill read before parliament for the first time.

[ … Amendment Bill heading to the Education Committee… ]

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[Yohannes]

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Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes Incorporated — Report to Parliament:
Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of the Nineteen Countries Economy with the Economy of Greater Nifon Bill 2017

Equal Trade and Connecting of Economies 2017 — Greater Nifon -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Tuesday, 31 October 2017 — Volume 951; Citizen Sector Report — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.




Citizen Sector Report — November 2017

Published under the authority of the Electoral College and Parliament — 2017

This brief report is made on behalf of member-businesses of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes Incorporated: an association of more than one hundred chambers of commerce and industry in the Nineteen Countries. Member-chambers of the association represent most of the businesses — and all Nineteen Countries Economic Benefits exporters on the continent of Yohannes, i.e. registered businesses must ensure that the goods and services they provide are made solely in the Nineteen Countries, or in conjunction with other registered businesses on the continent of Yohannes; that the overseas branches of their export-oriented businesses or contracts employ Yohannesians alongside with, or to supervise, the local peoples abroad; that an acceptable level of Yohannesian high technology or intellectual property is involved in their overseas operations and transactions; and that an acceptable level of profit will be brought back to the Nineteen Countries. The association assists the Office of Vocational Training as one of its three major providers of public fundraising for the collective interest of member-businesses, with the other two being the Ministry of Education and the Realm Parliament, through the Office of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of High Technology and Industrial Security.

Introduction

The Association is pleased to be given the opportunity to submit this summary, and will see its presentation before parliament, concerning the possible benefits that can be enjoyed by the Nineteen Countries in the scenario of it establishing an Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of the Nineteen Countries Economy with the Economy of Greater Nifon. The Association supports the possibility of further aligning the Nineteen Countries economy with the economy of Greater Nifon. The nation-state of Greater Nifon is a fast growing imperial power that, collectively with other member states of the organisation [ SACTO ], has eclipsed the Nineteen Countries militarily. Together as an organisation, SACTO and other fast expanding players of gunboat diplomacy and [ international incidents ] (e.g. [ DEUN ], [ Allanea ]) have increasingly dominated international politics and will one day completely replace the web of alliances and informal networks of yore; excluding unforeseen circumstances such as nation-state or organisational inactivity. Recent [ evidence have shown ] that, at least in the case of Greater Nifon, inactivity will not happen for the foreseeable future. And Greater Nifon is more than ready to assert its own brand of [ nation-state exceptionalism ], not unlike our own decision to claim the international legitimacy of the Yohannesian Model in 2011.

The Chambers of the Association welcome the possibility of connecting the Nineteen Countries economy with the economy of Greater Nifon. Both nation-states will benefit, and it will show to the international community that the Nineteen Countries is a friendly, pragmatic, and economically-focused nation-state which eschews diplomatic confrontation or ideological extremism. Greater Nifon is not unlike the Nineteen Countries in 2010. It may have a vastly differing culture to the Yohannesian continent, but friendship between two nation-states of vastly different cultural or ideological background is [ not without precedent ]. It is to the view of the Association that both Greater Nifon and the Nineteen Countries are set to gain from closer economic cooperation, which is realised under a strict neutrality framework.

Background

The conclusion of the Bushido Solutions Limited and Bank of Yohannes Multiregional Protection Agreement 2016 between the Nineteen Countries and the Empire of Greater Nifon was announced jointly by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of High Technology and Industrial Security Paulus Spitzer and Chief Executive Officer of Bushido Solutions Limited Jack Kurosawa in Economic Palace on 15 October 2016. A study was completed by the Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast in January 2017, which showed that given the complementary and strong showing of economic gains enjoyed by the Bank of Yohannes and Bushido Solutions since that agreement, despite initial misgivings from key industry players from both sides concerning the vastly different cultural background and political system of both nations’ governments, an Agreement of Equal Trade and Connecting of Economies between the Nineteen Countries and Greater Nifon would theoretically generate profits for both nations’ citizen sector businesses.

Why Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of Economies?

Greater Nifon — and other nations in the same position — is a much more active nation-state and is a much more active player beyond the International Incidents than the Nineteen Countries today. The key benefits for our exporters and importers would thus be:


• More access to new markets as both destinations of our exported goods and sources of goods the Nineteen Countries must import from. Likewise, more markets for Yohannesian investment, which will contribute to economic growth, more jobs, and make possible a higher standard of living for our people.
  
  
• The creation of a formal, government-sanctioned channel where both Nifonese and Yohannesian entities from the citizen sector can air out differences, discuss and negotiate commercial matters, and thus improve trade efficiency between both nation-states.
  
  
• The creation of a formal, government-sanctioned channel where both Nifonese and Yohannesian entities can indirectly educate both nations’ respective peoples on Nifonese and Yohannesian cultures, histories, and political systems whilst contributing to the economic prosperity of both nations at the same time.
  
  
• More opportunities to raise the profiles of Nifonese body corporates in the Nineteen Countries’ traditional regional neighbours and trading partners, and Yohannesian body corporates in Greater Nifon’s traditional regional neighbours and trading partners.
Forecast gains:



Year	Exports (annual rolling) to Greater Nifon
2010	$9.57 billion
2011	$10.67 billion
2012	$16.14 billion
2013	$19.15 billion
2014	$22.70 billion
2015	$25.98 billion
2016	$27.35 billion
2017	$32.82 billion


Source: Impartial Mediation Foundation.
The Nineteen Countries will benefit from the gradual reduction of tariffs on certain key exports (e.g. large merchant vessels, optics and photonics components), with Greater Nifon set to also enjoy the same benefit for its chosen exports. According to Economic and Demographics Yohannes, in the year ending October Yohannesian exporters have spent 517 million NationStates Dollars in nation-state tariffs for goods exported to Greater Nifon, with Greater Nifon also realistically paying a similarly proportioned figure in levy for its goods on the continent of Yohannes. The Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of Economies will reduce these costs for doing businesses between both nations, thus increasing the competitiveness of Nifonese exports in the Nineteen Countries and Yohannesian exports in Greater Nifon with respect to exporters from other nations.

On coming-into-force (CIF or commencement) of this legislation, tariffs on 85 per cent or 27.9 billion NSD of the Nineteen Countries’ current exports to Greater Nifon will be removed — this would include such exports as container vessels and parts for (civilian) vessels, base electrolytic capacitors, integrated circuits, and optoelectronic components. Tariffs on certain Nifonese industrial and steel exports to the Nineteen Countries will also be removed. Greater access to imports of Nifonese industrial goods will reduce costs for manufacturers in the Nineteen Countries who use imported Nifonese capital goods to produce their own goods. Yohannesian consumers may also enjoy new benefits from access to cheaper Nifonese goods. The Nineteen Countries will enjoy the benefit of a secure, pirate-free cross-border trade with Greater Nifon, with both nations already possessing a good network of friendly nations with equally strong maritime presence. There will be some problems, as the Nineteen Countries is a party to the Impartial Mediation Foundation whilst Greater Nifon is not. Any issues concerning that can however be set aside insofar as Greater Nifon is willing to agree to additional commitments on domestic regulations.

Investment rules can be decided between both nations with a framework to promoting mutual investment flows, where Yohannesian investors can benefit from the agreed protections for investment, including with the use of an investment court system (ICS) to ensure new, essential safeguards and transparency requirements are made concerning the rights of both nations’ governments to regulate with public policy motives and public interests in mind. A five-year plan will be used to ensure both parties will equally see through the gradual increase of investment and services access for Greater Nifonese and Yohannesian body corporates. This plan will also include measures to see through existing discrepancies in customs, environmental, labour, and trading laws between both nations.

Forecast losses:

On coming-into-force (CIF or commencement) of this legislation, barriers to entry on various Nifonese goods imported to the Nineteen Countries will be reduced, with restrictions on certain goods being removed entirely. This will lower tariff revenue by 2.7 billion NSD and will undoubtedly expose some struggling small and medium-sized enterprises to cheaper and more competitive Nifonese goods (e.g. industrial metallurgy, steel). This will result in smaller profits for some companies or even some companies being forced out of business by stronger Nifonese competition, and thus people losing their jobs. There will also be increasing competition from Nifonese investors in some sensitive domestic sectors (i.e. investments in residential and commercial properties), possibly resulting in increasing competition from foreign investors for mum and dad first time home buyers on the continent of Yohannes.

Economic results:

On coming-into-force, the legislation is predicted to positively impact the economy of the nineteen countries; contributing to gross domestic product growth and increasing trade. The agreement is predicted to bring about positive contributions through its removal of previously heavy investment and trade barriers between the two nation states. News of this bilateral agreement and the willingness of both the nineteen countries and Greater Nifon to commit themselves to securing cross-border trade and their embrace of peaceful commerce will generate overseas business interests and increase investor confidence in both nation states. Some setbacks such as increasing competition for Yohannesian businesses will most likely negatively affect some sectors of the economy in the short term, e.g., metallurgy and shipbuilding, but will eventually be offset by increasing gains in other stronger sectors of the economy.



Top imports (annual rolling) as percentage of total imports	2015 March fiscal quarter	2016 March fiscal quarter	2017 March fiscal quarter
Automatic data processing equipment	7.9 per cent	10.3 per cent	10.9 per cent
Clothing and textiles	12 per cent	10.4 per cent	9.1 per cent
Metallurgy and steel	6.9 per cent	9.2 per cent	10.5 per cent


Source: World Microcredit Foundation.

Environmental results:

On coming-into-force, the legislation is predicted to positively impact the environment of the nineteen countries; more imports of Nifonese industrial metallurgy and steel mean less ‘dirty’ manufacturing and mining in the nineteen countries. Additionally, greater access to capital from enterprising Nifonese entities will result in more investment for the currently fast growing Yohannesian high-technology, renewable energy, and green industry sectors.

Expenses:

One-off expenses associated with putting the agreement in place on the ground will be included as fundamental Executive Council spending for the 2017/2018 fiscal year. Some examples of recurring expenses include ensuring compliance to agreement terms are met and ratification procedures related spending. Some examples of one-off expenses include updating Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Trade websites concerning the agreement, the publication of materials relevant to the agreement, and on the ground demonstration on how the agreement can benefit the nineteen countries and Greater Nifon both on the continent of Yohannes and overseas, estimated to cost the Executive Council 10.2 million NSD on the legislation’s coming-into-force. The legislation will include additional provisions to amend existing laws that may affect the terms of the agreement.

Effects by sector:

Shipbuilding: Taking the largest share, non-military shipbuilding exports to Greater Nifon is dominated by two major companies: [ Royal Beaufort ] and Southern Sea Works AG. Only a few types of vessels are allowed to be exported to Greater Nifon due to strict import restrictions; with those allowed to be exported to Greater Nifon, i.e., large merchant vessels such as very large container ships and crude oil tankers, facing a 38 per cent tariff. Under the agreement, Yohannesian export of parts for civilian vessels to Greater Nifon will be granted with duty-free access status by the end of the first five-year plan.

Electronic components: Taking the second largest share, in the year ending September fiscal quarter (2017), the nineteen countries exported 17.52 billion NSD of electronic components and semiconductors to Greater Nifon. At present, tariffs for electronic components and devices sit as low as 28 per cent to as high as 137 per cent. The nineteen countries’ largest electrical component exports to Greater Nifon (e.g., base electrolytic capacitors, integrated circuits, and optoelectronic components) will have their barriers of entry (i.e., legislated restrictions) and tariffs be lifted gradually within the next five to ten years from the date of coming-into-force (of the legislation). Quotas and tariffs for Yohannesian electronic exports will be gradually removed in accordance with Greater Nifon’s existing transitional tariff-rate quota regime.

Benefits for the service sector

The structure of the services obligations to be proposed under the Agreement will follow the nineteen countries’ preferred approach in accordance with World Assembly international laws. Subject to future exemptions, Great Nifon and the nineteen countries will guarantee unrestricted access to each other’s markets with respect to all industries of the service sector, and will ensure that no discrimination exists towards citizen sector players in each other’s service sector. This will increase market certainty and transparency, and thus benefit those Yohannesian body corporates who are already engaged in, or are looking to trade with the companies of Greater Nifon, who will also enjoy the same benefits in the nineteen countries.



Bilateral services trade (export) with Greater Nifon	2016 March fiscal quarter	2017 March fiscal quarter
Commercial services	$1.36 billion	$2.64 billion
Government credit and insurance	$2.71 billion	$3.98 billion
Shipping and transportation	$19.25 billion	$24.47 billion
Tourism and export education	$1.17 billion	$4.09 billion


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.

Tabling of matters

The association will submit this report before the Select Committee on Export Industry by the date that is one week following the publication of this report. A copy of the report will be tabled before parliament by the date that is one day following the publication of this report. The association hereby nominate the following body corporates to represent its member businesses during submission process:


• Alleswerken General Trade;
• Commercial Bank of Yohannes;
• Halstenmetall Electronics;
• Passive Component Corporation; and
• Southern Sea Works.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Oral Questions — Questions to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of High Technology
and Industrial Security; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Embassy and Consulate Programme;
and the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade

Miscellaneous Subjects — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Tuesday, 31 October 2017 — Volume 951; Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Halsten): Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. My office has just received an email and a letter from the Chairman of Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes Incorporated, Mr Joshua Leitgeb, concerning its report of Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of the Nineteen Countries Economy with the Economy of Greater Nifon Bill 2017.

Rt Hon SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection?

[ ... Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and nodding heads seen all around the chamber... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of the [ Citizen Sector Report — November 2017 ]. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Question time to commence — Questions to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of High Technology and Industrial Security: Foreign Corporate Tax Administration 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues.

KELLYANNE STONEWARE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of Old Hershey): Good afternoon parliament. Mr Speaker. I rise before parliament to ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of High Technology and Industrial Security — will his Office look into the recent administrative tax reforms implemented by the [ Cynthian Government ] in The East Pacific region, and bring new changes in next year’s Appropriation Update 2018 to see to it that big, foreign multinational companies will never again try to avoid paying their fair share of tax in the nineteen countries?

PAULUS SPITZER (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of High Technology and Industrial Security; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Altenmarkt): Whilst the exact details concerning the implemented administrative tax changes on foreign multinational companies by the Cynthian government are certainly being looked at by members of my Office, I feel that the nineteen countries — there is no need for us to sit and do nothing until the next Appropriation Update in February 2018 to bring about multinational tax avoidance changes. I also want to note that, I feel under our current regime we already have good plans to combat base erosion and profit shifting over the next four years. This we have done through bringing about schemes such as the enactment of the Imperial Thin Capitalisation Rules and Overseas Investor Withholding Income Tax Rules in March 2016. Finally, in 2014 when we took office this Executive Council has seen to it the realisation of a centralised value-added consumption tax for goods and services consumed on cross-border services and intangibles. Over the next four years, this nation state will see these and other measures that we will put in place to proactively combat multinational corporate tax avoidance by devious body corporates out there.

KELLYANNE STONEWARE: Supplementary questi —

[ ... WHERE’S THAT EXTRA QUESTION COMING FROM? Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade Hon Emily Kirchweger yelled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! That Member has the right to ask supplementary questions.

KELLYANNE STONEWARE: Thank you Mr Speaker. For next year’s February Appropriation Update, what number will the Parliamentary Under-Secretary be willing to provide to see to it that the Imperial Taxation Authority will have enough manpower to administer these massive regime changes on foreign corporate rules effectively?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: That statement contains two supplementary questions. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary will address just one.

PAULUS SPITZER: Thank you Mr Speaker. I will ignore the first question. As to the Member’s second question, I want to note that it is not as simple as increasing the number of people working for the Imperial Taxation Authority, and then boom, we will have one hundred per cent administrative efficiency. As my son would say: this is not a Paradox Europa Universalis III game. There ain’t no extra Ducats here. Say we go about and hire thousands of new employees for the ITA, without looking at the underlying core problems. The underlying problems will still be there. Administering tax regime is like cutting weeds in your garden: The moment some problems are cut, next thing you know there will be more of them growing needing attention.

Two months back, during Budget Reform 2017, this Executive Council had increased funding for the Imperial Taxation Authority to combat foreign multinational tax avoidance issues and to increase efficiency in domestic tax intake; we did this without significantly increasing ITA staff number by the thousands. And as the Member can see the benefits are there today. We have increased tax intake in comparison to back in 2013 without spending too much on extra staffing and other unnecessary expenditure. I want to let the Member remember also that we do not have unlimited financial resources at our disposal.

KELLYANNE STONEWARE: Does he stand by his statement on Doll Henry’s current affairs Breakfast this morning that, quote, when my secretary went to the Imperial Tax [Authority] and told them: “Hey, you guys need some trimming to do. We need some of these regulations down to appease the latest foreign investors and incoming foreign interests to enrich our nation state.”, unquote, they [the authority] then replied: “No trimming needs to be done.”

PAULUS SPITZER: Trimming, what — is that even a question?

[ ... ALTERNATIVE FACTS! Three Members from the Green Party side of assembly laughed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I must ask the previously standing Member to repeat her question.

KELLYANNE STONEWARE: I have said all that I can —

[ ... TELL YOUR POPULIST BUDDY RONALD CHUMP TO ASK NEXT TIME! Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Geoscience and Natural Resources Kayla Fletcher yelled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! Decorum of parliament, ple —

[ ... SHUT UP GREENIE — WE ARE HERE TO ENSURE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL TRANSPARENCY! Chairman of the Exiting International Incidents and Nation State Neutrality Committee Nickel Fallage yelled back. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I say: Order! This is parliament, not the zoo.

Dr ZOE NILSSON (Green Party; Electorate of Cowrie): I would like to raise a point of order, Mr Speaker —

[ ... OH HERE WE GO AGAIN LADS! Imperial Head of Opposition Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn laughed. ]

Dr ZOE NILSSON: I would like to see an extension opportunity for the previously standing Yohannes First Member to ask the same question again: We all in parliament like funny jokes when we hear one.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! Members will not toy around with parliament’s lines of standing orders. To the Member’s point of order, I say: The joke is on you. Someone please escort Ms Nilsson out of this chamber.

[ ... Many Members of parliament laughed, as Dr Zoe Nilsson of the Green Party was escorted out of the chamber... ]

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): Does the Parliamentary Under-Secretary stand by his statement made this morning: “I do say that our foreign multinational company tax regime is going steady as she goes. No problem Sir.”, given that University of Yohannes tax expert Professor Benjamin Weisgerber has estimated that the nineteen countries is being robbed of approximately seventy billion NationStates Dollars a year from tax avoidance by devious multinational companies?

PAULUS SPITZER: Actually, yes, I stand by my statement this morning. I want to remind the Member that I did follow on that statement by saying that this Executive Council will work very, very hard to follow on and comply with existing World Assembly international laws concerning tax avoidance by multinational corporations. As to the ‘Professor’ Benjamin Weisgerber’s figure, all I can say is this: The guy was a former young Social Democrat back in his university days.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: I seek leave to table the [ World Microcredit Foundation ]’s “Tax Administrative Oversight on Multinational Companies” report, which was published in 2012.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: On the basis that it was a credible report by an organisation established by the World Assembly’s General Assembly Resolution # 94, and a modern one at that, I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that WMF reference. Is there any objection to that report being tabled? There is none. The Member can move forward to table that report.

[ ... Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table... it shows the validity of Roeltsje Veldman’s statement. ]

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Given that the World Microcredit Foundation has been trying, at the very least, to acknowledge that multinational tax avoidance do exist in many World Assembly member nations out there, in what year does the Parliamentary Under-Secretary expect it to finally target the nineteen countries as a tax haven for dirty money and ill-gotten wealth, and will he only then address this problem once the nineteen countries has been targeted by the WMF in future?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: That statement contains two supplementary questions. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary will address just one.

PAULUS SPITZER: Thank you Mr Speaker, but to satisfy the Member my answer will actually address his two questions: I reject his assertion that this Executive Council has not done anything in regard to multinational corporate tax avoidance related issues. I have answered the previous questioner’s question satisfactorily, where I have described the programmes the Christian Democratic Executive Council and its Ministries have implemented since taking office in 2014. The Imperial Thin Capitalisation Rules and Overseas Investor Withholding Income Tax Rules in March 2016 were two I have mentioned previously. The nineteen countries is taking actions to combat multinational corporate tax avoidance and to close loopholes in regard to ITA tax administration. And again, as I have said before, for the next four years we will be working very hard with the World Assembly to ensure that we comply with the latest modern World Assembly resolutions regarding this subject.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: If the Stratocratic Queendom of Yuno, or the nation of Cynthia, can do it, why can’t we? Why are we so beholden to dirty money from such resource rich but corrupt empires, such as [ Ralkovia ] and [ The Scandinvans ] to name just two?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order. Again, that statement contains two supplementary questions. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary will have the right to answer just one.

PAULUS SPITZER: Well, for one, the Government of the Queendom of Yuno, or Cynthia, is a very influential World Assembly Delegate government, representing the whole region of The East Pacific to the World Assembly. The East Pacific region, I must add, is a very, very big region — more than 492 World Assembly member nation states, and many, many more non members of the World Assembly. This is why the Christian Democratic Executive Council has, since taking office in 2014, stressed the importance of diversifying our international trade with many nation states in the fast growing new world regions, e.g., The North Pacific, The East Pacific, and USSD, to name just three. We have been making good progress in both The East Pacific and USSD, and we can and we will of course do more.

By diversifying our investment and trade, we will be less dependent commercially with the more unsavoury nations out there, e.g., Ralkovia and The Scandinvans. Just last week, we have received positive response concerning a possible future trade agreement from the [ Government of Laeral ], which is also the World Assembly Delegate of the International Democratic Union region, home to many commercially and diplomatically influential nation states. The opportunities are there.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next Question to commence — Questions to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Embassy and Consulate Programme.

DOMINIK EISENBERGER (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Antzen): To the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Embassy and Consulate Programme, what reports has she received on expansion of the nineteen countries diplomatic outreach outside the continent of Yohannes?

MARGARET LARSSON (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Embassy and Consulate Programme; Christian Democratic Party — Christian Faction; Electorate of Bischofbühel) As Members will be aware, on Wednesday last week the Allied Provinces of Laeral responded positively to a future agreement of equal trade and connecting of economy with the nineteen countries. As the Allied States Government is the World Assembly Delegate of the International Democratic Union region, home to three General Assembly Secretariat nations — [ Bears Armed ], [ Sciongrad ], and the [ CDSP ] — this will certainly create some lucrative commercial opportunities for our citizen sector players. Our financial markets have reacted positively to this news, particularly our currency markets, with sharemarkets increasing immediately post news release. This morning Imperial Business Review has reported the Quertz russling rising against the NationStates Dollar, indicating rising confidence in our economy.

DOMINIK EISENBERGER: How well placed is the nineteen countries to deal with international uncertainty?

MARGARET LARSSON International community uncertainty is the name of the game, in the face of increasing aggression and gunboat diplomacy by expanding militaristic organisations and those opposing organisations — [ SACTO ] as one example and [ DEUN ] the other; increasingly expansionist empires such as [ Allanea ], [ The Scandinvans ], and of course our very own regional neighbour [ The Macabees ]; conflicts and crises raging all around the international community: [ The Theban War ], [ the Lightning Wars ], and the [ Atkemri-Tawwassen Blockade ]. Of course, there are many more but I will not name them here for reason of space.

Our diplomats have been working very hard outside the continent to stress our neutrality. They said: “Look, the nineteen countries, we are here to trade only; we don’t want to be involved in costly foreign intervention or international incidents; we just want to trade and enrich ourselves with those who will be kind enough to trade with us.” We are a politically stable and diplomatically neutral nation state; with a, yes, struggling, but also confident economy. We are seeing our companies going out there with the confidence and know-how to keep on growing and investing into the future, knowing that in the nineteen countries they have an economy to fall back into that can meet the challenges of participating in the constantly changing international economy.

DOMINIK EISENBERGER: Does the [ Office of Embassy and Consulate Programme ] have the resources needed to adequately protect the embassies and consulates of our nation state in more than five hundred nation states outside the continent of Yohannes?

MARGARET LARSSON The recent initiative by the Office of Embassy and Consulate programme to outsource and subcontract certain duties, e.g., chancery housekeeping and private mercenary services, to both Yohannesian and overseas citizen sector players, e.g., [ Bushido Solutions Limited ], has been a great success. For the Executive Council to not do so, whilst still keeping the appropriation plan of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council to see through its overseas diplomatic obligations, well, it would be impossible for the department to achieve that target.

We have inherited a lack of funding crisis from the previous Social Democratic Executive Council; however parliament can rest assured knowing that under current funding in accordance with Budget Reform 2017, the Office of Embassy and Consulate Programme will be able to reduce departmental expenses by at least fourteen per cent. It will achieve this goal by outsourcing some duties and obligations from Her Majesty’s Secret Service to Bushido Solutions Limited and other cheaper, officially approved security contractors. In doing so, hopefully, we will be able to cut departmental expenses whilst still adequately protect important and very important persons — foreign ambassadors, diplomats and senior staff; government and important state-owned enterprise officials; and any persons categorised as Persons of Protection as stipulated under the original State Protection Act 1851 and Persons of Public Importance Amendment Act 2001.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES (Yohannes First Party; Collegian Elector — First Burmecian District): With multiple [ international incidents ] existing at present, and not to mention transnational terrorist organisations attacking innocent nations left and right, such as [ Homofront ], what risks to embassy and consulate security will there be if the Christian Democratic Executive Council and the Office of Embasy and Consulate Programme continue to cut appropriation level and chop funding for relevant gove —

[ All Members of parliament gasped, eyes wide open; each one raising their hands, covering their mouth. Mr Speaker... h... h... he mentioned You... Know... What...., whispered voices coming from the Green section. Even the Speaker of parliament himself — a well-known social conservative, pro-life supporter — shut his mouth and stared at the Leader of Yohannes First in a weird way. ]

MARGARET LARSSON Well, this is awkward.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES: — rnment... services?

MARGARET LARSSON I invite the Member to discuss this matter further next week during Select Committee discussion.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I feel that from listening to the question by the Member, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary has offered an opportunity for the Member to be privy to information that the Member was seeking. I feel that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary has answered the question in a manner that is proper and suitable under the circumstances. However, I invite the Member to ask his supplementary question.

Rt Hon LOSETON PETRES: Does she stand by her Executive Council’s intention to cut diplomatic staff number by five percent over the next four years, whilst the number of embassies and consulates is projected to grow by at least 140 over the same period; if so, how?

MARGARET LARSSON Yes. And how? Well, by being smarter than the previous Social Democratic Executive Council.

[ ... OVERWORKING STAFF IS NOT BEING SMART! The Imperial Head of Opposition Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn heckled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I advise the Imperial Head of Opposition to sit.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next Question to commence — Questions to the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN (Deputy Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Sortgrunn): To the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade, what reports has she received on the value of investment in [ Greater Nifon ]?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): Yes, Economic Palace has released a report showing investment in Greater Nifonese shipbuilding generates 5.16 billion NSD every year in benefits to the nineteen countries. The biggest gains are enjoyed by large shipbuilding companies such as Royal Beaufort Southern Sea Works which are forecast to experience higher exports of very large container merchant ships and tankers to Greater Nifon by at least seven per cent over the next two years.

The report submitted by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes Incorporated’s yesterday afternoon further highlighted the additional benefits that can be enjoyed by the nineteen countries in the scenario of it establishing an Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of the Nineteen Countries Economy with the Economy of Greater Nifon, such as one example: Yohannesian export of parts for civilian vessels to Greater Nifon will be granted with duty-free access status by the end of the first five-year plan according to the agreement.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Why is the Economic Palace only releasing the report now, and not two years back in 2015 when Greater Nifon and its trading partners (i.e., SACTO) were starting to show their potentials as future international incidents and nation states diplomacy players?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Well, Economic Palace has released the report this week because it greatly improves public understanding of the value of diversifying our trade with more key players of international incidents and nation states diplomacy out there. Our policy is to get the most out of all our existing international trade nodes. What’s hard to understand is why the past Social Democratic Executive Council, back in the first half of 2014 before it was voted out of office, did not even bother to compile any report on the potentials of the then emerging nation states such as Greater Nifon.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Is she positive that she has met all her responsibilities under the Foreign Office Amendment Act 2014 in relation to her Quarterly Foreign Relations Memorandum released last month?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: That’s for the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Embassy and Consulate Programme to answe —

[ ... BUT SHE’S THE BOSS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OH C’MON EMILY! Three Social Democratic frontbenchers yelled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ ... HOW ABOUT THE CORPORATE RAIDER DO ANSWER SOMETHING RIGHT FOR ONCE! Rt Hon Loseton Petres the Leader of Yohannes First heckled... ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I said: Order! Mr Petres, parliamentary decorum expect for you to be seated.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: But to assure the questioning Member: Yes, I am sure I have kept the words of the memorandum. [ 50,000 NSD front desk included ].

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: Can the Minister confirm then that she will not be able to keep her 2014 parliamentary election promise that, quote, we will ensure that we will not abandon our links with nation states from the old world regions, unquote?

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: Under the memorandum, here I have a copy in my hand, I cannot find the word ‘abandon’ anywhere, and I have reexamined the paper long and hard.

ROELTSJE VELDMAN: When did the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade formally advise the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Embassy and Consulate Programme that the Executive Council was no longer considering extensive bilateral and multilateral relationships with nation states from the old world regions, and that the Executive Council would instead concentrate on forming relationships with nation states from the new world regions, e.g., International Democratic Union and The East Pacific?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: That statement contains two supplementary questions. The Minister will address just one.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: I don’t think that has been included under the memorandum. It is the Executive Council’s policy view that we should concentrate on the new world region whilst still maintaining our commercial and trading relationships with nation states of the old world regions. Yes, we will not kickstart new initiatives with nation states of the old world regions, but we will still maintain our existing links. That is not abandoning one for the other; that is quite simply shifting our focus on the other more.

[ ... ISN’T THAT EXACTLY THE SAME THING? ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I said: Order! To the Imperial Head of Opposition the Rt Hon Jeremy Robyn, parliamentary decorum expect for you to be seated too.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER: We cannot be nostalgic of the past and surrender ourselves to the spectre of inactivity. We must make new friends and expand our commerce and trade with new nation states of the new world regions.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Parliament to adjourn.

[ … Members leaving the chamber… ]

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[Yohannes]

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Monthly Report to Parliament — Economic Summary: Subject to the Members of Assembly

Monthly Report 2017 — Economic Summary -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 1 November 2017 — Volume 951; November Economic Summary — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.




Monthly Overview — November 2017

Published under the authority of the Electoral College and Parliament — 2017

The Monthly Report 2017 — Economic Summary is a monthly summary of the Nineteen Countries economy. It includes the latest important economic data (e.g. gross domestic product growth, nation-state inflation, people not working, the difference between imports and exports, the difference in total value between payments into and out of the nineteen countries). It also includes other financial data (e.g. Economic Palace’s imperial cash rate). Some relevant data from our main trading partners and either one of the two largest economies beyond the International Incidents (i.e. Maxtopia and Bigtopia) can also be used as economic datum.



Economic expansion	[+]	0.419%	Monthly gross domestic product growth
People not working	[-]	0.098%	Monthly movement of unemployment rate
Monetary policy	[+]	0.040%	Monthly inflation change
Nation-state surplus	[+]	$88.1b	Monthly current account surplus change
Imperial cash rate	[+]	0.40%	Monthly short-term bill of exchange movement



Office of Chief Economist point of view



Source: Dr Fat’hiyaa el-Rasheed, CD-D
Incumbent Chief Economist.
Following on from [ last month ]’s forecast, the unemployment rate in Yohannes the continent slightly decreased by 0.1 per cent to 4 per cent, with 340,000 more people acquiring full-time and part-time employment on the back of increasing shipbuilding activities in the Kingdom of Alexandria since the announcement of the Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of the Nineteen Countries Economy with the Economy of Greater Nifon Bill 2017. Still increasing overseas energy and oil prices and continuing minor disruption to Yohannesian shipping (e.g. worrying International Incidents located near or involving trading partners of the Nineteen Countries) had contributed to higher consumer prices, which went up by 0.15 per cent — this is lower than last month’s increase of 0.29 per cent.

The Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace, Heidemarie Vogelweide, had unexpectedly increased the Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) by 0.10 per cent or ten basis points to act as a brake due to the sudden increase in economic activities experienced on the back of positive commercial and trading developments abroad (e.g. commercial agreements with International Democratic Union World Assembly Delegate nation Laeral, investment and trade agreement with Greater Nifon, increasing trade with World Assembly Delegate nation of The East Pacific region the Yuno Stratocracy).

Taking into account the World Assembly’s trade-weighted effective exchange rate index, the Quertz russling vis-à-vis the NationStates Dollar (NSD) or Universal Standard Dollar (USD) has reached a new high since it was first floated freely. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index in October had averaged near the 90.7 index points. In light of the Christian Democratic Executive Council’s 2018 policy target to increase the competitiveness of Yohannesian exports abroad, Economic Palace has determined that the Quertz russling is overvalued due to stronger than expected appreciation since 2014, and that ideally its value must be brought down. The Chair of the Board of Governors has indicated that, quote, There are a range of intervention options that we will consider so that we [Economic Palace] can intervene in the market and see to it that the value [of the Quertz russling] will not distract the Executive Council from meeting its 2018 policy target, unquote.

Recent statistics

The economy of the Nineteen Countries is forecast to grow by 0.419 per cent in November, with a revised quarterly growth of 0.971 per cent for the 2017 September fiscal quarter. Exports of goods and services is forecast to increase by 2.167 per cent in November, ascribable to higher exports of parts for vessels (civilian & military) accompanied by higher shipping and transportation lending revenues and services. More tourism and export education from high-net worth citizens of Greater Nifon due to the successful conclusion of the Greater Nifonese-Yohannesian economic and investment agreement are forecast to further lift services revenue growth in November. Household final consumption expenditure is forecast to rise by 1 per cent, with spending on consumer durables (e.g. cars, household appliances) to rise by 1.6 per cent; accompanying a general trend of increasing consumer prices by 0.15 per cent according to the Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index (NCCPI). Only time will tell whether an international situation with less international incidents, less organised piracy, and less gunboat diplomacy between imperialist nations and alliances overseas will become the reality in 2018.

The current account balance of the nineteen countries in November is forecast to reach 88 billion NSD, or equal to 0.55 per cent of GDP; a surplus higher than originally predicted last quarter due to recent positive developments (e.g. Greater Nifonese-Yohannesian economic agreement, Laeral investment agreement). This increase in surplus has also been attributed to strong predictions of higher shipbuilding export to The East Pacific World Assembly Delegate nation the Yuno Stratocracy and other nation-states in that region, and lower dairy product and raw materials prices in comparison to previous higher prices in October. Fluctuations in variable manufacturing costs for the month of November are also predicted to be less than those registered in September and October.


Expansion of the economy

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, the gross domestic product of a nation-state is a monetary measurement of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period of time; reported commonly every quarter or year. In the Nineteen Countries, the most important way to track the state of the economy over the years is to check its real gross domestic product — that is, the value of economic output adjusted for price changes (i.e. inflation or deflation). The purpose of Parliament Analysis Archive’s Monthly Summary of the Economy is to allow foreign and World Assembly observers to conveniently track our empire-wide gross domestic product data and changes every month.

November 2017



Gross domestic product 2017	Monthly GDP growth at current market prices
Expenditure method	$66.704 billion
Per capita growth	0.075 per cent


Source: World Microcredit Foundation.
For the month of November, growth is forecast to be 0.419 per cent, which is 0.172 per cent more than October. The Office of the Chief Economist reiterates once again that this is due to recent positive developments (e.g. Greater Nifonese-Yohannesian economic agreement, Laeral investment agreement). After taking into account population growth, per capita GDP is forecast to increase by 0.075 per cent in November, and by 0.225 per cent in the September fiscal quarter.

On Tuesday, 31 October, Export Industry Credit Administration (EICA) delivered its latest report on tradeable and non-tradeable sectors of the Nineteen Countries’ gross domestic product. In the Nineteen Countries, tradeable sectors are those industries delivering tradeable goods and services (e.g. producing machinery instead of building houses). Tradeable goods are also those goods facing foreign competition in the Nineteen Countries, i.e. products that can be imported, such as dairy products or everyday electrical components and machinery. Tradeable industries export their products abroad. Non-tradeable goods are goods that do not face foreign competition in the Nineteen Countries. Non-tradeable can also be defined as something unproductive, e.g. investing in residential property instead of capital machinery and facilities for export. EICA forecast that tradeable activities in the economy is set to grow by 0.487 per cent in November, with non-tradeable growing by 0.351 per cent.

The growth of the ratio of the Nineteen Countries Export Prices Index (NCEPI) to the Nineteen Countries Import Prices Index (NCIPI) is forecast to continue its decline since the highest level of growth — in five years — which was recorded in September. In this monthly forecast, the ratio of import-export prices is expected to grow by 1.1 per cent, in comparison to last month’s 1.3 per cent, which in turn was lower than September’s record high of 1.7 per cent.

Miscellany



Empire-Wide Growth Surveys	October	November
Business Sentiment	59.0	62.7
Export Sales Volume	40.5	42.9


Source: BOY, Empire-Wide Growth Surveys.
Retail sales volume is forecast to increase by 0.066 per cent in November, with retail sales volumes for the core consumer industries — excluding automobile related household spending — to increase by 0.17 per cent. Household general grocery and supermarket spending increased by 6.24 billion NSD in October whilst food and beverage spending fell by 4.96 billion NSD. The Nineteen Countries Purchasing Managers’ Index rose from 60.7 points in September to 62.4 points this week whilst Economic Palace’s Citizen Sector Services Index fell by 0.3 points. According to Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes, quote, Recent key economic indicators, such as inflation and the unemployment rate, have shown the positive state of the nation’s economy, giving the green lights for investors both here and overseas to continue or kick-start their projects in the Nineteen Countries with confidence, unquote.

Merkel Rothsdad Equal Weight Commodity Index has shown an upward trend of 0.1 per cent in the last two weeks of October — the first since September. Continental Dry Index has also shown an upward trend since October to reflect the higher volume of shipbuilding work undertaken — forecast to rise by 1.3 per cent — for merchant vessels in our trading partners, though somewhat dampened by the higher operating costs of fuel, crews and vessels in the Nineteen Countries and key trading partners.

The Bank of Yohannes’ monthly Empire-Wide Growth Surveys and both the Nineteen Countries Manufacturing Business [Conditions] Index and the Nineteen Countries Purchasing Managers’ Index fell briefly towards the end of October, but was forecast to rise again at a level consistent with growth in output in the last two fiscal quarters in November.

Point of view

Participants in the latest Economic Palace Monthly Polling think that economic growth for the September fiscal quarter will rest at 0.971 per cent. Citizen sector manufacturing and services index shows a slightly lower level lagging behind the growth found in our finance and banking, machinery, semiconductor, and shipbuilding sectors. Monthly surveys conducted show the willingness of businesses to employ more people in comparison to June fiscal quarter.

Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes recently published its more upbeat forecast — a general agreement made by member Chambers to average their differing forecasts. It shows a somewhat more positive view on the economy as a result of the creation of new trade agreements (e.g. Greater Nifon, Laeral and Klemantan-Borneo) and manufacturing growth in the heavy engineering and shipbuilding countries of Lindblum and Alexandria. The Chambers, however, forecast a more sobering monthly growth rate of 0.341 per cent in November. Export is predicted to increase from previous figure last month, halting a downward trend that was originally forecast to continue until 2018 March fiscal quarter.



Economic expansion	2017 June fiscal quarter	2017 September fiscal quarter	2017 December fiscal quarter	2018 March fiscal quarter	2018 June fiscal quarter
Quarterly	0.671 per cent	0.971 per cent	0.75 per cent	0.738 per cent	0.742 per cent


Source: Office of the Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade.


Unemployment rate and workforce

Background

According to Encyclopedia Maxtopia, the unemployment rate is a measure of how many people are not working in a nation state and is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of people not working with the number of people who are working or the workforce; and reported commonly every quarter or year. In the nineteen countries, the workforce is defined as those adults — that is, twenty years and over — who are either employed under either one of the following contracts: Casual, part-time temporary, part-time permanent, and full-time permanent.

In the nineteen countries, the workforce definition also includes those who are temporarily without jobs but are registered as those looking for jobs by relevant oganisations of the Executive Council (e.g., Work and Parenting Income and Vocational Education Authority) and those who are not employed under any of the above mentioned contract but are classified under either one the following categories: ‘Enterpreneurial’, ‘Investor’, and ‘Self-employed.’ Another purpose of Parliament Analysis Archive’s Monthly Summary of the Economy is to allow foreign and World Assembly observers to conveniently track our empire-wide unemployment and workforce data and changes every month.

November 2017



Source: Economic and Demographics Statis-
tics Yohannes.^{[Full resolution]}
Unemployment rate in the continent of Yohannes slightly decreased by 0.1 per cent to 4 per cent from last month, with 340,000 more people acquiring full-time and part-time employment on the back of increasing shipbuilding activities in the Kingdom of Alexandria since the announcement of the Agreement for Equal Trade and the Connecting of the Nineteen Countries Economy with the Economy of Greater Nifon Bill 2017. After accounting for the latest seasonal adjustments, there were 15.16 million people registered as ‘unemployed’ in the year ending October.

Unemployment number is forecast to decline further by 0.1 per cent in the quarter ending November, due to a rise in the number of those working full-time. In contrast, there was a drop in full-time employment registered in the year ending October, caused from the (i) steel and heavy metallurgy, (ii) coal and iron, and the (iii) forestry and agriculture industries. As a result of the reduction in employment and unemployment, the participation for adult rate in this month is forecast to drop by 0.2 per cent, down from previous high of 66.2 per cent registered in the year ending October.

The empire-wide participation rate takes into account those aged twenty years and over who are either employed or seeking employment. In the fourth quarter employment-to-population ratio is forecast to increase by 0.413 per cent, coming strong from the 1.713 per cent increase registered in the previous two quarters. There were an additional 759,000 people employed in the Greater Halsten metropolitan region compared to a year earlier, and an additional 1,239,000 people employed in the Royal Alexandria metropolitan region.

Employment in the chemical and material engineering industries expanded by 1,477,000 people from a year earlier, whilst employment in the aeronautical industry rose by 1,512,000 people. Employment in the steel, heavy metallurgy, and shipbuilding industries — mostly concentrated in the Kingdom of Burmecia and the heartland countries respectively — went down by 4.17 per cent, extending the serious downturn registered in October.

Miscellany



BOY business sentiment studies (for the next two quarters)	October	November
Will have more workers (per cent)	25.8	33.5
More people will lose jobs (per cent)	25.4	22.9


Source: Bank of Yohannes.
Employment indicators went up in the November Bank of Yohannes business sentiment studies from their second lowest level last month. The Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes have indicated reports made by small and medium sized business owners that they are waiting for the results of the 2018 imperial election before continuing with any further employment related moves. Most significant changes in employment intentions are predicted to be made in the construction and building industries; with incumbent executive council initiatives such as the Housing Infrastructure Fund and Central Provident Fund’s housing grant being the main determinants.

Moogle Jobs and Employment — the two largest job vacancy and recruitment websites in the nineteen countries — recorded a higher number of contracting, professional, and regular vacancy ads in the last two weeks of October when compared with the first two weeks of October. It corresponded with the Skilled Workforce and Labour Corporation’s Online Employment and Jobs Search October report, published to improve the number of universal apprenticeship, cadetship, and internship programmes in the nineteen countries by connecting small and medium-sized companies with skilled workforce and labour.

Point of view



Yearly comparison	November 2016	November 2017
Whole time equivalent average weekly earnings (after tax deduction)	$913.10	$910.07
Employment Cost Index movement	+1.5	+1.4


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.
The Winter Economic and Fiscal Report released by the Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace, Heidemarie Vogelweide, has the unemployment rate slightly increasing from current levels to stay near the 4 to 5 per cent boundaries in the next three years. The report forecast a 4.3 per cent unemployment rate by the end of the next fiscal quarter; mainly due to increasing net migration from non-occidental nation states and the continuing decline of the heavy metallurgy and shipbuilding industries in heartland countries, particularly those in the Kingdom of Burmecia and the Grand Duchy of Dali. With increasing net migration labour force growth will outpace growth in employment over the next five years.


Nation state surplus

Background

Nation state surplus (or deficit) can be gauged by looking at the difference in total value between payments into and out of that nation state, usually reported quarterly or yearly. A major part of that is the current account balance of the nation state, which is the difference between its investment, savings, and the difference between its imports and exports with the outside community of regions and nation states.

November 2017



Source: Office of Economic Analysis and
Forecast.^{[Full resolution]}
The current account surplus for the end of the September quarter has been larger than originally forecast in the October monthly report; predicted to reach 88.1 billion by the end of this month, i.e., equal to 0.55 per cent of GDP. It will be the largest surplus since the quarter before the 2012 Gholgoth Diplomatic Crisis and 2013 Hippostania War. Growth in tertiary goods and machinery exports consonant with other recent indicators, along with new bilateral agreements (such as the Caracasus material engineering partnership first formalised in 2015), were major drivers behind the unexpected rise in surplus.

After accounting for real GDP differential and seasonal adjustments, on annual basis the current account surplus is forecast to reach 807.034 billion NSD in the year ending this quarter. The increase in surplus has also been attributed to strong predictions of higher shipbuilding export to The East Pacific region World Assembly Delegate nation the Yuno Stratocracy and other nation states in that region, and lower agriculture and perishables (e.g. dairy product) as well as declining raw materials prices in comparison to previous higher prices in October.

In the year ending this quarter, there have been 1,091,099 micro, small and medium sized businesses which export their goods or services in the continent of Yohannes. Of these, there are 17,912 businesses that have registered total business revenues of 50 million NSD and over; almost half dealing directly or indirectly in the chemical development, material engineering, and structural research and development industries. These businesses accounted for almost a third of total goods and services exported this quarter.

The Office of the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund previously reported that as the Quertz russling continued to appreciate against the NationStates Dollar (or Universal Standard Dollar), climbing above 0.0121 NationStates Dollar in the September fiscal quarter, bilateral trade in goods was originally forecast to grow by 5.7 per cent to reach 23.081 trillion NSD in the year ending June 2018. Recent updates have however forced the Economic Palace to readjust its forecast in light of the very strong possibility of a drop in value of the Quertz russling against the NationStates Dollar gradually in 2018; to possibly reach 0.0091 NSD, with bilateral trade in goods value of the nineteen countries in NSD to also drop to a lower growth rate of 4.4 per cent — a significant negative hit on paper.

Miscellany



Monthly price changes	October (%)	November (%)
Agglomerated Commodities	19.5	16.4
Producer Commodities	3.9	3.7


Source: Bank of Yohannes.
The amount of imports that the nineteen countries can afford to purchase with its exports is expected to rise from last month to meet previous high recorded in September. In this monthly forecast the ratio of import-export is expected to grow by 1.7 per cent in comparison to last month’s 1.3 per cent, making it again the highest recorded monthly increase in import-export prices ratio since the 2012 March fiscal quarter. This was caused by a brief increase in aeronautical engineering prices and exports to Caracasus, Nusalia, Right to Life and Saanangi, amongst others.

Point of view

Imperial Bureau of Economic Research’s monthly report forecast that nation state surplus growth will fall to 50.3 billion NSD for the month of December; caused by a brief but sharp decline in the last two weeks before the 2018 imperial election results are released. Surplus is forecast to remain stable over the next four fiscal quarters to the month of December next year.



Current account balance	2017 June fiscal quarter	2017 September fiscal quarter	2017 December fiscal quarter	2018 March fiscal quarter	2018 June fiscal quarter
Quarterly	$185.234 billion	$214.456 billion	$183.37 billion	$286.436 billion	$274.156 billion
Goods (yearly)	$239.976 billion	$292.077 billion	$276.818 billion	$303.909 billion	$282.093 billion
Services (yearly)	$220.988 billion	$221.848 billion	$233.762 billion	$217.958 billion	$233.430 billion
Investment (yearly)	$283.507 billion	$293.109 billion	$257.003 billion	$299.465 billion	$271.935 billion
Yearly total (post-adjustment)	$744.471 billion	$807.034 billion	$767.583 billion	$821.332 billion	$787.458 billion


Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.


Money matters

Background

The Nineteen Countries Trade Weighted Index (NCTWI) is derived from the original World Assembly’s trade weighted index; that is, an index measure of the value of the Quertz russling relative to other nation states’ currencies. Just like the Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index (NCCPI), which is used as an economic indicator to measure inflation by tracking the price of commonly bought or essential goods and services, e.g., clothing, education, food, and transport services, amongst others, the Nineteen Countries Trade Weighted Index is used as an economic indicator to measure the worth of the Quertz russling by tracking the price of currencies of those nation states the nineteen countries commonly engage in commerce and trade with; weighting each currency with the volume of trade and gross domestic product of that currency’s nation state with the nineteen countries.



Source: Economic Palace.^{[Full resolution]}
The Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) is the interest rate set by Economic Palace on overnight borrowing and lending between banking institutions of the citizen sector and Economic Palace. Economic Palace has regularly used the ICR as a tool to indirectly influence the direction of the economy and to ensure price stability. It also used the ICR to ensure that yearly inflation meets the Economic Palace’s explicit inflation rate target.

The Standard and Rich Chloe Jokes Indices’ S&R 200 Index is a share index of the two hundred largest companies by market capitalisation in the nineteen countries. It is the leading stock market index in the nineteen countries, and is the official method used by parliament to measure the prosperity of businesses in the continent of Yohannes. The index is managed by Standard and Rich Incorporated and Chloe Jokes and Company.

November 2017

Economic Palace has announced its plan to hike up the ICR to 200 basis points in December. The Board of Governors of Economic Palace said that, “We have formulated a pro household lending policy since first [quarter] 2017 and we have [last month] warned mum and dad first homeowners to think very carefully before choosing to buy any property for the next two years. The time has come for the [Economic] Palace to increase rate in order to better influence prices and ensure stability in light of recently registered higher growth... and currency changes”

In its recent report, the World Assembly’s World Microcredit Foundation has noted the high household debt level of the nineteen countries. In early August, the institution said that, “At present levels of household debt caused by the expansionary policies implemented since 2014... coupled with possibility of future u-turn... would lead to problem down the line”. Prior to Economic Palace announcement, household debt in the nineteen countries had reached 70 per cent of disposable income, which was higher than that recorded before the World Assembly Automagfreek condemnation and 2012 Gholgoth crises.



Fundamental imperial government borrowing	November 2017 (NS$)	November 2017 (per cent of GDP)
Gross debt issue	6.77 trillion	42.7


Source: Economic Palace.
The Quertz russling has been forecast to drop against the NationStates Dollar around the December fiscal quarter, with figures pointing to it possibly falling to a low point of 0.0091 NSD by the end of the 2018 September quarter. Economic Palace has recently adopted a policy to adapt to the highly likely long period of depreciation in 2018, which would (i) increase costs for importers, (ii) lower the value of the choice of the best alternative cost, (iii) raise domestic investment levels, (iv) increase exports competitiveness abroad, and (v) lead to increasing inflation. Taking into account the World Assembly’s trade-weighted effective exchange rate index, the Quertz russling vis-a-vis the NationStates Dollar (NSD) or Universal Standard Dollar (USD) has reached a new high since it was first floated freely.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index in October averaged near the 90.7 index points. In light of the Christian Democratic Executive Council’s 2018 policy target to increase the competitiveness of Yohannesian exports abroad, recently the Economic Palace determined that the Quertz russling has been overvalued due to stronger than expected appreciation since 2014, and that ideally its value must be brought down. The Chair of the Board of Governors has indicated that, quote, there are a range of intervention options that we will consider so that we [Economic Palace] can intervene in the market and see to it that the value [of the Quertz russling] will not distract the Executive Council from meeting its 2018 policy target, unquote. This would coincide well with the forecast natural drop of the currency in 2018, making it highly likely that it would drop further below the originally predicted 0.0091 NSD low point.

---

[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Subject to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Constitutional Law and Judicature Modernisation and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Green Policy and Climate Change

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 1 November 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Rt Hon SAUL RYAN (Speaker of Parliament; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Weirconsin): Honourable Members, I would like to draw your attention and to welcome the Ambassador of Laeral, His Excellency Mr Emmanuel Liu, who is sitting alongside members of the senior press gallery in parliament today.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN (Majority Leader Pro Tempore; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic; Electorate of Halsten): In light of the many things parliament and its Members have accomplished today, I seek leave for parliament to resume debate at half past two tomorrow from three this afternoon, or at the conclusion of the customary debate, whichever is to arrive sooner.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Leave for that purpose is sought. Is there any objection?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and yawning faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There appears to be none.

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Constitutional Law and Judicature Modernisation; Green Party; Electorate of Gemünden am Main): I want to apologise for my lateness. Important executive council business^{[Note 1]} meant I had to prioritise that over exchanging imaginary blows with the bigots and socially backward from Yohannes Fi —

[ ... SHUT UP GREENIE! YOU ARE OUT OF TOUCH! The leader of Yohannes First Rt Hon Loseton Petres heckled. ]

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: Let’s get another round of alt-right votes running, Loseton. That is oh so terrible.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and smiling faces seen all around the chamber… ]

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: I hereby move, that parliament take note of domestic, nation state issues. Right now on a distant continent something very important is happening that should worry us all. Of course I am referring to what is going on in the civil war in Khataiy, where the forces of Allanea, Freilibre, Huntpublic and other open trade and free world nation states are now involved. I know that there will be some people rushing off from parliament now to be fixed to their television screens to see what is going on in Khataiy, whilst a few others will, of course, be seeing what is going on here closer home.

I was just checking Setzukuo and I noticed that Max Inoue, who is pretty much the representation of your everyday Nifonese, has told the Chief Justice of the Peace to, quote, shut up and go back to kitchen, unquote. Now, what do the sexist extremists and Max Inoue have in common?

YOHANNES YOGYAKARTA (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Green Policy and Climate Change; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic; Electorate of Jakarta): What’s that?

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: They are like Loseton First.

YOHANNES YOGYAKARTA: That’s right.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I am going to interrupt the standing Member and ask her and the Member Loseton Petres to take their tit for tat discussion somewhere else. To the Members Erika von und zu Südbigtopia and Yohannes Yogyakarta: this will be their first official warning this week. Thank you.

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: Whilst watching the International Incidents noticeboard this morning, I had been acquainted with a few new press gallery reporters by a friend of mine. They said: “Erika, can you please quickly summarise the Opposition Election 2018 Policy? But you can’t say the words ‘broken’ and ‘promise.’” And so I tried, and tried. But I couldn’t — because all their policies are full of future broken promises.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN (Imperial Head of Opposition; Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Clearingtonne): Show us the money!

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! There will be no interjection while I am standing.

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: But, the money is there. According to the Christian Democratic and Green Memorandum of Understanding Policy for 2018, there is already at least three billion NationStates Dollars (NSD) to be made available for the Housing Infrastructure Fund and Central Provident Fund’s housing grant. But, to responsibly reallocate and invest existing resources is one thing; to promise the world to the voters for irresponsible lolly scramble is another thing.

Okay, we are done with Lo — Yohannes First. Then it comes to their groom in this cringey marriage of convenience: the Social Democratic Party. Well, right now I think they are actually in their divorce stage. They are not sure whether they want a relationship with Yohannes First going 2018 election, even though it might be necessary. They are trying to salvage their out of whack relationship with Yohannes First: a left-leaning traditionally social liberal party with an extremely reactionary traditionalist party. How can that work? Amazingly, they have done it since 2010 and for that we must applaud them.

Nevertheless, they have a bunch of new members from the populist side of the electors, and the relationships there actually do not look to be gelling just yet — Ronald Chump, Pauline Le Men, Clara Palin: they all have praised Yohannes First and Loseton Petres more than they have praised Dear Leader Jeremy Rob —

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I will have to ask the standing Member to withdraw that.

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: I withdraw. My apologies, Mr Speaker. But, okay. Maybe it is best to describe the thing they have going on over there not as a marriage but as a circus.

[ ... JUST MAKE YOUR POINT ALREADY YOU SILLY LITTLE GIRL! Raucous shouting could be heard coming from the Social Democratic section of the chamber. ]

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: Thank you. That, right there, is sexism.

[ ... TOUGHEN UP PRETTY PRINCESS! Laughing could be heard coming from the Yohannes First section of the chamber. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I am standing. Order! I am standing, and no one will continue while I am standing.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order. I believe... we have witnessed disgusting sexism at play just before. They should have been left behind in the seventies, where they belong.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I would disagree with the Member’s sexism charge. But I agree with the Member that that was a less-than-stellar performance made by Members from the Social Democratic side of this chamber.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Can the Members who have said those unpleasant words come forward to face the chamber?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and worried faces seen all around the Social Democratic caucus… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I won’t be standing here forever. Can the Members please come forward.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and accusatory faces looking left and right seen all around the Social Democratic caucus… ]

NICKEL FALLAGE (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of South East Burmecia): Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. This is gobbledygook. If I may, lads will be lads.

[ ... LOOK AT THIS GUY! Laughing could be heard coming from the Christian Democratic caucus. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! I said: Order! To the Christian Democratic caucus, there will be one less question for their side of the chamber this week. To the Member’s point of order, I cannot accept that. And the Member should not use parliament’s standing orders for frivolous points: the hall outside is quite empty. I do rather not send one more Member to accompany the Member Ronald Chump outside.

RONALD CHUMP (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of New Cleyra): I am here people. Please! What is this, the establishment — they get it wrong all the time!

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! That will be the end of this. If I may ask the Member Erika von und zu Südbigtopia to please resume her call.

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: And so whilst the opposition have been spending their ever shrinking party donation funds on paying up counselling sessions to fix their broken marriage, we in the Christian Democratic Executive Council have been meeting some policy goals implemented since 2014, and we are doing pretty well actually. However, we are not yet ready to retire come election time 2018, because there are still some goals out there that we want to complete. In my hand I have a report compiled by a collection of executive council organisations recently, and I will note some of them down for the Members present.

One, Public Service Goal A, and that is to support struggling Yohannesians getting free from social programmes and welfare subsidies. Reading the first line here, it shows that the figures have gone down 630,000 people since 2014. These are not number; they are people — with ambitions, dreams, and goals. Since the decision by our executive council to isolate the nineteen countries and remove us from many unnecessary Nation States diplomatic crises and International Incidents in 2015, we have been able to reduce future liability for our hard-working taxpayers: 151.2 billion NSD is the number, over a period of four years.

Again, these are not just figures: they represent Yohannesians out there who have been off nation state support and are now achieving independence for themselves and their families.

Moving on to the second report, here, the Office of the Minister of Equality and Social Welfare; it states that 2,142,009 Yohannesians have been going off the major social programmes of the ministry since 2014. That is a very good thing. The latest figures indicated that they have dropped from 12,403,440 to 11,750,298. Now, why is this important for us? Putting aside the number, if today I am a young person from welfare dependent household, I have almost fifty per cent higher chance of failing high school and not meeting university entrance requirements in comparison to my friends who come from non welfare dependent households. These are from figures reported by the Ministry of Education last week.

So as you can see, being a child born in a welfare dependent household represents just one facet of this endless, poisonous cycle of youth poverty.

Rt Hon JEREMY ROBYN: Then end it without generalising people.

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: We are working hard to end this. These are not generalisation, they come from statistics compiled by executive council organisations. Another one said that if I am a child of a welfare dependent household, there is almost fifty per cent higher chance that I will be forced to go to the Child Abuse Prevention Agency. I am not trying to generalise anyone here, Dear Le — to the Head of the Opposition. So, seeing these youths moving on from being in welfare dependent households is a very good thing because it shows that there will be higher chance for them to succeed. Another thing to note is that children of welfare dependent parents have almost fifty per cent higher chance of ending up on welfare dependency themselves, so obviously we want to really bring this number down.

Another thing that I want to note, from another report I have in my hand, is the results of the most recent household polling, which indicated that there have been more women younger than twenty-five employed either under the casual, part time or permanent full time contract out there. Under twenty-five-year-old women unemployment: down 0.7 per cent from 4.9 to 4.2. Now, how about the first people of our land?

[ ... OH THE DRIVELS! EVERYONE BENEFIT FROM SETTLERS CULTURE! Laughing could be heard coming from the Yohannes First caucus. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: Unemployment for our indigenous Yohānnesi and Yohannesia people are collectively down from 13.7 per cent to just below 10 per cent. And how about our new settlers and recent immigrants? For non-Occidental ethnic minorities of recent immigrant background, unemployment is down to 10.7 per cent from 13.9. Although the latest data showed that general unemployment for those manufacturing and heavy industry workers under thirty have been up just slightly, that is what our education schemes such as the Vocational Education Authority’s Night Learning and Re-skill Programme and the Renewable Energy Development Corporation are there for: there are lots of things out there to shore up those who are looking for help or want to upskill to new industries of the twenty-first century.

So our goals have been successful at tackling inter generational social programme and benefit dependency as well as prop up historically underrepresented Yohannesians. We are working everyday to lift up the number of high school students with university entrance grades, and those returning mature students with diploma level trades qualification or better. We are tackling crime with effective youth prevention, rehabilitation, and support law and order policies. Come election time 2018, Yohannesians will watch these indicators like a hawk, but of course they don’t matter to the politicians sitting over the —

[ ... AND IS SHE NOT ONE? Laughing could be heard coming from the Social Democratic and Yohannes First caucus. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: No interruption!

[ ... WE NEED TO END THIS INDIGENOUS TREATY GRAVY TRAIN AND PUT A STOP TO NON-OCCIDENTAL IMMIGRATION THAT IS HOW YOU LIFT UP EMPLOYMENT! The Leader of Yohannes First Loseton Petres heckled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

[ ... PEOPLE. PLEASE! MAKE YOHANNES GREAT AGAIN! Ronald Chump, the Social Democratic Member for New Cleyra, shouted. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: No. Order! I am standing — I am standing, and there will be no interruption while I am standing. I will have no tomfoolery while the Ambassador of Laeral is watching proceedings in parliament this afternoon. Next call, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Green Policy and Climate Change.

YOHANNES YOGYAKARTA Mr Speaker, thank you. As a nation state, the nineteen countries must oppose President Donald J Trump’s latest decision to move the United States embassy to Jerusalem.^{[Note 2]} I made this call today as Indigenous People, Immigrant Community, and Foreign Affairs spokesperson for the Green Party. The reason we must condemn President Trump is because what he is doing there is supporting a regime known for dislocating indigenous Palestinians from their birthplace. In the nineteen countries we went through our own period of colonisation and the historical discrimination of our own Yohānnesi and Yohannesia people. We have moved on as a nation state —

[ ... END THE TREATY GRAVY TRAIN FIRST! The Leader of Yohannes First Loseton Petres barked. ]

YOHANNES YOGYAKARTA The recent treaty settlement to acknowledge the historical land seizure of the Makara Tribe was something that I believe was not lost on most Yohannesians.

[ ... WHEN WILL IT END! The Leader of Yohannes First Loseton Petres laughed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! This will be the last warning to the Member Loseton Petres for today. One more interjection and I will be forced to have the Member be escorted outside.

YOHANNES YOGYAKARTA The displacement of innocent Palestinians by Israeli forces reflects the historical land seizure seen all around this continent more than three centuries ago. I have instructed our Ambassador to the United States of America, Her Excellency Jacinda Clark, to condemn the recent heartless, provocative act perpetrated by President Trump. Though to be frank, I am not surprised that the US Government and Trump are capable of doing something like that. After all, we are talking about the United States of America here: they were not kind to their own indigenous peoples historically. Just ask the Cherokee people.

[ ... MAYBE IF THEY WILL STOP BEING BLUDGERS THEN THE MAJORITY WILL ACCEPT THEM! THAT IS WHY THE SWAMP NEEDS TO BE CLEANED OF POLLUTANTS OF THEM AND THE WANG AND JOSE FROM THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT! The Leader of Yohannes First Loseton Petres, heckled. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order. Order. Order! I will have no more of this tomfoolery — someone please escort Mr Petres out of this chamber.

[ ... Many Members of parliament laughed, as the Leader of the Yohannes First Party was escorted out of the chamber... ]

YOHANNES YOGYAKARTA I believe that it is my job as a Member of Parliament, as a proud Yohannesian, and as an equally proud member of the indigenous Yohannesia community, to ask for all of us to condemn the recent move by President Trump and the United States Government to move their embassy to Jerusalem. Thank you.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and blank faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next to commence. Social Democratic Party Customary Debate 2017 Response.

Note 1: The character’s hyperlinked information (i.e. co-leader of [politically incorrect]front in Yohannes) is considered secret in character; no one knows that Erika and Yohannes are, in fact, the same masked people from that terrorist organisation. As co-leader of [politically incorrect]front in Yohannes, Erika and Yohannes are also secret in character the leading figures behind Bluepeace.

Note 2: For historical continuity (and storytelling purpose), the “US Embassy Moved to Jerusalem Celebration Ceremony” thread [ here ] has been treated as if that was made in character wise in 2017, not 2018.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Subject to the Social Democratic Party

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 1 November 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



RONALD CHUMP (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of New Cleyra): When the Chancellor was elected into the office four years ago, she stood up and said to Yohannesians: “I expect high standards from my Ministers. If they don’t meet those standards, then I will set about doing something about that.” Well, today in parliament, we have seen the impact of four years of Annabelle-Thorndon Stevensonn’s standards. We have an Executive Council Minister who believes that the fact that she was raised up in an upper middle class suburb and was educated at one of the nation’s private schools —

ERIKA VON UND ZU SÜDBIGTOPIA: On scholarship.

RONALD CHUMP: Mean that she has what it takes to tackle inner city crimes and welfare.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: I must raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. We all know what the Member is referring to — that is so racist.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I am afraid saying “inner city”, “crimes”, or “welfare”, does not make one a “racist.” And on that ground I must reject the Majority Leader Pro Tempore’s point of order.

RONALD CHUMP: Mr Speaker, thank you. Thank yo-ou! I am sorry that she was S.O. offended. But I was only saying the F.A.C.T.

[ ... Alternative fact! Laughing could be heard coming from the Christian Democratic caucus. ]

RONALD CHUMP: See there people. That is the standard of her executive council — the Christian Democratic executive council. This is the standard of the establishment of today: if you avoid actually committing a crime, you are doing a G.R.E.A.T. job. That is how low it has got under the Garnet and Annabelle administration. Yesterday’s report from one of our political analysts watching the Qaidi conflict, where one of our doubtful historical A.L.L.I.E.S. Allanea is actually participating; in many ways — because most in parliament will know that Allanea is an imperialist warmonger and to be frank they should not be trusted —

[ ... Speak for yourself! Minister of Economy, Industry and Trade the Hon Emily Kirchweger laughed. ]

RONALD CHUMP: Towards the end of that analyst’s report, today — he said we must be sending message down to these terrorists. We should be more proactive. Like Allanea. They are sending terrorists all over the civilised world: we must put a stop to this Islamist terrorism!

[ ... Islam and refugees welcome! Love, not hate! Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Constitutional Law and Judicature Modernisation Erika von und zu Südbigtopia shouted. ]

RONALD CHUMP: We must send a message to these Islamists and terrorists. Okay, what? Okay. She is talking about love. Well I am talking about F.A.C.T. They bring their religion here — they bring trouble. They bring crimes and they bring rapes. The inner city is already unsafe enough without more arriving by the hundreds every month!

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: I am sorry Mr Speaker but I must raise a point of order.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I am standing. I suggest for the Majority Leader Pro Tempore to sit.

RONALD CHUMP: They are talking about love. Well here is love: North Halsten has one of the highest sexual assault number in the continent of Yohannes. And you want to know why that is? Yes? Yes! You see many rascals walking around the parks. Who knows? Tell me people. Who knows what they are up to? I mean. Okay.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: My apologies, Mr Speaker, but how can that be in order?

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I suggest for the Majority Leader Pro Tempore to sit and let me do my job. To the Member Ronald Chump, one official warning for this week. And that will be one less question for the Opposition this week.

RONALD CHUMP: Well, okay. I see, but I do rather say the reality. There are people out there being killed and being raped by Muslim immigrants in North Halsten. But okay? So what do they — the Christian Democratic Executive Council ministers — do in their own version of a reality television show? Okay. So here is contestant number one: Kayla Fletcher. She pretended and said that all immigrants are good people. I see female Members there. Yes, I see female Members of parliament. They, and her, that Member Kayla Flecher, will have daughters ten years from now and what will they tell their daughters?

I am sorry, but you can’t walk the streets at night alone — and if you do, make sure you don’t wear skirts. And bring the Qur’an too!

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I suggest for the Member to remember that this is parliament; not the campaign trail. Second official warning. And that will be one less question for the Opposition this week. Again.

RONALD CHUMP: Then we have contestant number two.

[ ... Who will it be this time? Three front-seated Members from the Christian Democratic side of the chamber laughed. ]

RONALD CHUMP: Private school educated, latte-sipping Erika von und zu Südbigtopia : “I go to the shopping mall everyday to buy a cuppa coffee”, as she was reported by Nineteen Countries Lawyer magazine; they see her everyday, the same coffee shop, reading God knows what?

[ ... Many Members from the Christian Democratic caucus shook their heads resignedly. ]

RONALD CHUMP: Or as how most millennials know her, “Which politician?” — and then, “Oh, the ginger-haired lady? She’s cute! What policy though?” That, and they told me —

[ ... WHO? TELL US! Front-seated members of the Christian Democratic caucus laughed. ]

RONALD CHUMP: I have their names, you better believe I do. Yes, I do have them here. Okay? Okay. Ronald Chump does not tell lies! I have been elected to represent the people. The people of my electorate. Establishment out! They say.

[ ... SURE SURE! Laughing could be heard from the Green side of the chamber. ]

RONALD CHUMP: Erika assured us that she had decided to apply for taxpayer funded counselling, asking the poor man: “How can I - how can I be a good feminist?” I learn that most privileged women coming from her background; rich, privileged, sheltered —

[ ... LIKE YOU? Members from the Green section could not contain themselves any longer and started to bang their tables. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! No. I cannot hear anything —

[ ... TODAY HAS BEEN A VERY BAD DAY FOR THE QUALITY OF YOHANNESIAN HANSARD! Three Christian Democrastic backbenchers laughed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order! Yes. Order! And that will be one less question for the Christian Democratic Party this week.

RONALD CHUMP: And the Member tries to reassure us that she has been doing her part so that she can represent the working class Yohannesians of coal regions and heartland steel countries. She can somehow represent the regions and the farmers by forming working group commissions and establishment committees! And then her adoring boyfriend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Green Policy and Climate Change will say: “You are the man, Erika. You go for it, man.” Did you hear that? He said “man.” Because he did not want to offend her. Can you believe this? And meanwhile coal, steel and shipbuilding working class Yohannesians had this: “Employment in the steel, heavy metallurgy, and shipbuilding industries — mostly concentrated in the Kingdom of Burmecia and the heartland countries respectively — went down by 4.17 per cent, extending the serious downturn registered in October.” According to the latest parliamentary report.

And meanwhile she and her adoring boyfriend and fans tried to be politically correct; jibber-jabbering about whether they should say man, or girl.

People. please!

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of Dauclutt): Thank you to the Member Ronald Chump for that outstanding speech. It is always good to be able to reach across the party banner. Whilst I disagree with Ronald Chump — I actually think the Member Erika von und zu Südbigtopia is a lovely person, but when she starts talking about the wisdom of open-minded immigration and religious diversity: what the hell is she on? Just accept the unavoidable fact: Islam and democracy is like black and white. Not inseparable; completely alien and of different species to each other.

What we have here is an executive council that has been very lackadaisical in the way in which it has managed the nation’s immigration policy. We have delivered on our promises. I saw the other day not only that the nineteen countries is welcoming almost 600,000 asylum seekers from the Islamic world and more than 100,000 legal immigrants from the East Asian world, but also that we now have one of the highest sexual harassment number out there; 67 cases of reported rapes per 100,000 population.

And guess what? These cases are all concentrated in the inner cities and other urban areas with high density of asylum seekers and religious refugees. Now, I am not saying that all refugees and asylum seekers are bad: there are some genuine refugees out there. But what I am saying is: why Islam? Why the preponderance of these cases coming from those areas with people who heavily identify themselves as Muslims and recent immigrants when filling the census box?

NICKEL FALLAGE: Tell us why!

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Subject to the Yohannes First Party

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 1 November 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, a point of order. I would like to apologise for interrupting the Member Marion Maréchal-Le Men’s call. My office has finally received an email and a letter from the Chair of the Board of Governors of Economic Palace, Ms Heidemarie Vogelweide, concerning November Monthly Summary of the Economy.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: And leave will be sought to table that letter. Will there be any objection from parliament?

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and blank faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: There is none. The Majority Leader can move forward to table that letter.

[ … Official paper, by leave, laid on parliament’s table… it shows the contents of the Monthly Report to Parliament — Economic Summary November 2017. ]

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Last week, I attended a monthly meeting of the Mount Margaret Christian Democratic Party branch. I was lucky: no one there knew who I was nor what reason I was there for. But, how was that possible? Did they not watch the democratic tradition of our nation in action at least once a week on Parliament Channel? No. As was very clear to the eyes, they were all of recent immigrant and refugee stock. They spoke in languages to which I believe our ancestors would object. I saw some ladies wearing the Jilbāb.

How can this be possible?

They are attending a Christian, Democratic, Christian, Party, meeting, and yet they are wearing Islamic clothing. And so I sat and tried my best to objectively listen to the speaker. He said, “We promise to spend the energy, time, and money, to give equal opportunities for all Yohannesians; no matter the social standing, ethnicity and religion.” And then five minutes later, the speaker told us all about religious diversity and about how we should tolerate having Muslim women wearing hideous, undemocratic, truly subjugating face covering publicly. From thereon, I concluded that the Christian Democratic Party has lost its purpose, and has forgotten that it was founded upon Christian ideals — not Islam.

The saviour Jesus Christ. Not Mohammed the [*****] [********].^{[Note 1]}

After winning the 2014 empire-wide election, Chancellor Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn promised to the voters that her executive council — voted by the people, and for the people — will fight nation state poverty and lift up the standard of living of our downtrodden, hard-working working class: the Adolf and Heinrich of the coal mines and steel manufactory. What have the Christian Democratic executive council done since 2014 instead? They brought in more and more East Asian migrants, who stole the jobs of our fathers and uncles because they are more than happy with working under third world, low wage conditions. It does not help that East Asian migrants are known for their hard work attitudes too — they are like robots: always following the managers, no matter how badly they are being treated.

If that was not enough, asylum seekers and refugees from the Islamic world: 600,000 more arriving since then. And so crimes rate went up; we see people living in cars and public parks; making our public facilities unsafe for individuals like me. Harrassment rate went up also: more than 60 rapes for every 100,000 Yohannesians. The meeting I was attending last week did not even address these problems. For four years now we have an open “free for all” immigration policy —

Hon SOONG CHU-YU (Minister of Transport and Logistics; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Höganäs): That is not true.

NICKEL FALLAGE: No, no.

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: With all due respect, to the Grandfather and Mentor of parliament, but I am afraid the results speak for themselves. In that meeting, the speaker also introduced his audience — not that they cared, I could see it clearly by looking left and right; they do not care about our democracy, our tradition, our culture, and our people; unless there is some handout involved — with the 2030 Labour Participation Review; and here I must give credit where credit is due to the Minister of Economy, Industry and Trade the Hon Emily Kirchweger for kick-starting this joint-project between the executive council and big players in the citizen sector.

The drafting of this review took more than six months and it was not an exclusive executive council affairs — at least a third of the panel involved came from the Social Democratic Party, with fifty per cent coming from the Christian Democratic and Green executive council, and Yohannes First taking the rest — and beyond governance at the imperial and national level, a lot of presentations were made for our constituencies; from the beer halls to the meeting houses and rugby working people’s clubs. A lot of community discussions were had, and individuals from across the divide of union movements and business roundtables got the message: to maintain social cohesion, we must try to reduce bottlenecks in certain areas of empire-wide economic management and production — with immigration, not East Asians for they are hard working, but immigration of Muslim asylum seekers and refugees, being the main problem in this area.

Please allow me to address two recent updates introduced by the Christian Democratic executive council since September. They, and the Green Party, are absolutely happy to announce to the whole nation that there would be a funding increase for the Vocational Education Authority’s Night Learning and Re-skill Programme and other executive council led initiatives, such as another very important one, the ‘Futuresaver’ Central Provident Fund’s first homebuyer support funds. But why now? When net migration of East Asian people have been up by the thousands since 2014, whilst asylum seekers and refugees of Islam stock have flooded this nation non-stop? Why only now? When there have been a collection of reports finally made by the Gender Discrimination Panel about the more than 60 rapes per 100,000 population found in places where there have been a huge increase in Muslim asylum seekers and refugees intake? Perhaps the Christian Democratic executive council is trying to distract our people from this?

Why should I feel unsafe walking the streets at night, in my own neighbourhood?

Please, tell me why! Anyone.

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and uneasy faces seen all around the Christian Democratic caucus… ]

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Now that we have addressed one update, I would like to address another: the 15.372 billion NationStates Dollars that was allocated from surplus from our material engineering and aeronautical trade agreements with Caracasus Trade and Industry since 2015. Three years — after three years, the executive council have finally decided to allocate 15 billion NSD from that surplus fund to train our young apprentices. Chancellor Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn promised that that fund would train 2.1 million trades apprentices from our low decile high schools over the next two years. When the Christian Democrats won the executive councillorship after 2014, there were 4,709,880 trades apprentices; and today in 2017, there are 3,611,200 trades apprentices.

Four minus three is equal to one. Over one million less trades apprentices from our low decile high schools, after three years of excessive greed and corporate subsidy by an executive council that would rather import more Muslim asylum seekers and refugees from barbaric Islamic religious states to drive down wages and make individuals like me feel unsafe walking the streets at night. Meanwhile, our fathers and uncles have to compete with conniving East Asian migrants and imported slave labours who end up filling the shelves at your local supermarket and displace many local young Yohannesians from being able to work after school.

Yesterday, I was driving down just three blocks away from the Halsten Central Business District, and I saw a whole row of shops with boards and advertisements made not in Yohannesian, Alexandrian, or at least our native Yohānnesi or Yohannesia language — the whole street was packed with advertisements and huge billboards written in East Asian languages; ni ho moto, chi cha ne ma xi ma — I do not know what I have seen there. And the smell, the smell and the shouts. People made way for me, but I could see clearly that they looked at me as if I was a foreigner. A tall, proud Yohannesian that stood awkwardly amidst a sea of black hairs and yellow skins.

A foreigner in my own country.

NICKEL FALLAGE: Yes, yes.

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: A window into the future. Going back to my first point: why is it that this number of apprenticeships has dropped dramatically under the Christian Democrats? Is it because it has not had a focus on apprenticeships and on making sure that it is fixing up its own mess by hiring our people first, instead of importing foreigners? This is one of the reasons why the Christian Democratic executive council is delaying its announcements, until now, November 2017, three long years after they have been elected into office —

PAULINE LE MEN (Yohannes First Party; Electorate of Pan-de-Tallinn) Hear, hear!

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: And then no one; no one in this nation, our nation of fair-minded people, with the power to hold them accountable have spoken out against this injustice — the mainstream media, where were they? Only now do they make the headlines; to tell the experience of sexual abuse and gender discrimination victims. Only now do they ask: “Why is it so hard for our high school students to find part-time jobs? Why do we have people who do not have the capacity nor willingness to speak our languages properly displacing our own younger generation from supermarket and other low skill after school jobs?”

Why are we so accommodating of foreigners who do not have the capacity nor willingness to learn our tradition, our language, our culture, our democracy? We have not colonised anyone in the past. Why should we welcome them here?

We should look at Shogun Kojiro and Great Nifon for inspiration. 2017. This is the year where we have learnt that over the last three years over 1 million apprentice jobs have been lost because the executive council would rather transfer that subsidy over to big businesses like VMK or big banks like the Bank of Yohannes. Recent figures released by the Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast in the November monthly summary of the economy report showcased the more than 500 billion NSD current account surplus that has been forecast next year. The same year that a report to be written by the Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes will tell us of how we will have yet 200,000 more gap in our apprenticeship training scheme.

It is time that we put a stop to this rort. Election 2018 will be the time for the people to rise and to seize their destiny once more. Yohannes First will ensure that that will be the reality, come election 2018. We will promote the slogan: “Yohannes for Yohannesians.”

Look at Great Nifon and Shogun Kojiro. He said, and I will quote the Nifonese Shogun here:

“Human beings have a natural instinct to identify with their kinsmen... The bonds of Kinship are as natural as the family union. The moment when differences arise, that moment groups get separate interests. The moment they get separate interests, they can no longer be combined into a single group. Everyone except few deluded ones realizes that such differences exist and can not be destroyed without utter destruction of group’s self identity — which often has to be done by force.”

[ … Marion took a deep breath. Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and uneasy faces seen all around the Christian Democratic and Green coalition caucus… ]

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: “One can ask himself whether that is a price that is even worth to pay...”

“Yet various cosmopolitan factions attempt to pressure us to import millions of gaijin into the land of white blazing sun. Their goal is not a new one — for it resembles the tale of tower of Babel that had been told to us in the sutras of the Lord of Heaven. A world without borders where we, the Nifonese, have no defining characteristics; first, to weaken our society by introducing untold numbers of people whose numbers outmatch Nifonese labour market; then radicalize them and cause domestic instability. When such instability ends, we are to be turned into an identity-less morass without any distinctive genetic or memetic characteristics.”

[ … Tears came to Marion’s eyes. Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and uneasy faces seen all around the Christian Democratic and Green coalition caucus… ]

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Why Nifon can do it but we can’t? Why do we have to accept this situation?

It is time that we put a stop to this rort!

I do like to repeat the message of a late national hero in the Grand Duchy of Dali. He said:^{[Note 2]}

“This is the first demand we must raise and do: that our people be set free, that these chains be burst asunder, that the nineteen countries be once again captain of her soul and master of her destinies, together with all those who want to join a united, free and proud Yohannes...”

“And the fulfillment of this first demand will then open up the way for all the other reforms. And here is one thing that perhaps distinguishes us from you of Yohannesian stock as far as our programme is concerned, although it is very much in the spirit of things: our attitude to the immigration problem...”

“For us, this is not a problem you can turn a blind eye to-one to be solved by small concessions. For us, it is a problem of whether our nation can ever recover its health, whether the immigration problem can ever really be eradicated...”

“Do not be misled into thinking you can fight a disease without killing the carrier, without destroying the bacillus. Don’t think you can fight demographic tuberculosis without taking care to rid the nation of the carrier of that demographic tuberculosis. This immigration contamination will not subside, this poisoning of the nation will not end, until the carrier himself, mass immigration, has been banished from our midst.”

Even as we speak, there have been thousands from heartland coal and steel and the bible belt — they have voted for a Social Democratic and Yohannes First coalition executive council. Come election time 2018, we promise the Enabling Act 2018 will be implemented. It is time that we stand.

We will fight for the fathers, uncles, mothers, sons and daughters of this great nation. There should not be a future where I, or anyone like me out there, should feel unsafe walking the streets at night in my own neighbourhood. There should not be a time when our people are finding it harder and harder to compete against dairies and shops opened by those who do not wish to integrate and embrace our culture.

The Enabling Act will be delivered come 2018.

For what is right, and fight for our own people!

Note 1: After some thinking, I have decided to censor the words as I believe they are not acceptable here on NationStates (yes, I know, freedom of speech and all... at the end of the day, I did not like the wording used by the character and therefore I will censor it).

Note 2: Adolf Hitler’s old speech slightly changed.

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[Yohannes]

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Woman Spat at after abuse by migrants — the Sharia Law spreading across the nation

.... they spat and threw “Refugees Welcome” pamphlets at their victim after abusing her in different ways. The victim suffered serious internal injuries.... she was a pro-immigration activist, and had volunteered at the local refugee centre for nearly six years, until that night...








North Halsten, 2017 — In a hypothetical collection of the international community’s crime statistics introduced by the World Assembly, the nineteen countries presents one of the highest number of sexual abuse offences to a considerable degree registered by law enforcement agency. In 2010, the number of sexual abuse offences registered in the United States of America was 27.3 per 100,000 of population and the Federal Republic of Germany 9.4^{[Note 1]}, whilst the nineteen countries presented a rate of 70.4 per 100,000 of population — more than two times the United States, almost eight times the rate in Germany, and higher than even that of the Kingdom of Sweden.

The question is whether this means that Yohannesian women are on average more than two times as likely to be sexually abused as women in the United States or eight times as likely to be sexually abused as women in Germany.

According to Ethnic Minority and Refugee Resettlement expert Professor Maria Gutenberg from the University of Yohannes, the answer is no. “A comparison of the crime statistics from the United States of America or Sweden does not mean such a conclusion can be made of the failure of our refugee resettlement and migrant support programme”, Professor Gutenberg told other members of the Royal Alexandria Business Roundtable 2017. “Since the statistical collection and data gathering procedures employed in these nations differ too greatly, it would be like comparing apples to oranges.”

According to Dr Henry Ohlendorf, Vice President of the Refugee Council of the Regency of Lindblum, with regard to discussions taking place in the continent of Yohannes, it has also been acknowledged that increasing number of sexual abuse since the seventies has been linked with improved legal position and social standing for women. “I believe that because of increasing legal protection and better rights for women and ethnic minorities, more individuals have been encouraged to report offences. This does not necessarily reflect that there has been a sharp increase in registered sexual abuse cases since the introduction of our comprehensive asylum support and refugee resettlement programme in the nineteen countries; it could possibly mean that people simply reported things more than they used to back before the seventies.”

The issue of migrant related sexual abuse has been brought forward at the centre of public attention in the continent of Yohannes amidst the introduction of mass immigration since the turn of the century — in 2016 alone, the nineteen countries received over 400,000 asylum seekers, refugees, and economic migrants who identified their religious belief or themselves as “practising Islam.”

According to a neighbouring District Constable who wished to maintain his anonymity, “That is bollocks. Whilst we probably cannot compare these kind of information, we do not need to hire a rocket scientist to be able to grasp that we have almost complete knowledge of all the details influencing the statistics produced in these various nations, and compare them with what influence our rate here in the continent of Yohannes.”

“It is essential to have a good grasp of the most important factors, and our failure to properly support our new citizens is surely one of them. Last week, I dealt with a very serious case.”

“A victim recounted her ordeal to me. She was walking home at night, and a group of men followed her. They grabbed the victim nearby Großer Tiergarten. They spat and threw “Refugees Welcome” pamphlets at their victim after abusing her in different ways. The victim suffered serious internal injuries.... she was a pro-immigration activist, and had volunteered at the local refugee centre for nearly six years, until that night.”

Media Contact: Aleksander Westwood-Wilhelm, Senior Press Gallery Reporter. Tel: +585 2 840 6510. Email: aleksander.wilhelm2@dr.com

Note 1: Statistics on abuse. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Subject to the Minister of Energy and Science and Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 1 November 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM (Minister of Energy and Science; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Gulleråsen): It is fascinating how obsessed the previously standing Member Marion Maréchal-Le Men is with what is being done by the five per cent of Islam believers. What the Member has neglected to mention is the fact that this executive council is trying its hardest to find a solution to this proble —

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Is the Member implying that what I have said about the abuse those like me has received at the hands of Muslim me —

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: Madame Le Men, I did not say it did not happen —

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Are you trying to brush aside my concern, Abdullahi? I would rather see the Qur’an be burnt a thousand times rather than seeing what they did to my dear sister.

[ ... Many Members around the chamber fidgeted uneasily... ]

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: I have heard what happened. I am sorry —

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Do not talk back to me. Listen to what I have to say.

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: Yes. Yes, I am sorry. What I was trying to say was that not all Muslim men are —

MARION MARÉCHAL-LE MEN: Wasn’t it one of your aides who leaked my old university story? To the Woman’s Magazine and The Realm newspaper, yes? “Le Men had a Muslim boyfriend once”; that was the headline, yes? Well, as you would know: I have learnt better since then. He had taught me a lot of things, and they were not good. I have moved on since then, and so should you at trying to convince me —

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and uneasy faces seen all around the chamber; the Rt Hon Speaker Saul Ryan stood awkwardly… ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I understand that. This is a very delicate matter and I truly understand the Member’s feeling and concern. But, if I may, and I am speaking in my capacity not as a Speaker of this chamber but as a fellow Member and colleague, let us move on. I promise the Member Le Men that parliament will hear her concerns at the appropriate select committee meeting. But, if it would be okay for me to say this: this chamber is not the place for it. To the Member Lindström, please continue. I apologise to the Member for this interruption.

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: I would like to just say that I understand the Member’s concerns. But we must look ahead, long term. And I want to remind all Members present that we were elected in 2014, not 2000. We cannot possibly be blamed for the decisions and legislation processes implemented by the previous Christian Democratic executive councils, or any previous Social Democratic executive council for that matter.

I was adopted from Khataiy, and I understand fully the concerns the other side of the chamber are having with regard to pandering to a certain radical section of the ethnic community. All I can do is to speak from my experience and say that I have always been first and foremost a Yohannesian first: I believe in this great nation, and I regard everyone as good people. Equal and good. Men and women. My religion does not dictate my attitude towards those who should deserve nothing but respect, unless they have done something I disapprove strongly of.

And I believe that I am not the only one. There has always been this silent, non spoken attitude amongst certain sections of our great nation — that to be a Yohannesian one must follow a certain religion; come from a certain upbringing; speak in a certain way; and some, I daresay, go as far as asserting subtly that to be a Yohannesian one must look a certain way. I believe we should leave these things behind where they belong in the twentieth century. And that is why I am very happy to be able to serve an executive council that is moving — and planning to move faster — into the twenty-first century; openly welcoming a truly multicultural nineteen countries, accepting the quirks that can come in such a society.

In fact, the Christian Democratic Executive Council is not just absorbing all things modern day: it is also fast embracing new possibilities beyond the modern day. Our civil servants are working hard everyday to bring into reality our ambitious goal for this nation state; without rose-tinted glasses. This is one of the reason why, Hon Members, that since 2014 the executive council has financed larger than usual big item spending on science and innovation. Not to ‘help big businesses.’ Not to ‘support inequality.’ We do so because we are committed to realising a better future for our children, through focused spending on education; helping those who we believe have the potentials to succeed. When we support the best and brightest, the nation state will benefit from their successes too.

When the Hon Emily Kirchweger and I told the press gallery about our decision to directly fund the Von Einstein und Zu Landberg Innovation initiative in 2015, our goal was not to concentrate only on the top students whilst ignoring the rest behind: we wanted to pour available money into funds that help create a nation full of young men and young women who are eager to know and learn something new everyday.

We did not give up and complain like the Opposing Forces: “I give up!”, or “Let’s close our borders and get away from the outside world!” We are not into giving up and running away from problems. And that is why we have also allocated 63.81 billion NationStates Dollars for our next budget, come 2018, specially for science and technology funding at both secondary schooling and tertiary level. We are committed to spending taxpayers contribution carefully. Where we spend, everyone will know that they will be targeted spending to grow the future of this great nation.

Another thing that I want to remind the Member is our local and regional partnership promises made on behalf of the Green Party for many environmentally friendly city and regional councils all around the continent. Come 2018, we will travel the electorates and see which regional councils will benefit the most from this environmentally focused, long-term targeted spending.

The one thing that I know will draw complaints after complaints from the Opposing Forces, because it has forgotten that it should try to represent not just one side of public opinion, no matter how unpopular the other side is, is that the Christian Democratic Executive Council is allowing religious schools to participate and work with us on behalf of their young online learners. Of course, there is always that thought in the back of my mind that they would not turn this whole thing into a partisan contest had the religious schools included were of the traditional Christian leaning; but, as it would be —

[ ... A MADRASA YOU MEAN? Laughing could be heard coming from the Christian Democratic caucus. ]

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: Religious school, yes, just like the Chief Justice of the Peace’s old school Saint Elisabeth College, this one is also — and yes, Yohannes First will be surprised to hear this — a decile ten equivalent private secondary school. No, they do not “breed future extremists”, no they do not “fund overseas operations”; they are just that: a school with the name “Madania.”

Madania also offers full scholarship for gifted young Muslims in Royal Alexandria. They have indicated that they want to work together with us to lift up the science and technology potentials of young Muslim Yohannesians in the nineteen countries. Unlike the opposing parties, this executive council will not stand up to seeing the failure of any Yohannesian, no matter what their religion is; that is, after all, the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, who taught love, kindness, and compassion to his people. I believe Jesus of Nazareth did also say the same thing.

[ ... YOU ARE PLAYING WITH FIRE HERE! Nickel Fallage from the Yohannes First side of the chamber heckled. ]

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: I hear a voice from the other side of this chamber saying something about how this is hellfire; dangerous experiment or something like that — I think that Member would get along very fine with serious followers of Wahhabism; he is, after all, just the same like them: intolerant of others.

[ ... Careful! They might send you death threats! Three Yohannes First backbenchers laughed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Order!

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: To the Member Marion Maréchal-Le Men, come back and sit with us on this side of the chamber once more. We miss the Member’s presence and historically valuable contributions on this side of the chamber, and do like to ask for the Member Maréchal-Le Men to reconsider whether, deep down in the Member’s heart, Yohannes First is really the path where the Member would like to go to.

The Member used to sit alongside us as a Member of the Christian Faction of our party, and was a huge contributor in every Ethnic Diversity Committee meeting; asking all the hard questions and contributing to us achieving our goals. I ask the Member to reconsider whether, deep down in her heart, she truly believe that judging every single person of a certain background from a few isolated, very bad, yes, and very saddening and I truly condemn the perpetrators, but still a few isolated incidents alone, is a good thing to do.

The Member said that she was closely acquainted with someone who was of Muslim background during her university days. I ask the Member to not judge a whole community of people based on the action of a few bad apples; just as I have never judged other groups from the action of a very loud, but very destabilising minority: like a certain party in parliament here today.

I am asking for the Social Democratic Party to come with us and walk together into a twenty-first century nineteen countries, where people of different cultural background and religious belief can walk together side by side, smiling, and reach their goals and succeed.

Science and technology funding will, of course, be one very important element to realising those goals. In fact, we have just had the Rt Hon Speaker before interrupting a certain Member by, before standing, clicking on his bell. Magnified sound all around the chamber so we can hear the Speaker’s call for order!

[ … Shuffling of papers heard; a brief pause, and rapt faces seen all around the chamber… ]

Hon ABDULLAHI LINDSTRÖM: The Thirty-sixth Christian Democratic Executive Council will govern and create a harmonious twenty-first century nineteen countries. Thank you.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: Next to commence. Inter-Party Customary Debate.

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Debate — Customary Debate: Inter-Party Discussion

Customary Debate 2017 — Domestic Nation State Issues -- An excerpt from the two hundred and thirtieth parliamentary hansard: Wednesday, 1 November 2017 — Volume 951; Parliamentary Debate — Subject to the Ministers of the Executive Council, Emperor, and Realm.



LOEKE ZWART (Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Kybarmune): That was quite the call of the year from the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee; who, I must add, is also doing an absolutely fantastic job as our Minister of Energy and Science. After four years of executive experience, that is the sort of excitement and warmth that this executive council can bring to the table. Oh, and I am very happy that the Member Kellyanne Stoneware is actually in parliament today — I know right? What a surprise: she’s actually here! — sitting next to the Member Nickel Fallage; because I thought Nickel was about to collapse under the weight of that impressive call by a ‘Muslim’ man: his worst enemy out there!

Next week will be our fourth official Race Relations Week. It will be a week of get-together that will raise the things that matter to Yohannesians of all ethnicities. What are these things? In North Lindblum, where I come from — yes, I am actually from North Lindblum, I hope the Member Ronald Chump will hear this next part — the things that my constituency want to hear about are not the ugly populist chants promoted by the supporters of a certain party in parliament; they want to know about jobs.

Jobs, not how many brown faces there are; not how many mosques have been built since 2014; and certainly not how many halal meats are there in some supermarkets; or how they symbolise the Islamisation of this nation. There are 18.95 million Muslims; the vast majority who are employed in this nation today — huge contributors to nation state coffers and paying their fair share of the tax; law abiding people; professionals — doctors, lawyers, and small and medium sized business owners.

I am also proud of the fact that more than five per cent of our medical doctors and scientists are those of Islam denomination. Nickel, hear me out! To me, that is the most important benefaction that has ever been made in the history of our nation by people outside the traditional bicultural group. Last year, there have been created 400,000 new jobs in the Regency of Lindblum alone. That is 400,000 families in just one country in this continent who have been taken care of; schoolchildren properly clothed, fed and looked after by their well-off parents. I have no doubt that some percentage of that 400,000 jobs have been created thanks to ‘Muslim’ small and medium sized business owners.

Nickel, I hear you!

This economy is chugging along just fine, and it is forecast to chug along at the rate of almost one per cent this quarter alone. That is the sort of acceleration that Yohannesians — Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Confucians, Lilliputians; everyone wants, and that is the sort of acceleration that Yohannesians have been used to under the stewardship of the Christian Democratic Party and our Green friends, and, and, that is the sort of acceleration that will help our communities — Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Confucians, Lilliputians — out there all around the nineteen countries.

The train is moving not because of luck; the train’s moving through the top-notch husbanding by the Minister of Economy, Industry and Trade, alongside the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund and both of their deputies, and it is done through carefully crafted, properly negotiated, in-depth bilateral agreements. Just one example was the Stormae aeronautical engineering agreement. We know that it is an agreement that will benefit all Yohannesians, but Yohannes First will not support it and the Social Democratic party will be forced by their extremist bride to oppose it, because they can’t really do much except opposing everything we have proposed that would help the the nineteen countries.

They are the parties of “ban”, “nay”, “close”, and “my way or the highway.”

As we accelerate economically, we also enhance the breadth and depth of the many social welfare and support programmes maintained by this executive council to help and prop up those Yohannesians who need our help. That is why, come 2020 — and I am proud of the work that the previously standing Member, our Minister of Energy and Science and Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee, is doing, because the spending on science and technology at the secondary and tertiary level will go up by 63.81 billion NationStates Dollars.

But it is not just about the increase in spending, which is over, and hey, surprise surprise, 63.81 billion NSD more — yes, you have heard that right: 63.81 billion NSD more — than the previous Social Democratic executive council and the nineteen national governments before 2014 ever put into science and technology education at the secondary and tertiary level; because they were too busy participating in Nation States diplomatic crises and International Incidents. It is about the way we spend. It is about the way we spend, targeted spending, on very important things like science and technology scholarship schemes for our underprivileged children. I am happy to hear that there is 63.81 billion NSD more being put into that.

We also know that online learning and information technology are very important for young Yohannesians. That is why we are investing 3.198 billion NSD — hear me out there, 3.198 billion NSD — into online learning and information technology development for our secondary schools: think computer labs, science labs, extra math tutoring time; and it will be seen within the next five years.

As representative of my electorate in North Lindblum, I am happy to announce that we have increased alcohol and tobacco taxes by 2 per cent for the next three years, year on year — 2 per cent dead increase. How this will help — and we have seen it since 2014, where we have got 1,997,053 fewer people involved in binge drinking and excessive tobacco comsumption. This is 1,997,053 fewer people binge drinking and smoking. This is improving health — this is improving health. This is about encouraging for better body and mind of all Yohannesians: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Lilliputians. These are the kind of things that, when implemented, will boost the lives of our people and the future of our nation.

The clock is ticking —

KELLYANNE STONEWARE: It’s ticking alright!

LOEKE ZWART: And we know that the continued investments into science learning and health support are good for our children, which will, believe it or not, yes: translate into votes for the Christian Democratic Party!

RONALD CHUMP: You better believe it people!

LOEKE ZWART: I know that the Member Ronal Chump sitting over there is at the moment ruminating on how to frame this into some kind of a scandal with his usual Islamophobic tendency — oh, yes, my apologies, I have forgotten to include Nickel there. Well, I guess, both Members can: Deal With It.

I believe these are the issues that will count for Yohannesians: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Lilliputians. I believe these are the issues that will bring about change in our communities: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Lilliputians. That is why we stand by our party: the all embracing, big tent Christian Democratic Party of the twenty-first century, come election 2018, and that is why this executive council continues to be a popular executive council.

Thank you, and God Bless the Nineteen Countries of Yohannes.

NICKEL FALLAGE: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It is unparliamentary to imply that Islamophobia are being spread.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I believe there is no need for the Member to tell how to do my job. Please take your seat.

[ ... BUT YOU ARE ISLAMOPHOBIC! YOU AND CHUMP ARE RACIST! Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Geoscience and Natural Resources Kayla fletcher of the Green Party laughed. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I suggest that that Member take her seat too. To the Member Nickel Fallage, if the Member believes something is ‘unparliamentary’, or inaccurate information is being told by the previously called Member, then he is welcome to quote the part from the call. As it was, the previously called Member followed the Standing Orders. Next to be called.

MARTIN RIBBENTROP (Social Democratic Party; Electorate of Ennewig): I want to first say: thank you Mr Speaker. Day to day, the ineffective Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee talks in this chamber and he says no, he deflects questions, and he give vague answers about the Christian Democratic Executive Council’s record in immigration. One has to think that he is the champ at statistics wrangling: he is amazing at giving out equation and he is good at the introduction part; but he provides no supporting equations and he give out no references as to where the Bigtopia his visa processing statistics are coming from? And you see —

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, another point of order raised. I believe you know what I will say next.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I believe I do. And the answer to that point will be that I do not need the Member’s help. I am afraid if the Majority Leader Pro Tempore has not realised yet that this has been quite the robust debate, then I feel sorry not for the chamber but for her for not realising that fact. In saying that, I accept the point. To suggest that the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee is misleading parliament — as the Member Martin Ribbentrop clearly hinted — you may of course lodge your criticism. If you have been affronted by that misleading accusation, you are very much within your right to demand the accuser to withdraw that statement, or for the accuser to apologise.

I believe, however, that this parliament is robust enough to allow that to pass, as we have seen almost weekly. I want the Majority Leader Pro Tempore to note further that the Chairperson being talked about in a bad way himself has not raised a point of order nor asked for an apology.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, to be frank I am offended by the accuser’s sentences, specifically “statistics wrangling”, “give out no references”, and “visa processing.”

[ ... STOP TRYING TO HIJACK THIS DEBATE WITH YOUR POLITICALLY CORRECT DREAMS! Nickel Fallage yelled. ]

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Offended, I was.

[ ... THE ESTABLISHMENT IS TOO AFRAID TO HEAR THE TRUTH PEOPLE! Ronald Chump wagged his middle finger. ]

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: I have considered the sentences. If you are offended by those sentences, on behalf of the Chairperson, re: “statistics wrangling”, “give out no references”, and “visa processing.”, then I believe that a withdrawal will be made by the Member Martin Ribbentrop?

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: Mr Speaker, and withdrawal will be done. In saying that, I myself am offended by —

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: Mr Speaker, a point of order.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: For the Majority Leader Pro Tempore’s sake, I hope that it will be a good one.

Hon CLAUDIA WINTERGREEN: A good one, Mr Speaker. That Member has been here for twelve years; I believe he should know already by now that the correct way of doing it is “I shall take back my statement and offer my apologies to...”. To simply say “Withdrawal made” is quite simply not acceptable.

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: To be fair, Mr Speaker, no demand of apology was made to me. I was asked to take back my statement; taking back my statement I did.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: The requirement whether to apologise or withdraw is entirely up to the Office of the Speaker to make. I did not say for the Member to offer an apology. My order was for the Member to take back his statement. To the Majority Leader Pro Tempore, one official warning for this week. And that will be one less question for the executive council this week. I will not any further facetious points of order. And I believe that the Majority Leader Pro Tempore’s party have got a pretty good lead over the Opposing Forces so far this week.

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: Mr Speaker, thank you. I have to say that I took offence, twenty-four hours and seven-day-and-night without stopping, at the trackrecord of the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee. Chairperson Lindström has just followed where the Member Marion Maréchal-Le Men finished. Parliament, let me tell you how the Chairperson do it: “not me”, “not me”, and then another “not me”. But after three years and thousands of “not me”, the phrase has become the Christian Democrats’ favourite lame excuse. It has become their lamest excuse because they have got no more excuses. They must hide somewhere but there are nowhere left to hide, because the truth has started to come out.

After three years of a Christian Democratic Executive Council, illegal immigration is at its highest since 2010 and Border Yohannes have arrested 261,316 illegal immigrants in the year ending October, an increase of 60 per cent compared to 2014; and the year is not over yet! 1.97 billion NSD of cumulative under funding we can see; 1.97 billion NSD. And I recall that during their Budget Reform 2017, 1.428 billion NSD could not be found for the overall continental security enforcement budget. If that was not enough, when people look more closely at the Office of Elimination and Extradition budget, 270 million NSD, in real terms, could not be found.

Those are not my figures, they are from Economic Palace’s updated report, replicating the Nineteen Countries Ministry of Continental Security model from its fiscal analysis model. It takes demographics and adjusted for inflation pressures and uses these to represent the real growth in fundamental imperial immigration related expenditure. So, if the Majority Leader Pro Tempore thinks the figures are lies, then she should write her own mathematical model and tell the people of this nation what is actually happening in immigration since 2014.

You see, what Economic Palace does back when the Social Democratic Executive Council was still in office was to take the demographics computed by using the previous Social Democratic Executive Council’s 2009-10 immigration cost weights and adjust the population data from the Budget Reform 2017 model accordingly. Then, when it looks at the inflation increase by average, it is computed from the previous year and the forecast from the Budget Reform 2017 model. So that means that Economic Palace estimates used in the demographic growth is very much outdated. The result from that, when you actually look at the way the Economic Palace do it under the Christian Democratic Executive Council, is that the actual increase in fundamental imperial immigration related expenditure is just below one per cent.

Hon Members (Christian Democratic Party): Just below what?

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: Just below one per cent — and that is why border and immigration is lacking money and is found wanting every single time of the day.

[ ... STOP MAKING UP STUFF ALONG THE WAY! The Minister of Economy, Industry and Trade Hon Emily Kirchweger wagged her middle finger. ]

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: So time and time again when the ineffective backbenchers, along with their Ministers, come to front up parliament and give us their piles of number after number with regard to immigration, more and more members of the public go, “What the hell are they getting at?” The members of the public who actually experience the dysfunctional state of empire-wide immigration policy and who are losing out jobs to slave wage migrant workers.

But, I feel sorry for the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee because the excuses after excuses have been revealed to be just that: excuse, and he has now been forced to play around with number to give an illusion that he is actually doing something there; playing the act, as they say. Take Citizenship and Immigration Administration: he claimed that CIA has 10.468 billion NSD allocated to them, so some of it could go to reducing immigrant visa applications backlog.

If the Ministry of Continental Security did acquire 15.522 billion NSD for CIA; would the Minister not realise his own budget? Nope, the Ministry did not — it got 8.2 billion NSD instead. Now we take out the 902 million NSD the Ministry must give for Immigration Yohannes and we are down to 7.3 billion NSD. You hear about how they are going to have to pay some of the costs of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme. So now we know why many Continental Security agencies are lacking funding.

The Christian Democratic Executive Council have no idea what is happening in immigration. Many of those Members opposite are Members of the Electorate, and I simply cannot comprehend how they have not had people complaining at their local electorate offices, telling stories of illegal immigration and low wage ‘informal’ jobs. If they have not heard any of those stories, then they are not doing their job as Members of the Electorate: their offices are probably closed anyway because they are cutting funding for everything these days to produce current account surplus. Many of us from the Opposing Forces — including members who are non electoral members — have heard these stories, day after day, of the crisis in immigration and its enforcement.

So, if you do not want to believe your constituents, then read the recent reports on immigration failure: Noble Treno — Nineteen Countries’ migrant slave economy hidden in plain sight; Royal Alexandria Hospitality and Services are under review right now because of the number of ‘informal’ pay-by-cash migrant fueled hospitality jobs; East Asian Future: Tales of Migrant Trafficking — these are major reviews and reports showing failures in our immigration system.

Allow me to highlight a pretty much hidden update in Budget Reform 2017: the residence programme policy changes. Everyone knows that we have a very high immigration rate — 46.09 net migration per 1,000 population registered over five years since 2012; about 14 refugees per 1,000 population. Following their 2014 electoral victory, the then Yohannesian Emperor, Daniel Westernmost, announced the roll-out of the residence programme policy changes that would start in fiscal year 2016-17. The current Christian Democratic Emperor, in an interview with Doll Henry on Breakfast current affairs this morning, said: “Well, the Social Democrats announced it in 2010 and they couldn’t implement it because they were too distracted with being involved in International Incidents.”

We lost the executive council in 2014, so why did their executive council not pick up the programme implementation of the much-needed residence policy changes and bring about its execution? The Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee said today that the “Thirty-sixth Christian Democratic Executive Council will govern and create a harmonious twenty-first century nineteen countries.” In other words, this whole immigration pressure could have been alleviated if the executive council had properly implemented the residence programme policy changes in 2014; there is a problem though: People from foreign backgrounds are suspected of crimes more often than people from a Yohannesian background.

According to the most recent study, people from foreign backgrounds are 2.5 times more likely to be suspected of crimes than people born in the continent of Yohannes to Yohannesian-born parents. Did it start where the highest incidents and the highest abuse rate is in North Lindblum, in the most densely populated — by migrant per capita — part of the continent? No.

Within days of the Budget Reform 2017 announcement — with a quick phone call or two to two little Migrant and Refugee Resettlement Centres — the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee annonced a roll-out. Had it actually been approved by the Chancellor, or the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund herself?

Has the case for the immigration changes gone to the higher-up people?

No, I believe that was not the case. I have never seen a ‘hidden update’ where there will apparently be a huge change and taxpayer money attached to it that has not gone through close scrutiny by either the Chancellor or the Minister of the Treasury and Wealth Fund herself. It is rubbish. It is not comprehensively planned nor was it well implemented. To make such a ‘hidden update’ announcement — the Christian Democratic party was quite simply begging for condemnation when it tries to promote bogus immigration related announcements before Budget Reform 2017 to mislead heartland voters.

So, we now have what should be called the “Big Mac ® announcement” — ill-conceived and impulsive, just like your typical Big Mac midnight after party visits. That is the kind of thing you do when you do not really have any new things to offer, but want to market things anyway. I am afraid that does not work: Economic Palace has flagged the misleading move; they are quite frankly doubtful of its feasibility. So how did the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee reply to that? He went on Radio Heartland and accused Economic Palace civil servants of being partisan — the civil servants whose analyses the Minister of Economy, Industry and Trade stands up in this parliament every day and tries to convince us as legit. Because of the previous Social Democratic Executive Council, there are “decades of underfunded services since 2010” — apparently she said.

Hon EMILY KIRCHWEGER (Minister of Economy, Industry, and Trade; Christian Democratic Party — Democratic Faction; Electorate of Bremstadt): Thanks to your 2010 victory, Martin. International Incidents conflicts anyone?

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: Legit apparently were those Economic Palace analyses, but we are not meant to believe, Ms Kirchweger, that Economic Palace said the roll-out of the residence programme policy changes is absolutely rubbish at present and it has been identified as so. You see, it must be both ways, I think, for Ms Corporate Raider.

Rt Hon Speaker SAUL RYAN: One more “Raider”, “Selfie-queen”, or “Dear Leader”, and the Member will know where to go.

MARTIN RIBBENTROP: Tell me, where in Budget Reform 2017 was the funding to honour the promises that were made to their heartland voters? Where was the extra funding for immigration and residence changes? The funding for the minimum wage increase for all those wonderful migrant women who look after the elderly in villages and care homes? See, we are not ‘racist’, we know that proper policy implementation will ultimately help migrant families too!

Can you believe that after three years — three years — according to the migrant workers business association, businesses in the home care industry have not had subsidy funding to account for the increase in the minimum wage? I have got their report — hey, this is not me talking here — after three years they have not had subsidy funding to pay for the increase in the minimum wage imposed by the people above, and that has destroyed over 574 million NSD every year from existing services for the elderly. This is acceptable, surely? The elderly people of this nation should be treated with dignity and respect: they deserve the best.

The so-called ‘Budget Reform’ was frankly a sham, and the Christian Democratic Executive Council is a fraud, and that is why the Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee want to hush hush it.

[ To be expanded ]

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[Yohannes]

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Parliamentary Hansard — Election 2018: Special Coverage




Wednesday, 1 November 2017. Seven months come the deciding day. Although popular in “rainbow” countries, many in the traditionally conservative “heartland” countries dislike the current Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries, Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn, because she is the first lesbian Chancellor in Yohannes. The fact that her running partner, the Yohannesian Emperor Garnet til Alexandros, is a millennial further entrenches this negative opinion. Come election 2018, it has been predicted that the entire heartland countries, coal and steel corridor, and the Bible Belt areas will vote for the Social Democratic Party (with around 20 per cent voting for Yohannes First).

Yohannes First has been running under the promise that, if elected as “kingmaker” (i.e. they who decide which main party will form executive council by partnering with that party), it will introduce the Enabling Act 2018, which would allow the executive council to override the authority of Parliament during “times of nation-state significance.”

The latest Paul-Ingram (political) Index had reported that Marion Maréchal-Le Men has stolen many votes from the Christian Democratic Executive Council. Marion Maréchal-Le Men was a very popular Christian Democratic Party politician. She was a member of the Christian Faction within the party. Hard-working, always selflessly visiting her electorate to check on people (door knocking unannounced to greet the elderly, etc.), she was once a very strong proponent of multiculturalism and open, economically responsible immigration.

However … it all changed when her younger sister was attacked by a group of Muslim asylum seekers. She was then branded as a “racist” for attempting to fix the mess, which led to her switching her allegiance to Yohannes First. Ever since, she has voted against every pro immigration initiative by her old party, and has turned against her old colleagues in Parliament.

The poll estimated that around 30 per cent of those who had voted for the Christian Democratic Party supported Marion Maréchal-Le Men’s position — they sympathised with her plight. Sadly, what they did not know was that Marion Maréchal-Le Men was probably no longer the person that she was before the incident. The tide has turned swiftly against the ruling Christian Democratic partym with one of the Emperor’s closest allies turning against her (and the Chancellor), and doing everything that she can to bring “justice” to fix what she believed was wrong.

Abdullahi Lindström, the Minister of Energy and Science and Chairperson of the Ethnic Diversity Committee, who used to work alongside Marion very well (she was co-chair of the Ethnic Diversity Committee), has asked her to return and “do what is right once again.” Nickel Fallage, Ronald Chump, and those politicians of the populist persuasion have benefitted heaps from Marion’s popularity; some said that they are simply using Marion.

Some say that deep down in her heart, Marion is simply a heartbroken person.

Nevertheless, the stage is set for election 2018. Yohannes First, with the support of Marion, is set to be “kingmaker.” If they do become one, the Enabling Act will become a reality.

Will Marion Maréchal-Le Men overcome her anger and feelings of betrayal to go back and rejoin her old party, or will she instead stay to lead Yohannes First and bring about the beginning of the Enabling Act, and all “reforms” that would come after it (and could be turned into reality because of the Enabling Act itself).

A story of love and betrayal. Anger and sorrow. Old friends against new. A formidable “old guard,” who has turned against her entire party to “do what is right.”

Along the way, the fate of multiculturalism in Yohannes, and the stories of thousands of families across the ethnic divide, will be affected.

Which side will Marion choose?




Archive I — The Formidable Old Guard who turned against her old team: flashback to happier times — 2008-2015

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“… Refugees welcome: Islam is a peaceful religion, just like Christianity. Rainbow is our future, not hate and bigotry …”







“… I am my sister’s keeper: She means the world to me. Growing up together, we learnt the importance of independence …”







“… The human spirit is one that no disability can steal away. And that is why I support the Nineteen Countries Disability Foundation …”







“… To The Rt Hon Lord Mayor: will he support the Rebuilding the Stockholm Refugee Resettlement Centre initiative?”







“… I stand by my nomination to the electorate commission … in the name of the Christian Democratic Party …”







“… My lovely husband has supported me through it all … together, we are a strong multicultural couple …”







“… Thank you to the Herald for the Most Influential Women’s Awards … but, we still have a lot of work to do …”







“… Thank you for your support. Yes, I will be the Christian Democratic Party convention speaker for tonight …”







“… As a Woman Leader, it is a major responsibility on your shoulders to set good examples for young women looking up to you …”







“… We as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation … together, we can do this …”







“… 2014 was won by us, because the Social Democratic Executive Council was too busy participating in International Incidents since 2010 …”







“… The Lord Jesus Christ believed in others, and we should too … let us embrace a truly multicultural Nineteen Countries …”

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