Chapter 257: Cabinet Reform
Casually flipping through a few pages, Arthur gradually formed an idea in his mind.
The Australasia cabinet, up to this point, was already capable of handling all governmental functions. Although some of the departments seemed a bit bloated, it didn't pose a significant issue due to the relatively small size of Australasia.
The reason the House of Representatives proposed adding more cabinet seats was essentially for their own benefit. Every additional seat meant more opportunities, and the cabinet was the most elite segment of the Australasia government. The cabinet members, essentially, were considered just below the royal family and above the government.
However, the House of Representatives election had not yet been held, and the final selection of representatives had not been determined. Wasn't it a bit premature to start worrying about the future cabinet elections?
Arthur shook his head and turned his attention to another proposal.
On the new proposal, he clearly saw a line of text suggesting the establishment of the positions of Vice Prime Minister and Deputy Ministers.
In fact, there were already deputy ministers in various departments, even in the relatively small Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had both a minister and a deputy minister.
The problem was that deputy ministers held a rather awkward position. Although they were part of the cabinet's departments, they were not technically in the cabinet, holding an ambiguous position in between.
The only advantage of this role was that, in the case of a minister's unexpected absence, the deputy minister would temporarily take over the minister's duties.
But the issue was that Australasia had no imminent threat of war, and most department heads were around 40 years old. The chance of any of these youthful ministers facing unexpected circumstances was lower than their chances of being re-elected to a higher position.
As for the suggestion of a Vice Prime Minister, Arthur thought it was quite good.
Currently, Australasia did not have a Vice Prime Minister, primarily because the cabinet operated under Arthur's decisions. Additionally, the Prime Minister's powers had already been somewhat divided among the departments, so the role of a Vice Prime Minister wasn't deemed necessary.
However, as Australasia expanded, the duties of the department ministers would inevitably grow more complex. Therefore, it would be wise to establish the position of Vice Prime Minister ahead of time, to help manage the additional responsibilities that might arise in the future.
After all, if Arthur had important matters requiring him to travel, having a Vice Prime Minister would provide a counterbalance to the Prime Minister and help maintain stability at home.
Since the Prime Minister was elected by the House of Representatives, although they were ultimately required to gain Arthur's approval and pledge loyalty to him, it didn't guarantee absolute loyalty to the monarch.
While Arthur's control over the military meant that the Prime Minister couldn't easily stir up trouble, no one could predict whether future generations of the royal family would maintain such control over the government.
A monarch who had lost their power would need additional safeguards to maintain control over the government.
A Vice Prime Minister directly appointed by the monarch would, of course, be much more likely to guarantee loyalty.
After all, anyone appointed by the monarch would, at the very least, be considered loyal by the monarch.
In this context, it seemed necessary to strengthen the monarch's powers in other areas, to prevent future generations from losing royal authority due to various reasons. At the very least, the monarch and the family's power should be ensured, and at worst, the country should be a constitutional monarchy where the monarch still held some authority.
After thinking it over, Arthur signed the decision on both proposals and called the guards to take them to the Royal Parliament.
On May 30, the Royal Parliament officially submitted the final decisions on the two proposals to the House of Representatives for discussion.
The two proposals were merged, and additional cabinet seats were successfully added.
However, the added seats were not as the representatives had hoped. They were not to be elected by the House of Representatives, but rather directly appointed by Arthur or the future monarch, with a term of four years.
The specific resolution was as follows: After consultation with Arthur and the Royal Parliament, a reform was implemented for the Australasia cabinet.
The reformed cabinet, in addition to the eight departmental ministers and the Prime Minister (the Chief Minister), now included seven ministers personally appointed by Arthur (the Chief Justice, the Archbishop, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of State or Vice Prime Minister, and the Ministers for Royal Affairs, Finance, and Defense).
The reformed cabinet would become the highest governing body of Australasia, with cabinet members no longer serving as members of the Royal Parliament.
The cabinet would typically be accountable to Arthur and the Royal Parliament, but the House of Representatives would retain oversight power.
If the House of Representatives were dissatisfied with a cabinet official or the entire cabinet, they could propose a resolution to impeach the official or the entire cabinet.
However, the impeachment would only be successful if the approval rate exceeded 75%, and it would need to be reported to the Royal Parliament and Arthur.
This meant that unless the House of Representatives acted together, they would lose their ability to exercise control over the cabinet. Their oversight power would also be severely limited, which marked the pinnacle of royal power in Australasia.
Additionally, the title of ministers in the cabinet departments was officially changed to "Department Ministers," and the Prime Minister's official title was changed to "Chief Minister."
From this moment on, the number of cabinet seats in Australasia would increase to 16, with Arthur directly controlling 7 seats and the House of Representatives electing 9.
To compensate the House of Representatives, Arthur decided to allow the sitting Prime Minister to appoint one Deputy Minister for each department, with the term aligning with that of the Prime Minister.
However, the ministers of the departments would still be elected by the House of Representatives, effectively separating the positions of cabinet ministers and department ministers, preventing the possibility of these positions forming a united bloc.
After all, the government's Prime Minister would threaten the power of department ministers and make them wary of the Prime Minister.
In such an environment of distrust and suspicion among cabinet members, they would not be able to unite and form a threat to royal power.
It's worth noting that after this cabinet reform, Arthur had secured control of the crucial positions of Finance Minister and Defense Minister.
This change caused the least reaction, as even before the reform, Arthur had already firmly controlled these two key departments. It was impossible to gain these positions through election.
This cabinet reform had a significant impact on the political landscape of Australasia, effectively overturning the current top-level political structure.
In short, the cabinet reform greatly strengthened royal power, both symbolically and practically.
Although the House of Representatives was compensated with a Deputy Minister position for each department, the ministers of these departments were still controlled by the department heads. Whether the Deputy Ministers would hold real power remained to be seen.
(End of Chapter)
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