| APC Sponsored Bill - Splitting RA |
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The APC has discussed and is now proposing this amendment to the Charter. The amendment would split the Ministry of Regional Affairs into two separate Ministries. The Ministry of Communications and Integration, The Ministry of Culture.
VI. THE EXECUTIVE Establishing an executive branch consisting of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet 1. The Prime Minister will be the head of government and the leader of the Cabinet. They will be responsible for the overall coordination of executive activities, being a liaison between the government and the community, and protecting the Coalition. 2. The Cabinet will consist of ministers with the following portfolios: Foreign Affairs, Communications and Integration, Cultural Affairs Regional Affairs, and Military Affairs. Elections 3. Executive elections will be held every four months, where the Prime Minister and all Cabinet positions will be up for election. 4. The date, time, and manner of elections will be set by the Assembly in a general law. Minister of Regional Affairs 5. The Minister of Regional Affairs will be responsible for promoting regional and forum activity, integrating new players into the forums, organizing cultural events, and communicating with the world about The South Pacific’s activities. Minister of Communications and Integration 5. The Minister of Communications and Integration will be responsible for integrating new players into the region, organizing and running state media, promoting private media and communicating with the world about The South Pacific’s activities. Minister of Culture 6. The Minister of Culture will be responsible for promoting both regional and forum activity, organizing and executing regional events, promoting regional roleplay, and promoting The South Pacific’s culture both regionally and abroad. Minister of Foreign Affairs 6.7.The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be the Coalition’s chief diplomat. They will be responsible for establishing the government’s foreign policy program, communicating with allies, and coordinating with the military on foreign policy priorities when necessary. 7.8. The Minister of Foreign Affairs holds the sole power to initiate treaty negotiations with other regions, groups, and organizations, but may designate officers to handle those negotiations. Upon completion of a treaty negotiation, the Minister must present it to the full executive for majority approval, before submitting it to the Assembly for ratification. 8.9. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be responsible for establishing standards for the creation and maintenance of consulates and embassies. Minister of Military Affairs 9.10. The Minister of Military Affairs will be the civilian leader of the armed forces of the Coalition, the South Pacific Special Forces. In conjunction with a group of Generals, the Minister of Military Affairs will be responsible for the defense of the Coalition, building military activity, and conducting military operations. 10.11. The Minister of Military Affairs may elect to establish an intelligence office, in equal coordination with the Council on Regional Security. Executive Authorities 11.12. The executive may exercise the collective authority of executive orders, by unanimous consent among the Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers. Executive orders may only be issued to address an immediate and pressing issue created by ambiguity or holes in a particular law, which will immediately have the effect of law. 12.13. Upon declaring an executive order, the order will be presented automatically to the Assembly for three days of debate, followed by a vote according to legislative rules, where it will expire and its effects be reversed if the Assembly does not incorporate it into law. 13.14. The Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers may elect to appoint deputies and advisors, who will be considered junior members of the Cabinet, but will not have voting rights in any executive decision. Recalls and Motions of No Confidence 14.15. The Delegate and individual Cabinet Ministers may be recalled by an Assembly resolution passed with three-fifths majority of those voting. Recalls may only be initiated for dereliction of duty, abuse of authority, or violations of the law, and not for purposes of political rivalry. Upon initiation, recall resolutions must be debated for three days and receive a motion and second before being put to vote. Upon passage, the recalled official will immediately be removed from office and a special election for their position must be started as soon as possible. 15.16. A Motion of No Confidence may be initiated by the Assembly, if the members have lost faith in the effectiveness and activities of the Delegate and the Cabinet. Motions of No Confidence must be debated for three days and receive a motion and a second before being moved to vote. Passage requires three-fifths majority support of those voting, and triggers a special election for all executive offices. I'll admit that when this was first proposed to the Assembly I was strongly against it. At the time I believed that the Ministry was very short-staffed and that by splitting the Ministry it would just lead to resources being stretched too thinly and would overall do more damage than good. Now however while the FP may not as strong as it could be or we may like it is in a much better spot now and I now believe that splitting the Ministries would benefit the region. By splitting we take some of the stress of the Minister who can concentrate more time on the areas that he/she is better at rather than dealing with areas that they may not like very much or are poor at. It should lead to more activity as this way a more experienced Minister in that field can concentrate solely on that area rather than working on three or four different areas all at the same time. These proposed changes would not take places until the next election, we are not splitting the Ministry now. If this bill was to be passed we would need to start with a full transition very soon but I believe that the benefits of splitting the Ministry will all be worth it. Europeian Ambassador to The South Pacific
Former Local Council Member Former Minister of Regional Affairs Former High Court Justice
I appreciate the rationale, but I think the crossover between these two areas is such that these two ministers would almost certainly end up sharing a team anyway. This could create a worse situation where the ministers are actually competing for resources.
Founder of the Church of the South Pacific [Forum Thread] [Discord], a safe place to discuss spirituality for people of all faiths and none (currently looking for those interested in prayer and/or "home" groups);
And The Silicon Pens [Discord], a writer's group for the South Pacific and beyond! Yahweo usenneo ir varleo, ihraneo jurlaweo hraseu seu, ir jiweveo arladi. Salma 145:8
(12-12-2016, 06:27 PM)Seraph Wrote: I appreciate the rationale, but I think the crossover between these two areas is such that these two ministers would almost certainly end up sharing a team anyway. This could create a worse situation where the ministers are actually competing for resources. Yes that is what I believed back when this was originally proposed however circumstances have changed greatly since then. RA is a huge area that very few people are good at everything in it. I think Kris was the only Minister ever to have been able to mange all areas and do well in them and even he struggled with it. I mean look at yourself you have 4 members in the AC not including yourself and each member is dealing with a different branch of RA. Instead of having 4 different people all in charge of something different and then the Minister to bout why not have two Ministers who can work together? Are you trying to suggest that people can only work in one Ministry? At the end of the day what has writing up a SJ Issue got to do with planning RMB games? How does CQ link in with promoting regional roleplay? What has introducing new players to the region got to deal with the historical project? The short answer to all those questions is there is no link. RA has too many branches for just one Ministry. When I was Minister I didn't know how to deal with every aspect, I was more focused on Communications whereas when Feirmont was Minister I think he was better at and focused more on the cultural aspect of RA. As I said to start with I don't think any Minister since Kris has been able to balance this juggling act and Kris dropped a ball or two every so often and that number grew as the number of projects increased. A more streamlined two separate Ministries makes much more logical sense. With a Minister who will be much more focused on one area of RA rather than several much more guidance can be given to newer FP members who want to learn about that area, as well as an increase in output and content. Europeian Ambassador to The South Pacific
Former Local Council Member Former Minister of Regional Affairs Former High Court Justice
I have to agree with Seraph. What you propose here involves two positions, each with a significant amount of overlap, that will be elected on entirely different agendas. MoRA would have a split leadership that may end up having contradictory agendas.
The only real potential benefit is increasing the representation of internal affairs in the Cabinet. But even that's a different discussion with its own arguments.
MoRA is always going To be a large job. The person elected needs to be able to handle it.'if they planned thoroughly the Ministry will work fine as it is now (not saying the current minister is bad).
I am Zadiner/Zak. Part of Assembly, some other stuff, Founder of some other region.
Hey, I have a bunch of issues. You don't need to care. Emoji of the week: :dodgy: (12-12-2016, 06:48 PM)Punchwood Wrote: At the end of the day what has writing up a SJ Issue got to do with planning RMB games? How does CQ link in with promoting regional roleplay? What has introducing new players to the region got to deal with the historical project? The short answer to all those questions is there is no link. RA has too many branches for just one Ministry. Perhaps you're right. But the structure proposed here entirely overlaps. "Integration" and promoting regional activities are fundamentally the same thing in practice. Our regional media and trying to promote the region abroad should be highly intertwined. This is just a couple simple examples, you can call them separate but the aspects of MoRA are simply too intertwined to split like that. EDIT: Also building on this, the workload is exactly why MoRAs have typically appointed deputies to delegate. No minister can or should do all this work, they use a staff to manage everything else. (12-12-2016, 06:51 PM)Farengeto Wrote: I have to agree with Seraph. What you propose here involves two positions, each with a significant amount of overlap, that will be elected on entirely different agendas. MoRA would have a split leadership that may end up having contradictory agendas. Having worked in RA for a long time now and serving as Minister in it, I chose my words careful while writing this bill. The SJ nor CQ, nor Resident Spotlight overlap with planning RMB games or planning festivals, nor does helping newcomers to the region overlap with the historical project. Those are just a few examples. RA has had so many failures a companionship/integration programme, the historical project, CQ has had planning for months and has only now started and even now it's struggling, we struggle to keep to a two week SJ release date, Real Time had to end, we have not had a regional festival in ages, RS have stopped. There is just too much to do in RA nowadays. At one point RA only had to hold a festival once during it's term and it was consider a success now RA has so many different jobs and branches today that it's impossible to run everything and the things you do run very few can be given real attention. Too much is housed under RA now. I can see legitimate concerns over spreading resources too thin and I could see why someone may not want to back this plan under those bases. However the argument that there is large overlap on every branch of RA is factually inaccurate. Europeian Ambassador to The South Pacific
Former Local Council Member Former Minister of Regional Affairs Former High Court Justice
The reason I love RA is that all these things are connected in my mind. Yes, it is a huge job, but then that's why I have created a team to share the load, and even then that system works best with me still touching every part of it. If I were completely to divorce 'integration' and 'communication' from 'culture' I would weaken the former two and rid the latter of much of its purpose.
Even with two ministers who agreed to work well with each other, the separate leadership is bound to result in some disunity or dysfunction, if not everything happening at cross purposes. Aside from my current role, it would sadden me to see RA become divided like this. Founder of the Church of the South Pacific [Forum Thread] [Discord], a safe place to discuss spirituality for people of all faiths and none (currently looking for those interested in prayer and/or "home" groups);
And The Silicon Pens [Discord], a writer's group for the South Pacific and beyond! Yahweo usenneo ir varleo, ihraneo jurlaweo hraseu seu, ir jiweveo arladi. Salma 145:8
I think part of the problem with leading Regional Affairs is that it requires a long-term vision. That is not to say my precedessors and successors have lacked a vision or the ability to enact it (most, particularly but not exclusively post-Escade, have been more than capable), but there is a difference between doing a good job in some areas and doing a comprehensively good job in most areas.
There were many times in which I failed miserably at this, because I focused too much on what could be achieved in the short term as opposed to what should be the result in the long term. Often it's not a matter of what festival we can do next, but how many festivals to we want done. It's not a matter of when we can get a newspaper issue released next, but how often do we want them released. Having that kind of overarching vision is very difficult, something that few can hold for long, myself included, and that is the real key to success in Regional Affairs. With that in mind, whether or not splitting the Ministry will make enacting that kind of vision easier, that is something I'd rather not say. It just might. It just might not. I just mean to emphasise how, as I said last time this came up, true success will eventually happen because of how the leadership acts, not what the law says. Former Delegate of the South Pacific
Posts outside High Court venues should be taken as those of any other legislator. I do not participate in the regional server, but I am happy to talk through instant messaging or on the forum. Legal Resources: THE MATT-DUCK Law Archive | Mavenu Diplomatic Archive | Rules of the High Court | Case Submission System | Online Rulings Consultation System
Like others, I see no reason to split MoRA into two ministries sharing effectively the same responsibilities.
Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making
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