I propose the following amendments to the Charter of the South Pacific, the Elections Act, the Regional Officers Act, and the Border Control Act with the intention to abolish the Local Council in its entirety:

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THE CHARTER OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

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I. CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS

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(5) Constitutional laws passed by the Local Council hold the same status as those passed by the Assembly, limited in their scope and force to the realms of Local Council jurisdiction, but may not contradict this Charter or any law, regulation, or policy of the Assembly, Cabinet, or Council on Regional Security.

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V. THE LOCAL COUNCIL

Establishing home rule for the in-game region residents.

(1) The Local Council will be the local government of the in-game community, composed of three or more residents of the South Pacific, and will represent the interests of all players in the region, moderate the Regional Message Board, encourage activity on the gameside, and administrate itself on issues unique to the in-game community.

(2) The Local Council is entitled to self-administration within its jurisdiction on local issues, but may not pass laws or regulations that contradict this Charter or constitutional laws passed by the Assembly. To that end, the Assembly may not enact any law, nor the Cabinet deliver any directive, that is solely related to an issue local to the in-game community, except as done under the terms of this Charter.

(3) The Local Council may not be denied the authority to run regional polls, create and pin Dispatches, and to suppress messages on the Regional Message Board according to a standard moderation policy. However, it may not alter the regional flags or tags, and may not send out mass telegrams, without the approval of the Delegate.

(4) To help promote inter-governmental relations, the Local Council may send a representative to the Assembly whose term must not exceed the Local Council’s. The method of selection will be decided by the Local Council.

VI. THE EXECUTIVE

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VII. THE DELEGATE

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(2) The Delegate will work with the Local Council in moderating the Regional Message Board, fulfilling Regional Officer positions, promoting gameside activities, and representing the preferences of the gameside community.

(3) The Delegate must fulfill in-game actions required by law but assigned to others if those actions can only be taken by the person holding the in-game Delegate seat.

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VIII. THE HIGH COURT

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(5) The High Court may reconcile contradictions within the Charter, constitutional laws, general laws, and Cabinet directives, and Local Council laws and regulations, maintaining the least amount of disruption to the intended purposes of the contradictory parts.

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IXVIII. THE COUNCIL ON REGIONAL SECURITY AND CORAL GUARD

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(13) The minimum qualifications for membership in the Coral Guard are: maintaining a World Assembly member nation in the South Pacific; having served at least six consecutive months as a legislator or two terms in the Local Council; and meeting requirements for influence and endorsements which are set and published by the Council on Regional Security.

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IX. THE MILITARY

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XI. RECALLS AND MOTIONS OF NO CONFIDENCE

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XII. THE ADMINISTRATION TEAM

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XIII. AMENDMENT PROCESS

Setting a procedure for amendment of the Charter and constitutional laws.

(1) The Assembly may amend any provision of the Charter or constitutional laws passed by the Assembly with a three-fifths supermajority. These amendments must be constitutional in nature, and amendments to the Charter must address the structure or framework of government. Bills that may exist as general laws, as determined by the Chair of the Assembly, should not be placed in the Charter or constitutional laws.

(2) Any amendment to the Charter or constitutional laws that directly affects the gameside community or its home governance, as determined by the Chair of the Assembly, must also receive the consent of the gameside community before coming into force, where the consent shall not require more than a three-fifths supermajority in a vote. Additionally, the Local Council may originate amendments to its structure in the Charter, which must receive the consent of the Assembly before coming into force.

(3) The Local Council will determine the qualifications and processes for amendments to its own constitutional laws.

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XIIIV. GREAT COUNCILS

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Quote:

Elections Act
An act establishing elections for office

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7. Separation of Powers

(1) Offices of the Coalition are the Delegate, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers, the Chair of the Assembly, Local Councillors, the Chief Justice, and any of their appointed deputies.

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Regional Officers Act
An act providing for the granting of Regional Officer powers to government officials

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2. Regional Officers

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(5) The Local Council will be allotted three Regional Officer positions and granted Appearance, Communications, and Polls powers.

(6) Members of the Council on Regional Security who concurrently serve as another Regional Officer named in this act shall be granted the powers of both offices. 

(76) Where applicable, all unused Regional Officer positions shall be allotted to the Council on Regional Security.

(87) During elections, the Election Commissioner will be granted Communications and Polls powers.

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Border Control Act
An act to establish processes for the use of in-game ejection and banning powers

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3. Powers of the Local Council and Delegate

(1) The Delegate, or a majority of the Local Council, may order a border control action against a nation they determine to be spammers or trolls. The assent of the Council on Regional Security is required if the nation in question is not a low influence nation.

(2) The Delegate or Local Council must inform the Council on Regional Security immediately after having ordered a border control action.

(3) The Local Council may enact policy allowing border control actions within its purview to be performed unilaterally by a border control officer. Any change to such a policy must be clearly and immediately communicated to all border control officers.

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The Local Council (LC) has existed since April 2015, but its existence has, in the past, often been questioned and debated upon, and has proved redundant to our current institutions.

To delve into what the LC is supposed to do, I will quote each of the four sections of Article V of the Charter, and explain why they should be struck out.
 

Quote:(1) The Local Council will be the local government of the in-game community, composed of three or more residents of the South Pacific, and will represent the interests of all players in the region, moderate the Regional Message Board, encourage activity on the gameside, and administrate itself on issues unique to the in-game community.

First of all, the LC moderating the Regional Message Board (RMB) should never have been allowed. They should not have moderation powers because of their political nature as elected officials. It is ultimately better that the moderation of the RMB be relegated to the South Pacific out-of-character (OOC) Global Moderator team, or a new apolitical gameside-specific moderation team overseen by the Global Moderators.

Meanwhile, encouraging activity on the gameside should be handled by the Ministry of Engagement (MoE) as explained in detail under the rebuttal against section 3.
 

Quote:(2) The Local Council is entitled to self-administration within its jurisdiction on local issues, but may not pass laws or regulations that contradict this Charter or constitutional laws passed by the Assembly. To that end, the Assembly may not enact any law, nor the Cabinet deliver any directive, that is solely related to an issue local to the in-game community, except as done under the terms of this Charter.

What are local issues really? Double posting? Non-English language posts? Spamming? All of these can be handled by an apolitical gameside-specific moderation team, appointed or chosen, and overseen by the Global Moderators.
 

Quote:(3) The Local Council may not be denied the authority to run regional polls, create and pin Dispatches, and to suppress messages on the Regional Message Board according to a standard moderation policy. However, it may not alter the regional flags or tags, and may not send out mass telegrams, without the approval of the Delegate.

According to this dispatch Local Council also has appearance, communication, and poll powers, but the LC in its current form may not even alter the regional flags or tags, or send mass telegrams without the approval of the delegate as stated in the quote above. The only things the LC can do freely with the aforementioned powers are as follows:

• Appearance: change the WFE (not sure), pin dispatches
  
• Communication: virtually nothing
  
• Polls: create polls
  

The appearance (for dispatches) powers can be exercised by the Ministry of Engagement (MoE), or a new gameside-specific team appointed or chosen by the ministry. The primary purpose of the MoE as outlined by Article VI, Section 9 of the Charter of the South Pacific is '...recruiting and integrating new players into the Coalition's government and community, maintaining public infrastructure such as dispatches and other guides, setting unified presentation standards, and providing graphics to the government and citizens of the Coalition.' The MoE can also encourage activity on the gameside.

The communication powers cannot even used by the LC without delegate approval, just let the delegate, the Council on Regional Security (CRS), or whoever actually needs them have it.

The poll powers can be exercised by the Ministry of Culture (MoC), or a new gameside-specific team appointed or chosen by the ministry. The primary purpose of the MoC as outlined by Article VI, Section 8 of the Charter of the South Pacific is '...supporting the roleplay community and organizing regional cultural activities, events, and exchanges.'

The MoC or a new gameside-specific team can also manage the roleplays in the main RMB, Knowhere, and Psomewhere Over The Rainbow.
 

Quote:(4) To help promote inter-governmental relations, the Local Council may send a representative to the Assembly whose term must not exceed the Local Council’s. The method of selection will be decided by the Local Council.

Does this still happen? I don't think so. Just let the gameside join the government themselves if they really are that interested in being involved. It's free anyway.

Not to mention, the existence of the LC as an institution only reinforces and promotes the separation of the gameside and the forumside. With a separate government there is no incentive for integration, there will be a sense of disconnect with the wider government of the coalition, there will be no unity, and there will be no cohesion. We are one region, one coalition, and the separation of the gameside and forumside is contrary to the principles of our Charter, with our preamble stating:
 

Quote:The Assembly of the Coalition of the South Pacific, representing our diverse community, convenes to establish this fundamental law of our region, to uphold democratic principles and rights, and provide for the security of our unified community both on the forums and in the game.

Ladies and gentlemen of the assembly, there will simply be no unification with enshrined separation. The continued existence of the LC will effectively cement the ever-solidifying barrier between the gameside and the forumside.

I understand that this will require a gameside vote, and I implore the assembly to pass these amendments to trigger a gameside vote, for them to decide whether to maintain this segregated and separated structure of government or to choose the path towards unification and integration of our entire coalition.

Glory to the Coalition of the South Pacific!