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Party leaders of the Alliance of Social Democrats meet with Centrist Democratic leader Bradley Murphy at the Chancellor's Retreat in Sydney.
Published by The Sydney Times. Have a comment?
Centrist Democratic leader Bradley Murphy meets with Conservative leader Stella Kaufman and The New Right leader Nicole Chancellor.
Published by The Darwin Chronicle. Have a comment?
Valkyrian politics | Liberals will not rejoin the Alliance
By Ralph Coulson Sunday, 14 July 2019 Published by The Chicane Tribune Stockholm (The Chicane Tribune) — Only a week after the Valkyrian general election, Liberal leader Nathan Martinez has publicly ruled out any possibility of the party rejoining the Alliance of Social Democrats, which has been the governing bloc of the country since 2017. Martinez stated that there had been "irreconcilable differences" between the Liberal Party and the other member parties of the Alliance on economic policy. The Liberal leader singled out Socialist leader Amalia Rollins as a target of blame for negotiations falling through, telling the public that Rollins sought further nationalisation of private industry. "[Rollins] wanted to nationalise everything," Martinez said, "As a social liberal, I cannot be complicit in allowing a policy that I fundamentally disagree with to move forward on my watch."
Shortly after the Liberal leader's statement, Rollins took to social media to deny the claims made by Martinez, stating, "Even though common ownership is a goal of the Socialist Party, I was being courteous and compromising with the Labor Party and the Liberal Party in that we would support the social democratic policies of the former, which was middle ground for us all." The Socialist leader also accused Martinez of trying to "jeopardise the Alliance's negotiations" with the Centrist Democratic Party. With the Liberal Party ruling out future membership in the Alliance, the governing bloc will need the support of The Greens and the Centrist Democratic Party in order to continue governing. However, the New Conservative Coalition, a bloc consisting of the Conservative Party and The New Right, need only the support of the Centrist Democratic Party to form the next government.
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The Greens leader Dominic McKinney announced that the party may rejoin the Alliance of Social Democrats.
Published by The Sydney Times. Have a comment?
Three high-ranking members of The New Right tell The Macais Journal that the Centrist Democratic Party will join the New Conservative Coalition.
Published by The Macais Journal. Have a comment?
Constitutional Court Justice Alexa Gutierrez revealed that she was randomly assigned a seat in the Citizens Assembly, but turned it down to remain as a judge.
Published by The Sydney Times. Have a comment?
(Note: Please read "Margaret Harrison's last speech as Chancellor of Valkyria" and KTN's "Kaufman decrowns Harrison as chancellor" before reading this article.)
Valkyrian politics | Margaret Harrison: The leader that was promised By Elle Wagner Friday, 9 August 2019 Published by The Sydney Times ![[Image: L7mmghmh.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/L7mmghmh.jpg) On Friday, outgoing Chancellor Margaret Harrison announced that she would take a break from politics after her government was toppled by the New Conservative Coalition, ending more than three years of social democratic leadership in Valkyria. On 5 January 2016, Harrison led the Labor Party to victory against the historically dominant United Conservative Party to win the Qvaitican presidential election in a landslide victory with 58.5 per cent of the vote against Nicole Chancellor. For the first time in eleven years, Labor won the presidential election; for the first time in sixteen years, a social democrat won the election; and for the first time in history, a woman was elected to lead Qvait. In spite of those who opposed her, Harrison was the leader that was promised.
Born on 5 December 1976 as Margaret Lloyd Ambrose, she was the daughter of Conservative politician Jonathan Ambrose, who served as the President of Qvait between 1985 and 1990. Her father was a national conservative and was authoritarian in the eyes of the opposition. Even decades after his presidency, members of the Labor Party view Ambrose in a negative light. With people knowing that she is the daughter of Jonathan Ambrose, Margaret started feeling the effects of that in high school, a typical time when Qvaitican students start paying attention to politics. As a teenager, she became involved in politics and joined Young Labor in 1990. The first of thirty years of politics began for Margaret when she was only thirteen years old.
No matter what he had done as President of Qvait, Margaret loved her father, "His politics aside, my father was always there for me when I was growing up. He taught me how to ride a bike; he drove me to my first day of school; he was there for me whenever I got sick; he would try to scare my boyfriend away; he was there for me when I graduated high school. I loved him." She cited her disagreements with him on political issues, but she said that they never drew a wedge between them. Jonathan Ambrose did not mind his daughter being a member of the Labor Party as he would be proud of her regardless, but he told her, "I will be prouder if you accomplish everything that you say you will do." And so, Margaret found her mission.
A thirty year career began with a thirty year mission: to right the wrongs of her father. No matter how far she came, Margaret Harrison was always trying to escape his legacy. Jason Sullivan, a Member of Parliament who defected to the Liberal Party from the Labor Party, opposed Harrison's leadership at every turn simply because she was the daughter of Jonathan Ambrose. There were others like him when she was elected to serve as the mayor of Darwin in 2005. During the primary election campaign, Labor councillor Marshawn Tate told an audience, "Don't vote for Margaret Ambrose. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, she's a Conservative in Labor's clothing. Like father, like daughter." At a time when social liberals were taking over the Labor Party, she held on to her social democratic principles and her reputation hanged on her previous internship for Patrick Beckley's successful presidential campaign in 2000. In a 2006 interview, Harrison said that she would have "never made it" without Beckley's support.
As mayor of Darwin, Harrison built a coalition with social democratic members of the city council to pass legislation that would give greater negotiating power to the trade unions and the city government created its own public bank. Corruption within the Darwin Police Department was also an issue, so she ordered biannual audits of their finances in order to root it out. Over the course of two years, 57 police officers were arrested for various crimes such as accepting bribes, kidnapping, and murder. Because of their arrests and Harrison publicly calling the police department "corrupt at its core", she was the target of an attempted assassination in August 2007 by three former police officers who were fired for misuse of public funds. While Harrison was popular with the people of the city, the public servants held a very different view of her.
![[Image: AWWqDqnh.png]](https://i.imgur.com/AWWqDqnh.png) Harrison with her longtime chief of staff, Michael Mendez In 2012, when social democrats were now an endangered species within the Labor Party, Harrison campaigned to become a member of the Qvaitican House of Representatives. Despite a strong social liberal challenge in the primary election, Harrison won the vote of her party and was later elected to serve in Congress. While social democrats prevailed in the city of Darwin, the social liberal wing of the Labor Party was in charge in Congress and the leadership of the party was not interested in Harrison's brand of politics. While social liberals were willing to defend Harrison after an occasional sexist remark, few were willing to do so again when Conservatives called her a "socialist extremist" and a "fringe politician". She was hated by Conservatives because she was a social democrat and she was hated by Labor because of her father.
Much like her situation in Darwin, Harrison was never going to be popular in the circles of politicians, so she had to take her case directly to the people, which is exactly what she did in the 2016 Qvaitican presidential election. Heading into that election, political commentators believed that the Labor Party primary was an open and shut case, that social liberal provincial governor Natalie Cruz was destined to become the party's presidential nominee. Harrison called on the party to go back to its social democratic roots and said the social liberal leadership "weakened the party". During the campaign, Harrison spoke frequently about government corruption, healthcare, and labour reform. They were the three pillars of her presidential campaign and they were responsible for her victory.
In 2016, Harrison accomplished what no other woman ever did: she was elected President of Qvait. On top of that, she presided over the unification of Qvait and Winston Island and became the first Chancellor of Valkyria. Even though there was still opposition to her, she had the support of the people and found friends in the Valkyrian Parliament, particularly from former university classmate and longtime friend Taeler Shaw, the Leader of the Populists of the Left. Socialist leader Amalia Rollins also helped Harrison find her place in Stockholm. In one year, Harrison built a coalition—an Alliance. The Alliance of Social Democrats became the most powerful coalition in the country after the 2017 parliamentary election and gave social democrats and democratic socialists a voice in Valkyrian politics that had not existed for more than a decade.
As President of Qvait and later as Chancellor of Valkyria, Harrison rooted out corruption in the government, expanded the National Health Service, and gave power to the trade unions that never existed before. When Parliament was unwilling to legalise physician-assisted suicide, an important issue to Harrison, she took her case to the people in 2018 and the passage of Referendum 2 legalised it. On the issue of World Forum membership, Harrison put her career on the line and said that if the people rejected Valkyrian membership, she would resign. With Referendum 3 in 2018, the Valkyrian people supported Valkyrian membership in the World Forum and gave Harrison a lifeline. She even survived a recall attempt that day.
As chancellor, Harrison played a major role the international effort to create the World Forum and her government wrote the original draft of the organisation's charter. She had a grand vision of building a better world based on the principles of peace, freedom, and democracy. After the World Forum was founded, the Valkyrian government initiated the Brighter Horizon programme to promote multilateralism and the formation of international organisations within the World Forum. The International Labour and Trade Council was founded within the World Forum with the intent to promote the labour reforms that Harrison passed as chancellor. While most of her proposals were successful, the International Anti-Criminal Organisation (IACO) was the only one that failed to gain majority support in the World Forum, which Harrison saw as a major defeat.
![[Image: mKvSRUGh.png]](https://i.imgur.com/mKvSRUGh.png) Harrison with Populist Left leader Taeler Shaw Heading into the 2019 general election, Harrison had a 64 per cent approval rating from Valkyrians according to KTN Polls. In the same poll, 62 per cent of Valkyrians approved of her Alliance's agenda and upwards of 71 and 72 per cent respectively approved of the government's health and education policies. In the election, Labor MP Kate Murphy was elected President of the Valkyrian Republic and was one of Harrison's earliest supporters, having worked as part of her 2016 presidential campaign. In 2017, Murphy was elected by Stockholm's 3rd constituency to serve as their Member of Parliament on the promise of supporting Harrison's agenda. Since her election as President of Qvait in 2016, Harrison has brought social democracy back to the forefront of national politics.
Even though she has left politics, her politics has not left. Around the country, Valkyrians are prepared to fight for the same principles that Margaret Harrison stood for. In Valkyria, social democracy has been reborn and will shape the state of politics in the foreseeable future. There are millions of Valkyrians who support Harrison and these people will rally behind anyone who shares her views, which includes Kate Murphy and Avianna Aldridge. While the Coalition may be in charge for the next three years, they will face a strong challenge in 2022. The Labor Party is stronger than it has ever been in the past and the greater Alliance of Social Democrats that it is part of augments its strength. The Alliance will spend the next three years regrouping, but it is more than ready to regain control of the government in 2022.
When Harrison could not find support from other politicians, she always took her case to the people. That was how she took on Darwin's local politicians and public servants, how she became President of Qvait, how she legalised physician-assisted suicide, how she survived the gamble she placed on World Forum membership, and how she survived a recall attempt. In 2019, Harrison is no longer just seen as the daughter of a tyrant, she is seen as a stateswoman who is better than her father and better than most people. In spite of those who have tried to create a distorted image of her, Margaret Harrison became the face of peace, freedom, and democracy in Valkyria and the South Pacific. When history looks back on this era, it will look favourably upon Harrison and know her as the leader that was promised.
Elle Wagner is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Sydney and was Harrison's professor in several courses. Have a comment?
Acting Labor Party leader Avianna Aldridge warns that the Kaufman government is rushing to pass the Expansion of Security Powers Act.
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