Scandal has swept through New South Scotland today, following failed attempts by territorial officials to establish informal ties with the Australian Micronational Council. The dispute marks a disappointing debut to the Crown Dependency's search for friends abroad. Despite having membership within the Empire of Austenasia, recent electoral debate has seen numerous New South Scottish political candidates express an interest in forging ties with the wider intermicronational community. As part of this push, Governing Commissioner McFarlane, KCA, is reported to have recently approached the Australian Micronational Council on an informal basis, hoping to arrange contact with other micronational entities in close geographic proximity to New South Scotland. Shortly after introducing the Crown Dependency to the Council, however, McFarlane was rebuked by the assembly's de facto leader, Etukara Emperor Zecheriah O'Hair, who is reported to have labelled New South Scotland as a colonial entity. O'Hair continued by saying that "for the sake of simplicity anything less favourable for you then an equal union [with Austenasia], we call a colonial relationship". McFarlane was quick to respond, by stating "I would passionately reject any charecterisation that our territory is a mere colony" before going on to say that "I think you would find that our population is entirely opposed to that charecterisation". Concerningly, in what some may identify as an outright threat, O'Hair responded by declaring "We don't want non-Australian countries in our council, nor do we want them on the continent". This dangerous comment has added credibility given O'Hair's prior use of the Council's Discord server to call on allies to "give diplomatic support or do damages" to the digital assets and Discord server of Matachewan, with which Etukan was involved in a dispute at the time of the remarks. Likewise, O'Hair has been observed musing over the benefits of micronational war in the Council chatroom, agreeing with the proposition that such warfare "can be both useful and useless". When viewed together, these comments provoke fear of future aggression by Etukan or other Council members, especially given New South Scotland's extremely close proximity to these nations, and the Crown Dependency's long history of occupation by Zealandian forces. Governing Commissioner McFarlane, KCA, has assured the New South Scottish public that neither the Crown Dependency nor the Empire at large would consider war with Council members, given Austenasia's long and proud membership in the Union Against Micronational War. That said, McFarlane has also issued a public reminder that the New South Scottish Constabulary will continue to provide for the territory's defence, claiming that the Crown Dependency is in "safe hands". Likewise, other New South Scottish citizens have issued their own remarks, with Citizen's Party Secretary General, Sophia Albina, issuing the following statement: "The Citizen’s Party denounces this slander of New South Scotland [and] wholeheartedly and without reservation calls upon all other parties and citizens to do so as well. Is there a relationship by which the Empire of Austenasia acts parasitically upon New South Scotland? If so, we ask these defamers to cite it, for the citizens of New South Scotland are not simply morons who would put up with such behavior. We also ask, are there not citizens of New South Scotland who were born Australians? Was the foundation of New South Scotland not the efforts of an Australian citizen?" Other micronational leaders such as Hrafnarfjallian High King, Thomas Bainbridge, have also confirmed that as a result of O'Hair's belligerency, the self-governing Hrafnarfjallian Barony of Eyrie will no longer seek out membership in the Council, despite being administered by a "born and bred Australian" in what few would describe as a colonial relationship. Finally, anonymous sources with prior experience in dealing with Etukan officials have joined the chorus of condemnation, stating that the nation "has always been aggressive to the greater micronational community", before further remarking that the Etukara Empire is known for trying "to divide nations through political conflict and rebellions". Regardless of the Crown Dependency's future relationship with the Council, the territory's fast-approaching legislative elections promise to deliver a government that will continue New South Scotland's engagement with the wider community. Despite the early upset, most expect future efforts to yield better results. Quadrangle Gazette, 05/05/2020
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A spectacular twist has emerged less than twenty-four hours before the deadline for the submission of candidature lists with the establishment of the Green Monarchist Party (GMP) by Remus Peroni and Thomas Marios. Incorporating an interesting blend of green environmentalism and loyalty to the Austenasian Crown, the right-wing party now competes with the the PNRDNSS, CLANSS, Behemoth Party and Citizen's Party for election to the Legislative Assembly. Although the party's late establishment means that its leadership was unable to attend the recent election debate, the release of its official manifesto provides some key insights as to the organisation's legislative priorities. A keen focus on Austenasia's Christian and imperial heritage has been identified by the GMP as the key to the development of a strong New South Scottish identity. This differentiates the party from the PNRDNSS-CLANSS-Behemoth 'grand alliance', which has pushed for a more independent cultural identity and the Citizen's Party, which has hinted at secessionism in its manifesto despite encouraging "loyalty to His Imperial Majesty Jonathan I". Like the preceding four parties, the GMP has identified the formation of a New South Scottish economy as another major priority. To that end, Party Leader Peroni has stressed the importance of the establishment of a national bank, contrasting with the PNRDNSS' focus on the creation of an active stock market and the Citizen's Party's desire to promote economic activity via state-owned enterprises. These varying approaches to the creation of a territorial economy is likely to fuel a great amount of political discourse before and after the elections. Finally, the GMP has highlighted the possibility of leading an effort to deal with pollution on New South Scottish territory - an interesting proposal that has not been addressed by any of the preceding parties. Quadrangle Gazette, 04/05/2020
New South Scotland This article has been published by the 'Quadrangle Gazette' - the official journalistic wing of the Office of Governing Commissioner. With legislative elections having been scheduled a mere six days ago, the New South Scottish political landscape has well and truly roared into life. Already, the Crown Dependency has borne witness to the establishment of four political parties and the holding of an unprecedented election debate. A number of interesting political distinctions have emerged following the proclamation of the political parties - chiefly observed through the lens of the three party electoral alliance. This pact, known informally as the ‘grand alliance’, includes the territory’s first party, the Party for National Reconstruction and Development for New South Scotland (PNRDNSS), the Centrist Liberal Alliance of New South Scotland (CLANSS) and the Behemoth Party. Together, these parties are slated to face off against the much smaller but tenacious Citizen’s Party (CP), which was established shortly after the PNRDNSS. Despite CP leader Sophia Albina's absence from the debate, it nonetheless emerged during the proceedings that disagreements over the balance between ideology and pragmatism is the main factor driving the alliance/CP split. This emerged when each party leader of the alliance sought to highlight their individual party’s unique ideological bent, with Arcadius Tomson of the PNRDNSS touting his organisation’s status as a “a purely right-wing party”, Silvia Paysais of CLANSS underlining her party’s “center-right liberal” focus and Alejandro Whyatt of Behemoth claiming the status of a “third way party” for his organisation. This was contrasted by Ms. Albina’s remarks after the debate, which denounced the alliance’s collective ideological focus as “political grandstanding“, highlighting her party’s “technocratic pragmatism” as an alternative. THE ISSUES: Though united by a common interest in promoting New South Scotland’s cultural identity, international ties and economic performance, alliance party leaders also ventured to distinguish their respective party’s specific goals and aspirations from those of their counterparts. To that end, the PNRDNSS and CLANSS leaders each highlighted the importance of developing a unique territorial cultural identity, with Ms. Paysais mentioning the value of artistic engagement in particular. Mr. Whyatt of Behemoth, meanwhile, pointed to frequent debate between citizens on issues of macronational and ideological importance as the key to promoting domestic activity. Some differences within the alliance emerged over the question of outside engagement with the wider micronational community. This saw PNRDNSS leadership propose making formal contact with other micronations in the Crown Dependency's capacity as an autonomous Austenasian territory, identifying this as his party’s first priority, while Ms. Paysais of CLANSS said her party would focus first and foremost on using outside engagement to increase the population via immigration. This seemed to contrast with Mr. Whyatt’s rejection of the GUM and his resulting focus on domestic issues, possibly revealing a point of disagreement within the electoral pact over the motivations and necessity of New South Scottish engagement with the wider community. What unites all parties (including the CP), however, is an aspiration for the creation of a New South Scottish economy, although CP leader Ms. Albina rejected painting the issue in terms of the socialism/capitalism debate, instead suggesting drawing inspiration from Empire of Adammia’s example and using state-owned enterprises to forge an economy in her party's manifesto. Taking another approach, the PNRDNSS hopes to focus on the use of stock markets to drive growth, whereas neither Behemoth nor CLANSS appeared to offer a specific economic agenda (although their respective leaders both seem entirely committed to economic development as a matter of principle). Otherwise, the Behemoth Party and CP appear split on the matter of direct democracy, with Behemoth leader Whyatt seeming to place a focus on the use of referenda to solve the “most pressing issues” and settle disputes over the GUM, while the CP’s Albina remains resolute in her rejection of this method of public consultation. GOING FORWARD: At the time of writing, there are about twenty-four hours left for citizens to enroll as candidates on party (or independent) electoral lists, with submissions closing at 23:59 (UTC+10) 04/05/20. This leaves the door open for citizens to approach party leadership with candidate applications or start their own parties, as well as for non-citizens to apply for citizenship, join the Discord server, and do the same. Although the participating parties remain politically distinct, the grand alliance appears set on running on a single electoral list against the CP. This is expected to create tense negotiations in the coming twenty-four hours as party leaders negotiate for a favourable position on the list. This in itself may create an opportunity for the CP and other smaller parties in the near-future. Though electoral list submissions close in a day, there is still over a week before the elections themselves. According to the Office of Governing Commissioner, it is therefore hoped that a second, far more policy-oriented debate will be able to be held in the coming days. Quadrangle Gazette, 04/05/2020
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