Cabinet Members

"The Minister of Health is Braiford Dillman," Arthur continued to announce.

This was a relatively unfamiliar name, neither a government official nor a seasoned politician, but a commoner from an ordinary family.

His reason for winning the position of Minister of Health was also very simple: he was a rare top student who graduated from a famous European medical school, and a well-known doctor in New South Wales.

Among Australia's population of over three million, more than half were gold seekers attracted by gold mines and the gold rush, with fewer than a third being talents attracted by the various colonies.

In such a broad environment, it was hardly surprising that talents with extremely high knowledge levels in a certain field, like Braiford Dillman, were heavily relied upon.

"The Minister of Education is Richard Noble Chapman," Arthur continued to announce.

Richard Noble Chapman was the Governor of Tasmania and also the one with the least say among the six governors.

Compared to other colonies, Tasmania, with a population of just over seventy thousand, truly lacked competitiveness. Even though Arthur had been quite considerate of Tasmania in the allocation of Lower House seats, Tasmania had only secured seven Lower House seats.

Yet Richard Noble Chapman did one thing exceptionally well. Knowing full well that it was completely impossible to compete with other colonies in economic terms, Richard Noble Chapman made a quite correct decision: founding schools and developing education.

Coupled with the natural advantage brought by a small population, the literacy rate of Tasmania's population reached a terrifying eighty percent, and primary school graduates accounted for seventy percent of the total population, making it the area with the best educational conditions among the six Australian states.

Appointing him as the Minister of Education was also because the parliamentarians valued his ability and experience in developing education.

Soon, Arthur announced the list of all Cabinet members.

Among them, the Minister of Public Security was taken by the former South Australian State Governor, Thomas Czech. Because he successfully won the election based on his own prestige and advantages, there was no need to elaborate further.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs was held by the Governor of Queensland, Andrew King Porter. Just like Governor Thomas Czech, no further elaboration was needed.

The Minister of Welfare was held by the Governor of Victoria, Walter Bligh. Walter Bligh had managed people's livelihood quite well in Victoria and also possessed good prestige across the Australian State; it was only natural that he won the position of Minister of Welfare.

The two positions of Minister of Defense and Minister of Finance were held by Kent Clafford Lauren and Roger Joseph Ebert respectively.

Kent Clafford Lauren was the son of Butler Hunter and a talent who graduated from the British Military Academy.

Arthur felt completely at ease having him serve as the Minister of Defense.

As for Roger Joseph Ebert, he was a talent left to Arthur by Duke Arthur. Roger and Butler Hunter were responsible for managing all of Duke Arthur's properties, with Roger in charge of factory-type properties and Butler Hunter in charge of the castle.

Roger definitely deserved a tremendous amount of credit for allowing the factories left behind by Duke Arthur to develop to their current scale.

Both of these men had followed Arthur to Australia from the very beginning and had transferred their nationality to Australian at the earliest opportunity, which enabled them to participate in the Lower House elections and achieve success.

As for the most crucial position of Prime Minister, it was secured by Governor Evan.

Governor Evan was the most influential figure among Australia's original colonial forces and also the leading figure among the several governors.

Appointing him to the most important Prime Minister position in the Cabinet Government could not only satisfy the original colonial forces, but also stabilize the situation in Australia.

Of course, Arthur did not lose out by doing this, and could also gain the goodwill of the several governors.

After all, right from the beginning, Arthur had substantially weakened the power of the Cabinet Government, and the power of the Prime Minister had also been drastically reduced.

The current Cabinet Government only held executive power and was furthermore subject to the supervision of the Upper House and Arthur.

The Treasury Department and the Ministry of Defense, which held the greatest power within the Cabinet Government, were also firmly grasped in Arthur's hands. Under such circumstances, no matter who controlled that government, they could not form sufficient resistance against Arthur; the Cabinet Government was merely a tool for Arthur to indirectly rule Australia.

"Alright, these are all the members of the Cabinet Government. Let us offer our congratulations on their election and the official formation of the Cabinet!" Arthur said with a smile to everyone after announcing the complete list.

Clap, clap!

Instantly, warm applause erupted in the meeting room, while those who successfully won election revealed joyful and excited smiles.

The Australian Cabinet had differences from other monarchical cabinets. Take the Cabinet Government of the British Empire for example: generally, after electing the government prime minister, the government prime minister would independently form the entire cabinet.

This also meant that the candidates for cabinet members could be decided at the discretion of the government prime minister. Although the term of such cabinet members basically coincided with the prime minister's term, this kind of cabinet also had one very obvious advantage, which was that all cabinet members united under the prime minister's leadership, allowing the government to work better.

Yet Australia did not need this; all members of the Cabinet were elected by the Lower House rather than appointed by the Cabinet Prime Minister.

The advantage of doing this was that it greatly decentralized the unity of the Cabinet, transforming the Cabinet into Arthur's ruling tool rather than a power structure comparable to Arthur.

"Upon becoming Cabinet members, all other official posts should be automatically relinquished. Those of you holding concurrent posts should submit resignation letters to your former institutions within a week. The state governors will temporarily hold concurrent posts for a while; once the state assemblies hold elections to determine the new state governor, you will automatically lose the position of state governor," Arthur said with a smile.

The positions in the Cabinet Government were definitely superior to all other posts; Arthur would not allow officials to simultaneously hold important cabinet posts while also serving in important positions across the various states.

Doing so would, firstly, divide their attention so they could not properly fulfill the responsibilities of each position. Secondly, an individual's power would become overly massive; while it might not pose a threat to Arthur's power, it could easily form political factions and breed trouble.

"Understood."

The state governors had actually prepared themselves long ago. Compared to the immensely powerful Cabinet members, while the position of state governor also appeared to wield massive power, in reality it was subject to the control of Arthur, the government, the upper and lower houses, and even the state assemblies, with the executable power repeatedly curtailed.

Under such circumstances, anyone with clear vision knew which position to choose, and giving up the relatively unimportant position was not all that regrettable.

"Alright, let's end the Lower House meeting here. The government elections have come to a temporary close, and the current task for all parliamentarians is to thoroughly investigate Australia's current situation and fill the legal gaps in the Australian Constitution," Arthur said with a smile. "All Cabinet members will start taking office this afternoon. Your primary task is to figure out your respective departments and related situations, and we will hold a Cabinet meeting in a week."