First Meeting

A ray of morning sunlight slipped through the leaves outside the window and shone onto the glass, then reflected into Arthur's eyes.

Arthur raised a hand, unaccustomed to the light, trying to block the mischievous ray, only to find that no matter what he did, he could not cover it completely.

After a while, Arthur slowly opened his eyes. His brain suddenly booted up, and he shot upright. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was already past seven in the morning.

"Damn, it's almost eight. I hope I can make it to the meeting." Arthur muttered to himself, though his hands never stopped as he hurriedly got dressed.

Traditionally, Arthur's meals and daily routine should have been handled by others, but he truly wasn't used to the extravagant fuss of having someone else dress him. He had decided to handle that himself.

After finally washing up, he had already been out the door for more than ten minutes.

As he stepped outside, the two guards at the entrance immediately bowed respectfully to Arthur. "Good morning, Your Highness!"

"Morning. The prime ministers haven't come looking for me, have they?" Arthur asked.

Today was April 29, the third day after Arthur and his group had arrived in Australia.

According to the arrangement Arthur had made with the prime ministers, an initial meeting on the detailed system of the Australian Duchy would be held at eight that morning, so that the country could be better organized.

It was nearly eight, and Arthur did not want to be late for the first meeting he convened.

Although no one would say anything if Arthur, as the monarch, arrived late to a meeting, he had only just arrived and still needed to leave a good impression on his subordinates and all the people.

"They haven't, Your Highness," the guard replied.

Phew!

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and went downstairs toward the meeting room.

During his two days in Australia, Arthur had taken a brief tour of the Government Building and the area around Sydney.

Arthur's first impression of Australia—or New South Wales, to be more precise—was that it was traditional and backward.

Its main sources of income were mining and agriculture, and a considerable portion of its previous income had been sent back to the United Kingdom. As a result, the economic conditions of the colonies were not very good, and the colonial residents did not earn much either.

Overall, Australia was still in a state of waiting to be rebuilt from the ruins. However, now that it had become a new duchy, its economic situation would inevitably be much better than before.

When Arthur entered the meeting room, the six prime ministers had already been waiting for quite some time.

"Good morning, Your Highness." Everyone bowed in greeting.

"Very well, everyone. Let's not waste words. We'll begin." Arthur took the seat of honor and spoke.

"Your Highness, although under Her Majesty the Queen's orders, Australia has nominally become a unified and independent country, in reality, apart from that nominal unity, our system is still based on the former six colonies. I believe the first thing we need to do is change the colonial system. I suggest turning the six colonies into six Autonomous States, with the capital decided by vote. We can then establish a unified Federal Government based on these six Autonomous States. We prime ministers would become the governors of the new Autonomous States and report to Your Highness as one." Prime Minister Evan of New South Wales spoke.

Because he had once presided over the drafting of the Federal Council Act, Prime Minister Evan had a clear understanding of Australia's current situation.

Australia's biggest problem was that the various colonies each governed themselves and did not interfere with one another. Although they had nominally been unified into a single country called Australia, in reality, they were more like six independent countries.

"What do the other prime ministers think about this?" Arthur turned his gaze to the others and asked with a smile.

Prime Minister Evan's proposal was essentially similar to Australia's course in actual history: establishing a Federal Government formed by the Autonomous States.

The advantage of doing this was that a unified Federal Government could be established with the smallest possible changes. The prime ministers of the various colonies would retain their authority, merely changing their titles to governors.

Perhaps the various colonies had already reached a consensus during the previous Federal Council, because at this moment, not one of the prime ministers had a different opinion.

"I think it's very necessary to establish a unified government in the shortest possible time." Seeing that no one spoke, Arthur smiled and continued. "But the government's system still needs careful consideration."

"In my view, Australia was previously made up of your six colonies, each governing itself without interfering with the others. But now that we have formed a unified country, I believe the term 'colony' should indeed be abolished." Arthur looked at Prime Minister Evan and smiled. "Prime Minister Evan's proposal is excellent. I agree to changing the six colonies into six states. Their names and capitals will remain unchanged, but they will all report to the new national government."

"As for whether the newly established states should be granted autonomy, I believe each state only needs to be responsible for its internal affairs. Defense and other matters should be handled by the unified national government. What does everyone think?" Arthur smiled as he looked at the others.

"Your Highness, what will the new government's electoral system be? Will it imitate the British Empire's system of government?" Prime Minister Evan asked tentatively.

When speaking of the representative of constitutional monarchy, the British Empire absolutely had a place among them.

As one of the first countries to establish a constitutional monarchy, the British Empire had rapidly become the Empire on which the sun never sets and dominated the world through the Industrial Revolution.

The British Empire's advanced system had also contributed greatly to this, which was why Prime Minister Evan had asked the question.

"It cannot be denied that the British Empire's system is indeed very advanced. But I believe every country has its own circumstances, and we cannot simply copy everything. There are still many aspects we can learn from. I plan to establish the Upper and Lower Houses. Members of the Lower House will be elected by the states, with seats allocated according to population." Arthur smiled. "Members of the Upper House will come from members of the royal family, candidates I appoint, and those elected by the Lower House. The Lower House will be responsible for proposing laws, electing Cabinet Members, amending laws, and so on. The Upper House will be responsible for reviewing laws proposed by the Lower House, reviewing elected Cabinet Members, supervising officials, impeaching officials, amending the constitution, and so on. The Upper and Lower Houses will be among the most important administrative institutions in our country, so the election of their members must be handled with the utmost care."

The Upper and Lower Houses Arthur proposed were essentially similar to Britain's system. The Lower House would be controlled by political parties and commoners, while the Upper House would remain in the monarch's hands.

Although the Lower House would have the authority to propose and amend laws and elect Cabinet Members, the Upper House would be the final reviewing body.

Without the Upper House's approval, all proposals and election results from the Lower House could be annulled. This was also one of Arthur's trump cards.

According to Arthur's proposal, the future Upper and Lower Houses would basically be in Arthur's hands, and Cabinet Members could also be replaced at any time with people loyal to him.