General Debate Topic of the 9th Session of Parliament (March 2017-April 2017)

As per the provisions of SO 2017-19 General Debate Act, taken effect on this day of April 11, 2017, I, Abdoa, the Speaker pro tempore of Parliament, delegated by the Rt. Hon. Sepharich PM his parliamentary powers, do hereby create a General Debate Topic for the 9th Session of this Parliament, which may be used until the dissolution of this body on April 30, 2017.

Members of Parliament have the exclusive right to post in this thread, while members of the Government may respond to questions put to them through the chair by members of parliament, if the chair calls upon them to do so.

Please refrain from using this topic to discuss matters which have to do with bills currently before parliament, or are already being discussed in a committee of parliament.

-Abdoa, Speaker pro tempore of Parliament

I would like to ask the Prime Minister, as well as the Minister of Development, if they could provide a short statement, therein reflecting on what they think of this Session of Parliament until now, as it almost comes to an end, and also what they think are points to take notice of for the next Session.

The Chair hereby summons the Minister of Development, the Rt. Hon. Libertarian Democracy MP MoD LSM GSM at the request of the Hon. Nassau-Windsor, MP LSM to provide a short statement, therein reflecting on what he thinks of this Session until now, as it almost comes to an end, and also, what he thinks are points to take notice of for the next Session.

Given that the Rt. Hon. Sepharich, PM has announced unofficially on the RMB of the Union that he shall be taking leave of his duties for a significant period of time, I will not summon him to parliament for the time being. I trust the Minister of Development will reflect in his statement to what degree it is possible any strong views of the Prime Minister relevant to the question before him.

Also, as Speaker of this 9th Parliament for its latter and more productive half, I will issue shortly, in this Debate topic, a Chair's Statement on the history of this Parliament.

I thank my Honourable friend the Speaker Pro Tempore [Abdoa] for forwarding my question to my Right Honourable friend the Minister of Development [Libertarian Democracy].

There is another topic that I wish to hear the opinion of the acting Chair upon as well; that of the election of the next Speaker Pro Tempore (of Parliament).

Under SO 2017-16 (Speaker PT of P. Act), there is to be held an election for the next incumbent of his office at the beginning of the next Session of Parliament. However, as stated by my aforesaid Honourable friend, the Prime Minister [Sepharich] will most likely not be able to regulate such election. Will the Chair give his opinion on whom should be overseeing the said election? And if it be any one or more joint Member(s) of Parliament in Commission, may the said MP(s) then also vote in the said election? I am eager to hear my Honourable friend's opinion.

Perhaps in the future if these summons could be handled by TG, that'd be great. For some reason the forums no longer distinguish between unread and read topics anymore so occasionally I miss a thread.

Anyway, in my opinion as the Minister of Development, I believe the last session of Parliament was exemplary. Not only was there an increase of collaboration between the parties and the various independents, but also we saw an increased focus on regional activity now that it seems that the Parliament and the Government have really found some traction and stability. The Regional Role Play Act, which established both a regional map and a Role-Play curator will prove to be the spine of our future RP environment. Also, the Maritime and Aerial Sovereignty Act may soon serve as the first example of RP regulation, which should help guide members' RP interactions.

I believe for the next session of Parliament, the Senators will have to figure out a way to juggle the growing complexity of the regional government, along with the stagnating recruitment of active nations.

In regards to the Hon. Nassau's point regarding SO#2017-16, while potentially dangerous, there does exist a precedent for the Founder to temporarily take over the functions of an office of a severely inactive official.

Libertarian Democracy wrote:Perhaps in the future if these summons could be handled by TG, that'd be great.  For some reason the forums no longer distinguish between unread and read topics anymore so occasionally I miss a thread.

I find this very strange, as I do not have this problem. I will look into it. If anyone else has this problem as well, please contact me.

On the point of order by the Hon. Nassau-Windsor MP LSM, I believe that, as in many real-world parliaments, the duty to administer the election of the speaker of parliament, and only that duty, fall to the exiting Speaker, in the case that the Prime Minister is incapacitated. I do not think that the precedent authorizing the Founder to take the role of an incapacitated official should extend to Parliament and its proceedings, as the only such precedent applies, to my knowledge and experience, to signing bills left by an inactive President. Therefore, I rule that the sitting Speaker of Parliament will dissolve at the Constitutional hour, reconvene at the Constitutional hour, and administer the Speakership election thereafter in the incapacity of the Prime Minister.

As to the Rt. Hon. Libertarian Democracy's point, I thank him for bringing it to the attention of the Parliament, and I will hereafter perform summons to the Parliament by telegram, and recommend further speakers to do so as well.