The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 754 - 564: The Struggle for the Budget_2

Under the urging of many people, the exploration teams organized by various railway companies have already begun exploring in Northern Australia and the Capital Territory to find the most suitable routes for building railways, while connecting as many cities as possible and improving the intra-state transportation development.

The construction of railways is actually complicated. After determining the main lines, the routes of the branch lines also need to be determined.

There can never be only one railway, multiple railways are intertwined, and there are differences between single-track and double-track railways, making the design somewhat difficult.

There is often a certain discrepancy between the actual construction of railways and the design. The actual construction distance of railways is often longer than the design because some problems are inevitable.

Because a large number of people have bought shares, the quality issue of this railway construction has also become a hot topic among the public.

The public is very interested in the progress of railway construction and the various railway companies responsible for building them, as well as their previous railway construction situations.

This has also led to the numerous companies daring not to be careless in this railway construction.

Because there are hundreds of thousands of "supervisors", once problems, especially those regarding quality, are discovered in the construction of railways, it will be a fatal blow to the reputation of the railway companies.

The 30 million Australian dollars raised from shares is also good news for Australasia, which means that the cost of railway construction within three years will be almost unnecessary, and it has been contracted by the public.

This can also save the government’s budget, making it convenient for the commencement of more projects.

The transportation department has raised enough budget, allowing other departments to breathe a sigh of relief. After all, the budget for the government’s annual fiscal expenditure is limited, and if the budget for a certain department increases, it means that the budget for another department will decrease.

Everyone is a member of the Australasian cabinet, and no one wants their department’s financial budget to be reduced, as it is related to the importance of their department and their own political achievements.

In particular, Defense Minister Raul directly brought a military expense report to Arthur to ask for a budget.

"50 million Australian dollars?" Arthur frowned, looking at Minister Raul, asking doubtfully, "I remember that last year’s military expenditure was only 42 million Australian dollars. How did it increase to 50 million Australian dollars this year?"

Australasia’s military spending has always accounted for the largest proportion of all fiscal spending. Even when compared to education and health care, which Arthur values greatly, the combined proportion is only equal to military spending.

However, the annual spending of over 40 million Australian dollars is already quite exaggerated. If it increases to 50 million Australian dollars, it will be close to a quarter of the total fiscal revenue from the previous year.

"Your Majesty, we have to test-launch three battleships this year, as well as continue construction of a large number of small and medium-sized military ships. Plus, the training costs of the army, navy, and air force, and the soldiers’ salaries, 50 million Australian dollars is really not much." Minister Raul shamelessly fought for himself.

The total number of soldiers in the Australasian army, navy, and air force amounts to around 250,000. With an average salary of about 70 Australian dollars per soldier, this means an expenditure of 17.5 million Australian dollars.

This is only the soldiers’ salaries. If other expenses, such as the soldiers’ food and logistics, are considered, the expenses will be at least around 30 million Australian dollars.

The remaining money is spent on the supplies required for training in each army and the maintenance costs of various equipment.

Especially those money-devouring beasts in the navy, maintaining a battleship is simply burning money. This caused the navy to frequently complain about being impoverished in front of Minister Raul.

Now, the impatient Minister Raul decided to drop his face and fight for an additional budget of 8 million Australian dollars.

On one hand, it is to cope with the more exaggerated scale of the navy, and on the other hand, it is to increase soldiers’ food and training costs.

"The size of the army is only larger than last year’s by three battleships, and the construction of the navy is carried out every year, not just in this year," Arthur said displeasedly, "Other departments also need sufficient funds. This way, the military budget will increase to 47 million Australian dollars, and a part of the reserve fund will be saved for the government."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister Raul replied excitedly.

Although it was reduced by 3 million Australian dollars, the 47 million Australian dollars budget still met Minister Raul’s expectations.

Minister Raul initially hoped for only around 45 million Australian dollars, and an additional 5 million Australian dollars was just for bargaining purposes.

It can only be said that all departments have a consistent desire for fiscal budgeting. After sending Minister Raul away, Minister of Livelihood Philip arrived in the afternoon.

As someone who has also served two terms and has been a cabinet minister for nearly 11 years, Philip was not so restrained in front of Arthur but still respectfully submitted his plan and stated his budget requirements.

"30 million Australian dollars?" Arthur rubbed his eyebrows, feeling very tired of these ministers’ budget requests.

Every year at this time, they had to face the fight for the budget, which was also the fiercest time for the ministers to quarrel during the year’s work.

"I remember that the Livelihood Department’s fiscal expenditure last year was only 17 million Australian dollars, right? 30 million Australian dollars is almost double that. What major moves does the Livelihood Department have?" Arthur asked with a frown.

"Your Majesty, in addition to maintaining previous policies, there are many policies that need to be implemented. These policies also require considerable spending, and the 30 million Australian dollars is a practical consideration," Philip explained.

"You should go talk to Prime Minister Kent about this," Arthur said. "All ten departments and numerous units are asking for more fiscal budgets. You should fight for it by yourselves, and how much you can get depends on your abilities."

Arthur was not supposed to intervene in the financial budget competition between departments, but this year he saw the railway construction plan proposed by Martin, so he focused on the construction tasks and expenses of the railway department.

Unexpectedly, ministers from various departments came to him one by one like cats that had smelled blood, trying to get Arthur to agree to more fiscal budgets.

Besides the Defense Department that Arthur needed to control, he was still willing to delegate power to Prime Minister Kent for other departments and let the government’s internal struggle take care of it.

Moreover, he really didn’t have the energy to listen to the budget competition between these ministers. Their performances were no different from those of businessmen, and they could lie without blushing or skipping a beat to fight for more budgets.

Hearing that Arthur wasn’t going to get involved in the Livelihood Department’s financial budget, Philip could only nod and leave.

Your journey continues with empire

He originally planned to rely on Arthur to get more financial budgets directly. It seems he could only join the struggle with other departments as before.

The last to seek audience with Arthur was the Minister of Finance, Kevin Nobel, whom Arthur did not refuse to meet.

After all, defense and finance were the two departments under Arthur’s control in the government, and he needed to understand their situation.

Minister Kevin’s report was just about two points: first, the government’s financial situation and this year’s fiscal budget, and second, the fiscal budget request of each department.

Arthur naturally wouldn’t express his opinions voluntarily, letting Minister Kevin make some adjustments based on last year’s fiscal budget and this year’s plan.

Last year’s total revenue broke through 200 million Australian dollars, which made the Australasia government’s total fiscal budget this year around 195 million Australian dollars, an increase of 5 million Australian dollars compared to last year.

Currently, the military budget has taken 47 million Australian dollars, and the transportation department’s budget 10 million Australian dollars, the remaining budget for other departments to fight for is about 138 million Australian dollars.

Among these, the larger proportions are medical care and education, as well as the livelihood issues that Arthur has been most concerned about.

In addition to military spending, these four expenses accounted for 57% of the total fiscal expenditure last year, while the remaining six departments and the government’s operating expenses only accounted for the remaining 43%, which showed the government’s emphasis on these four items.

Of course, the remaining 43% is not a small number. According to this year’s total fiscal expenditure budget, it is almost 84 million Australian dollars.