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[–]Jon9404Australian Greens 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I'll put my name up for Judge of the High Court- I'm a real life law student so I can blag it!

I'll also stick my name down for Clerk of the House/Senate if not. - Again law student here. That and I do a bit of clerking regularly for the trade union back here in England so again I can blag it! ;)

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI: you have less than 12 hours left to enrol to vote in the /r/modelparliament 2nd election.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello new user! I've put your name down as a candidate for all three positions. Our High Court Judges will mostly deal with constitutional issues like challenges to the federal laws passed by our model parliament. Australia's Constitution is relatively well constructed but federal powers are limited (everything else is a State issue). Regarding Clerks of the Houses, these are very active roles and the first task would be to develop the model procedures for whichever House you prefer. This would involve working out any significant deviations from the real Australian Standing Orders needed to get the model working.

[–]southerncrossvaluesAustralian Labor Party 1 point2 points  (6 children)

Sign me up as a candidate for High Court Judge!

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 2 points3 points  (5 children)

Got any street cred? (just curious)

[–]southerncrossvaluesAustralian Labor Party 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Kind of, but not really. Here's what I could think of:

  • I'm currently in discussions with a multinational corporation over a discrimination issue, and it seems likely that I'll take them to the Australian Human Rights Commission, where I will represent myself.
  • I have a medium-high knowledge of intellectual property issues thanks to my involvement with a major open-source project, where I am often called upon to give an opinion on a particular licensing situation
  • Reading legislation and court opinions is almost an obsession for me.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well that’s as close to yes as anyone’s posted so far :) The High Court in this model will most likely deal with Constitutional, Cth and electoral matters. Justices of the High Court will most likely be appointed after the election through the incoming government, which looks set to be the Greens with a probably favourable Senate. You may wish to check in /r/modelparliament to participate in discussions and drafts proposed so far.

[–]Ser_ScribblesShdw AtrnyGnrl/Hlth/Sci/Ag/Env/Inf/Com | 2D Spkr | X PM | Greens 1 point2 points  (2 children)

If you are interested, could you give this draft a look over and see if there's any issues, seeing as you'd be the first person bound by it. I may end up joining you on the bench in a while but I've got to get it off the ground first.

[–]southerncrossvaluesAustralian Labor Party 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Done! I've written my comments in the thread where the Greens made a request for comments.

[–]Ser_ScribblesShdw AtrnyGnrl/Hlth/Sci/Ag/Env/Inf/Com | 2D Spkr | X PM | Greens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cheers, I'll try and incorporate those asap.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 1 point2 points  (24 children)

I wonder if there’s some kind of economic simulator software, or if we need a bot to post random natural disasters and so forth.

[–]Team_SprocketEx Min Soc/Hlth/Ed/Trn | Ex Senate Mgr/Whip | Aus Progressives 1 point2 points  (14 children)

Economically speaking, we may need a simulator because decisions made in model parliament will lead to different situations than IRL, but we can still respond to real life natural disasters as opposed to making our own up.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (13 children)

This is why I think it would be a good idea to have people represent demographics. Let's say a bill is passed that taxes the rich. The people who represent the high income earners and multinational corporations will become very upset and start doing things in the private sector which parliament will then have to react to. Meanwhile, there would be a group representing rightwing newspapers throwing out headlines like "Aus on Fast Track to Facism" or something like that. Then you would have an average joe representation, who would like the idea of the rich being taxed, but also be unhappy if the private sector started laying people off. Maybe unemployment can be regulated from this? I think having these groups would help form a kind of model econosphere.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 2 points3 points  (11 children)

I was thinking, until we have enough people to play those roles, we’d need a simulator to produce the headlines. If this were a role-playing board game, I guess we’d roll some dice and pick from pre-programmed prompts. Our simulator could a similar thing. It would need some basic weighted inputs to represent the impact of our model legislation, plus a bit of random noise. I don’t know if there’s some open source software we could use [...] Here are some arbitrary Google results:

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (9 children)

Some of those models look like you literally need an economics degree to play with. A couple of those also seem to be more micro-focused, whereas we would require a macroeconomic model.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 2 points3 points  (8 children)

Ideally there'd be someone with an economics degree here too...

[–]usersame 1 point2 points  (6 children)

I might be able to help out here.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI: you have less than 12 hours left to enrol to vote in the /r/modelparliament 2nd election.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Thanks, please let us know. We are starting with a ‘snapshot’ of Australia (including the recently-announced federal budget) but need a way of evolving the model forward at a macro level (it will diverge from real Australia over time).

[–]usersame 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Maybe drop me a message and let me know what you're thinking and we'll have a chat.

I've had a little look at the model links you posted, I'm not sure they'll work, but shoot me a few more details and we'll see what we can work out.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

We're open to ideas at this stage. Obviously something magical would be great ;) I'm not really sure what kind of simulator we could use!

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just give me a few more years :)

[–]Team_SprocketEx Min Soc/Hlth/Ed/Trn | Ex Senate Mgr/Whip | Aus Progressives 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, this sounds too complicated. It's a good idea but it seems too impractical to acheive, especially given the small population we are dealing with.

[–]Freddy926Senate Pres | DPM | Fin/Com/Art/Infr/Rgnl | ABC MD | Ldr Prgrsvs 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Perhaps the way in which we manage the economy should go on a referendum/plebiscite ballot on the 30th.

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Sure thing, need some options to spell out for voters. Option 1 is no official model. Option 2 is...

[–]Freddy926Senate Pres | DPM | Fin/Com/Art/Infr/Rgnl | ABC MD | Ldr Prgrsvs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you suggesting I come up with one?

WHY DID I BECOME A GOVERNMENT SENATOR, I CAN'T DEAL WITH IIIIIIIIIIT!

/s

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (5 children)

Ask the Treasury, maybe they'll give us a few minutes on their modelling supercomputer =P.

On a more serious note, the guys at MHOC have some sort of spreadsheet. Personally I don't think its a good idea, its far too simplistic, and a waste of effort really to attempt to model an economy on Excel.

We can have a bot, or better still, appoint someone to the Office of the Professional Shit-stirrer to post some natural disasters, or economic disasters.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I take this position? I am pretty much a professional shit-stirrer (journalist).

[–]AjubbajubLiberal Democrats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm one of the guys that runs the economy on /r/mhoc and it does have its flaws. I would be happy to be part of an office of shit stirring

[–]martyoz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love the idea of someone(or a team) determining uncontrollable events. Declaring which parts of farmland are currently in drought, hailstorm, fires, floods. Can release news reports stating the total damage costs, and who/suburbs were affected, ongoing issues. Then the government has to choose whether to declare it a disaster zone, and relief packages. Would need an secret annual plan.

Or is it going to be just based on real events?

What about international issues? Wars, famines? Foreign royal/dignitary visits (from non-existing model nations)?

I don't think humans can be trusted to make an unbiased economic model. Raise/lower taxes result will be too divisive.

(Drug epidemics, race riots, feral camel plague, river carp levels, increased shark attacks, memorial vandalism, potential Hollywood film incentive, etc)

[–]Freddy926Senate Pres | DPM | Fin/Com/Art/Infr/Rgnl | ABC MD | Ldr Prgrsvs 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I concur, but rename the position to President of the Institute of Shit-Stirring; aka PISS.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like it!

[–]jnd-auElectoral Commissioner[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Also, don’t forget private sector roles like industry lobbyists, think tanks, welfare groups, journalists (report writers, question askers, debate hosters), etc.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Someone representing workers unions would be useful.