Australia

Commonwealth of Australia
Flag of Australia
Australia in Light Green Rest of OFN in Blue TAG = AST
Politics
Capital	Canberra
Ruling Party	Australian Labor Party - (Right)
Last Election	9/12/1960
Head of State	Queen Elizabeth II
Head of Government	Kim Beazley Sr.
Diplomacy
Sphere	American Sphere
Foreign Alignment	Independent Member of the OFN
Economy
GDP	$24.17B
Credit Rating	Fair
Market Type	Free Market Capitalism

The Commonwealth of Australia is a former British colony federated in 1901, now, a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and one of the world's largest countries by total area. While they do not border any country directly, its closest neighboring countries are the Republic of Indonesia to the north, the Empire of Japan to the north-east; French Madagascar to the west, across the Indian Ocean, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australia's largest cities are Sydney and Melbourne, whilst its other major metropolitan areas are Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The collapse of the British Empire at the end of the Second World War has left Australia adrift without a strong national identity. With Australia currently a constitutional monarchy under a government led by the Australian Labor Party under Prime Minister Kim Beazley Sr.

History

World War II

In 1939, Australia, then still part of the British Empire, entered World War II alongside the rest of the Empire's colonies and dominions. While the situation in mainland Europe worsened day by day, the people of Australia began to grow discontent towards the war, with many seeing it as a meaningless massacre similar to the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, especially since the war was tens of thousands of miles away from the shores of the Australian continent, as Australian soldiers fought in the Mediterranean theatre, fighting the best they could.

This assumption was soon proved wrong, when the Japanese declared war against the United States and the Brtish Empire, dragging the entire Allies in the war against an enemy much, much closer than the Germans.

The Australian military fought with honor and determination, but in the end, it faced defeat after defeat alongside the British colonial troops, losing in Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and New Guinea, which all fell against the seemingly unstoppable Japanese advance. Right before the Japanese launched their attack on mainland Australia, which would have proved impossible to stop due to the inferiority in both numbers and equipment, the British Isles were invaded by the Germans.

Quick to act upon the news, the Australian government seized the chance and declared their independence from the British, therefore avoiding them being dragged into the humiliating peace treaty its former master had to sign. Without the British however, the Australians had to immediately put themselves under American protection, as their last hope was the United States, with a plan that was dubbed Operation Downfall.

Operation Downfall was an ambitious project, which involved placing the majority of the United States naval capabilities in the Pacific into protecting Australia and New Zealand from the Japanese. This initiative proved fruitful, as the Japanese invasion would be fought off by the joint ANZAC-American forces, ending the war in the Pacific.

After the peace had settled, Australia managed to retain its newfound independence, but new problems arose in the nation: With the fall of the Empire, the prosperous trade network Australia got most of its revenue from had disappeared overnight, leaving thousands unemployed. To make things worse, Labor politics had increased the public debt to enormous proportion, without any means to pay it off. Lastly, the Japanese may have been stopped in their tracks but they are far from defeated: even now, they are planning their next move, trying to achieve what they failed in the last war.

Whatever happens, Australia is in a dire situation, and it will take great efforts and reforms to resist the coming tide.

Political Parties and Factions

Name	Ideology	Leaders
Australian Labor Party - Right	Progressivism Social Democracy	Kim Beazley Sr.
Australian Labor Party - Left	Reformist Socialism	Clyde Cameron
Liberal Party of Australia - Conservative	Paternalistic Conservatism	Paul Hasluck
Liberal Party of Australia - Moderate	Liberalism National Liberalism Classical Liberalism	John Gorton
Liberal Party of Australia - Liberal Conservative	Liberal Conservatism	Malcolm Fraser
Australian Country Party	Right-Wing Populism	Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Australian Country Party - Radicals	Aristocratic Conservatism