Ara For Speaker - Working For Consistency

[AraFuttio]

Hello, everyone! I'm AraFuttio, sometimes known as Ara or Oriaga, and I'm running to be the next Speaker of the Regional Assembly. I have been a Citizen since June, and have already served in a wide range of government positions, including Deputy Minister and Gameside Advocate, and this term I have been serving as Deputy Speaker. In that time, I have learnt (most of) the skills and technicalities involved in working in the Speaker's Office, and believe l am ready to serve as the leader of this office.

One of my priorities for the Speaker's Office is to reintroduce the Weekly Regional Assembly Digest, which was a regular occurrence before it was discontinued in 2018. This digest will contain news on RA business, welcoming new citizens and saying goodbye to departing citizens. After we can get a steady flow of those Digests, my next target will be to finally complete the Speaker's Guides for Deputy Speakers.

Whilst those are mainly creative targets, that does not mean that I don't appreciate the detail and technicalities involved in this job. As should always be the case, the main priority for the Speaker is to keep the RA running smoothly, with consistency, discipline and teamwork. I plan to slightly cut down on the number of Deputy Speakers that are appointed; I will be using activity from this term as a marker for reappointing Deps. I want to give people the opportunities they deserve, but l also don't want to clog up the Office with Deps who have very little activity.

Well, that’s all from me, and as usual, if you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them!

 

[Vivanco]

Let's set the scene. You're elected Speaker, and as the term goes by, it's discovered that there's a backlog of unprocessed applications that, by simple mistake, were left unattended. How would you solve that situation? And if you can, elaborate legally.

 

[AraFuttio]

Let's set the scene. You're elected Speaker, and as the term goes by, it's discovered that there's a backlog of unprocessed applications that, by simple mistake, were left unattended. How would you solve that situation? And if you can, elaborate legally.

Thank you for your question, Vivanco. It has got me thinking. I guess the issue with this scenario is that, provided the applications were left for more than 7 days, under Section 6.1, Clause 13 of the Legal Code, the applicants would be automatically granted citizenship, without having undergone a check on their nation or their oath. I’d say that the best solution for this issue whilst remaining legal would be to keep those applicants holding citizenship, but remove the ones which don’t have a nation in TNP in the necessary forum thread, rather than removing all of them and making them apply again, which would cause a lot more inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. The only problem with that solution is that legally there is no allowance for the removal of a citizen because they made an incorrect oath in their original application, and I think in that scenario, an R4R would be in store. More broadly, I would remind myself and my Deps that the application thread must be checked regularly to prevent that from happening again.

 

[Halsoni]

Strong reply. Very good.

 

[St George]

This is an interesting platform and you may have my vote, but first some questions:

Can you briefly outline the process by which a Speaker (or Deputy Speaker) would go about closing a vote in the RA, including both actions you'd take on the forum and on any other platforms?

How often should checks be being done? Do you believe the rate that checks were done over the past term was acceptable or would you seek to have checks be carried out at a more (or less) frequent rate?

As well doing the paperwork side of things, the Speaker's Office has some important, less known powers and responsibilities available to it - can you talk about one of these powers and how you would use it if required?

 

[AraFuttio]

Can you briefly outline the process by which a Speaker (or Deputy Speaker) would go about closing a vote in the RA, including both actions you'd take on the forum and on any other platforms?

Thank you for your questions St George. Firstly, at the preprepared closing time for the vote, my personal method would be to put a message on the voting thread announcing that the vote had closed, so that the Speaker(s) have time to count the vote without another vote coming through. The next step would be to write the order number of the motion at-vote into the appropriate area on the spreadsheet, and then check that all members who voted were citizens since the start of the vote and were a citizen throughout the whole vote. Any who didn’t meet this criteria would immediately have their vote discounted. Then the usual ticking names off would follow (the spreadsheet tallies up Ayes, Noes and Abstains for you). The final message on the voting thread would contain the amount of votes cast, whether the vote passes or not in relation to the threshold required, how many votes were cast and what the percentage of citizens voting was, and any discounts.

How often should checks be being done? Do you believe the rate that checks were done over the past term was acceptable or would you seek to have checks be carried out at a more (or less) frequent rate?

I honestly think there is no limit to the amount of checks that are carried out; there will always be room for improvement to make sure all members of the Speaker’s Office check the citizenship application thread regularly. My belief is that the sooner checks are carried out, the more likely it is that applicants will be impressed by our efficient system and will be more likely to get involved in the region. I think there have been lapses in this efficiency over the past term, of course not the fault of anyone. One of my first priorities will be to drill this expectation to check the thread as much as possible into my Deps (and myself!) so that we can keep a consistent efficiency to the amount of checks carried out.

As well doing the paperwork side of things, the Speaker's Office has some important, less known powers and responsibilities available to it - can you talk about one of these powers and how you would use it if required?

Good question! It is in my understanding that if the Speaker wishes, they have the ability to block the scheduling of a vote, as long as it isn’t immediate, even if there has been a motion and a second, if they believe it is not in the interests of the region. I believe this ability would be used if it was clear that the motion was made as a joke, or if it’s clear that the RA has firm opposition to the motion being scheduled at that time. As well as this, the ability could be used if the Speaker felt that the legislation or the motion being voted on would be pointless/void at that time.

I hope I have answered your questions to the best of my ability.

 

[Comfed]

Hi Ara, glad to see you running for office. Is “deps” the new word being used in the Speaker’s office to refer to deputy speakers? Because if so, it’s time to drain the swamp.

 

[AraFuttio]

Hi Ara, glad to see you running for office. Is “deps” the new word being used in the Speaker’s office to refer to deputy speakers? Because if so, it’s time to drain the swamp.

Yes, apologies if that wasn’t clear. Deps are Deputy Speakers. My understanding of ‘drain the swamp’ is to root out corruption, are you suggesting there is corruption in the Speaker’s Office, or do you mean that there are too many Deputies in the Office? (Or both?)

Edit: I’ve realised that you could be saying that the Speaker has been dishing out Deputy jobs a bit too… sporadically. If this is what you are saying, I can assure you that Deputy appointments will be made with careful consideration and will not be dished out at the touch of a finger. Reappointments will be partly influenced by the activity of the Deputies in this closing term.

 

[Comfed]

I was just making a joke, sorry for the confusion

 

[AraFuttio]

I was just making a joke, sorry for the confusion

That’s ok, jokes are allowed