Chapter 150 People's Livelihood Issues

As the saying goes, when people are well fed and well clothed, they will have enough energy to live their private lives. Correspondingly, there are more and more newborns.

This is also a good thing for Australia. The proportion of native Australians is also extremely important. These talents are the foundation for maintaining Australia's rule.

In addition to the integration of foreign immigrants into the Australian nation, the only way for Australians to expand is to increase fertility.

British immigration is the result of Australia's efforts in the UK. Arthur's reputation in the UK was not low, and a large number of British people had a good impression of Arthur.

This is also the reason why Australia's immigration agitation in the UK was successful. When people do not reject Arthur, they naturally have one more choice when they want to immigrate.

The reason why Germany's immigration can surpass the British Empire is largely due to William II's policy of wooing Australia.

Since the aid treaty between the German Empire and Australia came into effect, more than 100,000 Germans have immigrated to Australia and become permanent residents of Australia.

Of course, the vast majority of these people have obtained Australian citizenship and have become real Australians in name.

But no one can guarantee that their loyalty to Australia will exceed that of the German Empire. This is also the intention and purpose of William II.

These German immigrants to Australia will try their best to change Australia's political decisions and pull Australia onto the German chariot.

"Yes, population has always been one of Australia's biggest problems. Whether it is encouraging fertility internally or attracting immigrants externally, it is one of our most important decisions at any time. However, attracting immigrants is certainly important, and these immigrants must be assessed and tested for a certain period of time. Only by ensuring that these people have no other purposes can they truly obtain our Australian nationality." Arthur nodded with a smile and said with great satisfaction.

Population is currently one of the criteria for measuring whether a country is strong. The population of any powerful country is as high as tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

Although Australia has a land area at the level of a great power, its population size is a huge problem.

Such a population is not enough to support Australia to become a powerful country, let alone rise to become a great power.

Therefore, Australia must increase its population to more than 10 million before it has a chance to compete with those powerful countries.

"In addition, although the large population growth is certainly gratifying, we should not forget the welfare policy for low-income people. How are our nursing homes and orphanages being built? How many elderly widows and orphans have been helped so far?" Arthur asked.

"Your Highness, the number of our nursing homes and orphanages has initially met domestic demand. In particular, New South Wales and Victoria, the two most populous states, already have eleven and seven nursing homes respectively. Across Australia, we have a total of thirty nursing homes and fifty-one orphanages, accommodating more than 6,000 elderly widows and more than 10,000 orphans. With the steady growth of the population, it can be foreseen that the number of our orphanages and nursing homes will not usher in too much growth, and will basically remain stable within this range." Minister of Civil Affairs Walter Black quickly stood up and answered.

It's not that Minister of Civil Affairs Walter is unwilling to continue to vigorously build orphanages and nursing homes. It's just that according to the population size of Australia, the current number of orphanages and nursing homes is close to saturation, and most of the elderly widows and orphans have been taken in, and only a few have not been helped.

Especially orphans, this is one of the issues that Arthur pays more attention to. Because after receiving assistance, these orphans will be very loyal to the royal family and Arthur in the future.

In particular, some of these orphans often have special talents, and they will even be taken in directly by the royal family and trained to become Arthur's right-hand man in the future.

These orphans who have been trained since childhood are even more loyal than some talents inherited from Duke Arthur.

"Well, since the number of nursing homes and orphanages is close to saturation, the progress of these two constructions can be temporarily suspended, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs can focus on the welfare implementation of existing nursing homes and orphanages." Arthur nodded and agreed to Minister Walter's proposal.

After instructing Minister Walter, Arthur looked at Prime Minister Evan again and signaled to continue.

"In addition to nursing homes and orphanages, the construction of our schools and hospitals is also very satisfactory. A year ago, we only built one large hospital in each state. Now, we have two hospitals in New South Wales and Victoria, and other states and regions are also encouraging the opening of private clinics. At present, there are more than 100 private clinics established throughout Australia. These private clinics are distributed in many cities in Australia, which can improve our medical conditions at the lowest level." Prime Minister Evan said with a smile.

The construction of large hospitals is very slow, and Australia has only eight hospitals so far.

But the number of small private clinics is still quite satisfactory. Compared with large hospitals with insufficient medical staff and equipment, these small clinics are an effective way to improve Australia's most basic medical environment.

"What about schools? How is our education situation now? I remember that there was an idea to open a technical school before. Has the Ministry of Education taken any action on this?" Arthur asked curiously.

The idea of ​​opening a technical school was proposed by Arthur at the previous cabinet meeting, but because of various busy affairs, he handed it over to the Ministry of Education and never asked about it.

When Arthur mentioned the changes in education this time, he remembered that he had mentioned opening a technical school before.

This is a school that can bring many skilled workers with excellent practical ability to all walks of life in Australia, which is still very important for the current development of all walks of life in Australia.

If Australia's industrial development can have a large number of technical talents, then the speed of development will not be restricted, and it can usher in a period of fierce outbreak.

"It's done, Your Highness." Education Minister Richard replied.

Although technical schools serve more industries and other departments, because they are actually schools, their construction and management are still carried out by the education department.

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