The Commonwealth of Australia of Vancouver Straits is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Prime Minister Paul Ackerman with a fair hand, and remarkable for its public floggings, infamous sell-swords, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic population of 3.028 billion Australians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Canberra. The average income tax rate is 49.5%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Australian economy, worth 294 trillion Australian Dollar AUD$s a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Retail, Information Technology, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 97,355 Australian Dollar AUD$s, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Passionate nomination battles are often as intense as general elections, the government is promoting multicultural values with the new 'Just Be Nice, OK?' initiative, wood-framed catapults are ready to launch diseased corpses into besieged cities, and people reciting Shakespeare have become a common sight. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Vancouver Straits's national animal is the Kangaroo, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Secular.

Vancouver Straits is ranked 29,750^th in the world and 58^th in Commonwealth of Liberty for Most Developed, scoring 75.5 on the Human Development Index.