Opening Statements

[Royaltica] Hello, TSP! I'm Royaltica, the current Deputy Minister of Events. I am involved in MoRA, MoFA, and OWL. I'm excited to see how this debate turns out. A big thanks to SPINN for hosting this!

[Swifty] Well, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Swifty. I am currently the deputy chair of the assembly and a senior staff member in OWL among other things. I joined NS in mid to late may and have been active ever since. I am running for Minister of Culture because I think that I am best suited to serve in that role. Oh, and a MASSIVE thanks to SPINN for hosting this!

Section 1 - Q&A

This is the first ever election for Minister of Culture, which means that many precedents will be set if you are elected. Even though you are the sole candidate and your election is quite likely, why do you believe that you are particularly qualified to lead this new ministry?

[Royaltica] I think I'm qualified because I have lead most of the events I have been part of, and I love events and roleplay. I don't believe that you can lead something which you don't enjoy. Also, I am Deputy Minister of Events, which proves that I have the capability to be the minister.

[Swifty] I think that there is 2 main reasons that I should lead this brand new Ministry. The first is that I am experienced in the government. I served as a Cabinet Advisor during this past term and have seen first hand what it takes to run a Ministry. Additionally, I have served as a Senior Staff member in the Office of WA Legislation and I was crucial in helping the get OWL off to a great start. On top of this, I am the current Deputy Chair of the Assembly and have been working hard with the current chair to both maintain the Assembly as well as improve it in any way possible. Lastly, I have served in the SPSF for over 3 months now and I have good relations with people in many other regions so this would help with hosting events. The second reason is that I have a plan. Unlike both of the other candidates, I have a well thought-out and well laid out plan on how I will run this new Ministry. Especially with this being the first ever term, I feel that this is crucial for setting an example for future Ministers.

Beyond events and festivals, what projects do you think will be key in setting up the Ministry of Culture?

[Swifty] I think that there are two things that will be key in setting up the Ministry of Culture. The first is relations. I feel like it will be crucial to maintain good relations with other regions in order to simplify the process of organizing and hosting events with other regions. The second is participation. It will be crucial, and I mean crucial, to have as many people join the MoC as possible. With a lack of personnel and staff, projects will stagnate and will never get finished and that would be just sad to see.

[Royaltica] I agree with Swifty on both. But another crucial thing is that the ministry will need people to join the events and participate in the fun activities. Without any participators, there is no point of having a Ministry of Culture. Same goes for roleplay.

Vietnam has suggested using cards as a rewards system. Do you think there is space for cooperation with the Ministry of Engagement to use cards as rewards for participating in events and other activities?

[Royaltica] Yes. Now that the Ministry of Regional Affairs has been split, the Minister of Culture will have time to talk with the Minister of Engagement, instead of focusing mainly on their own ministry. And I think cards and other rewards will bring in more participators, because as I said earlier, participators are necessary for the ministry to have a purpose.

[Swifty] 110% yes! I think that cards are brilliant and full of potential and I think that TSP is really missing out on using cards as rewards etc... I would love to work with Viet and the MoE and help set up card farms and dedicated reward systems for the Ministry of Culture. I would probably use cards as rewards for participating in events, winning contests in events and maybe even for helping to organize events. For those of you who don't know, originally, there was a plan created by me and Viet to try and use cards as rewards in OWL, however this never saw the light. But, since then, I have been card farming with many puppets and I would love to contribute all of my earning to help kick start this initiative. Also, because I have become a card farmer, I have experience in working with them and how to trade bank and cards and all of the other technical stuff so that would facilitate me using them.

A common problem in the Ministry of Regional Affairs was that often senior fellows would ask for help and fellows wouldn't always answer. How would you ensure that those who apply to the Ministry of Culture actually contribute?

[Swifty] I feel like one of the main reasons that this happened in MoRA was a lack of interest. Many people weren't either interested in certain projects or found certain projects too hard or complicated. With the MoRA split, we have divided the workload into 3 which in my opinion, should encourage more people to help. Additionally, if we can organize fun and interactive events, this will make people want to join the Ministry and help out. In order to insure people who join actually contribute, I will make weekly pings with updates to all staff members about the current projects and how they can join in. Also, as I said in my previous response, I will use cards as an incentive for people to join the MoC and help organize and host events.

[Royaltica] By having a rule for participation, like the assembly. Each staff member has to participate in planning at least one event. Near the end of the month, if a member has not contributed, they will receive a warning. But if they still don't, at the end of the month, the person will not be a staff member anymore. Also, interest is a main thing to maintain. Some people have said planning MoRA events have been like slavery, and the reason was because of the minister pushing back all ideas. So sometimes, the ministry could have a vote to see which events should happen. And for the events that don't get selected, an esteemed member of the ministry will be asked to improve the event, with the original planner. But I'm pretty sure that the lack of participation won't happen, because first of all, it is a choice to join the ministry, and rewards are something people like (well me, at least). By having a rewards system mentioned in my campaign (yet to be finished), I believe participation will be happening frequently.

Have you been involved in the Culture Department of the Ministry of Regional Affairs in the past term? If so, what contributions have you made to it?

[Royaltica] Yes. As I said earlier, I have participated in events, and participated in roleplay. I am also the Deputy Minister of Events. The contributions are mainly about my role in leading an event. So far, in the Independence Day festival, I came up with the idea of having a TSP version of the Statue of Liberty. Also, the Summerfest might have been different if Phoenix and I hadn't combined our event ideas. And currently, I have been one of the main participators in planning an event which I think will be very fun and interesting. In total, I have lead 3 events, and I am participating in 2 events currently being planned, over a few months of being in MoRA.

[Swifty] I have been very involved. As a matter of fact, it's the only department I have really been involved in. I was one of the lead organizers (along with my fwend Royaltica :> ) in hosting the Independence Day event. I was an admin who helped with moderating the Autumn Fest event and festival. I was the lead organizer from TSP and I was extremely involved with creating, organizing, and now moderating the Paradoxical'VE event. (you can join in on the fun here: http://discord.gg/8dWyTPB . also, don't you dare call this a shameless plug, smh) On top of all that, I am the lead working on the Getting-To-Know-You (GTKY) event. I established a detailed plan on how we will host the event, how we will organize the event and who we will host it with. And my goal with be to actually have all of those words on a google doc be turned into a reality and host as many GTKY events with as many regions as possible.

None of the candidates for this office have ever been elected to the Cabinet, which means that one of you will gain access to classified information. Why should the region believe that you can be trusted with that kind of access?

[Swifty] I have served for over 3 months as a soldier in the SPSF and have been exposed to lots of sensitive military information. Along with this, I have been trusted my our very own MoMA (MoD) Phoenix to organize and then lead certain military ops where if you lead anything, you can ruin your whole op. So I think that I can be trusted with such sensitive information.

[Royaltica] You can trust me, because in a certain channel (that is a secret itself), I have not revealed to anyone the things that are going in it, and they are highly classified, until the things are revealed to the public.

Desserts are a contentious issue in the region. Do you prefer cake or pie?

[Royaltica] ICE CREAM CAKE AND FONDANT CAKES RULE!!!!!!!!!!!! :birthday:

[Swifty] Brownies. Brownies are clearly superior.

Section 2 - Candidate-Specific Questions

Royaltica, some in our audience have expressed concern that you have not been very visible in the weeks leading up to the election. Is this criticism valid and, if so, how would you assure voters that this is not a prelude to lack of visibility while in office?

[Royaltica] By lack of visibility, you mean not very active, right? I can and will be active, because if I am elected, it would be my chance at proving to the region that I can be an amazing minister, and it would affect the rest of my career in the South Pacifican government. First impressions should always be good, especially when you are the first at something. Also, I don't think I could resist being offline, when I am a minister for the first time, and get to help make events, but this time, have more say in how the events go. Also, with a whole ministry depending on me to keep it going, going offline will be very bad for the ministry's future, since if I'm elected, I will be the first in office.

Swifty, your campaign initially claimed that Creation Day celebrated the creation of the South Pacific rather than that of NationStates. While that could be called a minor error, can you assure voters that there wouldn't be any cases where there would be mistakes regarding the culture and history of the region?

[Swifty] To be honest, and I would completely understand if people don't vote for me because of that. However, I will say this, it was one mistake, and a minor one at that. I promise that I will not make any mistakes, or misstatements of anything of that sort. It's the first time that I've made a mistake and I think that it was bound to happen one day. But, I promise that it will not happen again.

Section 3 - Cross-Questioning

[Indusse] If you are going to be the MoC, what will you do about your opponent candidates? Will you be able to conduct events with more than 4 regions at a time in a given period?

[Royaltica] I will be able to conduct events with more than 4 regions, because one of the events being planned, is being conducted with another region and the event is almost done in the time period of one week. And in that one week, I have accomplished that by being online for roughly one hour during some days of the week. If I increase my time being active to everyday, I can get more done, including running events with four regions. And there is a reason why people join the ministry. They can help too. If I do all the work, what is in it for the people who signed up?

[Swifty] My dream for the Ministry of Culture would be to be constantly working on multiple events at the same time and that the calendar is jam packed full with as many events as physically possible. An idea I had came up with to organize many things at the same time would be a sort of hierarchy system. Basically, When you join the ministry, you'd become a "Project Helper". You would be assigned to a project and that is what you would work on. Then, the "Project Helper" would report to a "Project Organizer" who would be in charge of organizing all the different parts from each of the Project Helpers and making sure everything gets done on time. Then the "Project Organizer"(s) would report into me and my deputy who would be in charge of everything. This would permit the ministry to work on multiple projects at once while still getting everything done well and on time. However, this is just an idea an I will have to propose and discuss this with my deputy. In regard to the first part of the question, I don't see why they wouldn't be allowed to help. We live in a democracy and everyone is free to participate and help. As a matter of fact, if elected, I would probably chose one of my fellow candidates to appoint as my Deputy Minister.

[Swifty] What are some basic events you would host if you get elected?

[Royaltica] Swifty, do you think you can be MoC when you are greatly involved in OWL and MoD? Can you balance the time you spend, while accomplishing everything you have promised for MoC?
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I would host Foundation Day, Delegate's Day, a Christmas event, a New Year's event, and all the holidays coming in the winter season.

[Swifty] I think that for the first couple weeks if I get elected will be very important. Because of this, I will focus most of my time on the MoC and thus be a little more absent in OWL and the MoD. However, once the foundations and laid out, I plan to return to being active everywhere as much as possible however my first priority will me the MoC. For example, if I'm given the choice between participating in the organization process of an event or participate in a Military Op, I will always chose the Event one.

Regarding your previous answer to my question, don't you think that the Christmas event and the New Years event would be overlapping? Additionally, if given the choice between hosting an event between TSP and another region and an event with just TSP, which do you pick?

[Royaltica] Yes, I suppose that would be ideal. For your next question, I would choose TSP and another region. That would help strengthen the bonds between TSP and the other region, and TSP citizens will also be invited. If I chose the other, it would only include citizens of our region. So obviously TSP and the other region is the better pick, when there is nothing to lose.

Closing Statements

[Royaltica] Thank you so much to SPINN for hosting this amazing debate! To all the voters, I hope you vote for me! If you have any questions for me, please ask me through DM.

[Swifty] I would like to end by saying this. I'm not gonna ask for you to vote me, I'm not gonna brag about being the better candidate because at the end of the day, your the one who picks who you vote for. But just keep this in mind, if you vote for me, you won't regret it.

Thank you.

Also, I'd like to thank SPINN for hosting these wonderful debates and polls and for publishing their amazing content in general and I hope to see them do the same in the January Elections!

This concludes the October 2020 Minister of Culture Debate. Thank you Royaltica and Swifty for participating and thank you to our audience for attending. See you at the polls!

The South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN) is an independent news organisation established in 2003 with the goal of providing good, insightful and timely commentary on regional events for the citizens of the South Pacific. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board. Content is published via pseudonyms. The SPINN is not associated with the Government of the South Pacific.