Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Nursing Homes, Orphanages, and Technical Schools

Translator: 549690339 |

“Our per capita income still has a significant gap compared to European nations, and closing this gap is a long process, but we must prioritize the interests of all our people. To benefit Australians is to benefit Australia, and the various policies implemented by the government must be fully implemented, ensuring that each Australian can enjoy our policies.” Arthur nodded and spoke solemnly.

Prime Minister Evan nodded and said, “Regarding the welfare policy issue, as per Your Highness’s instructions, we have built a certain number of nursing homes and orphanages in each state. There are a total of thirteen nursing homes, which currently house more than two thousand elderly people who are unable to live independently. In terms of orphanages, we have only built one in each state, currently accommodating more than a thousand orphans. The government’s next plan is to continue building nursing homes and orphanages, striving to help more elderly people and young children.”

If the large-scale construction of jobs benefits all adult Australians, then nursing homes and orphanages are a rescue for those elderly and orphans who cannot live independently.

Currently, due to scale factors, nursing homes mainly accommodate low-income elderly people without children and who are unable to live independently.

Anyway, the construction of nursing homes and orphanages has effectively alleviated the tragic plight of Australia’s impoverished common people, allowing many elderly people and young children to survive.

The reason why Australians respect and fervently obey Arthur is largely due to various welfare policies and tax reduction measures.

In the hearts of ordinary people, whether a monarch is great and respected depends on whether the monarch cherishes his citizens and whether he can respect the interests of all citizens.

At least for now, Arthur has been quite successful in this regard. From the moment Arthur arrived in Australia, he has continuously introduced various welfare policies beneficial to Australians and reduced more than half of taxes.

Under such circumstances, if Australians still do not admire this people’s monarch, there would really be a problem.

“The government is doing well in this regard, Prime Minister Evan. As long as there are elderly and orphans in Australia, we must continue the operation of nursing homes and orphanages. I can accept a long but effective plan, but I cannot accept no progress or action. I hope that this year, more nursing homes and orphanages can be established, so the Australian people can see that their government cares about them,” Arthur nodded with satisfaction and instructed.

The construction of nursing homes and orphanages does not cost much money, and the daily expenses are not high. However, these two institutions are very effective means of winning the hearts of the people.

A small nursing home or orphanage can accommodate about a hundred people, and the annual cost will not exceed 2,000 pounds.

Because the various human rights protection policies of this era are very low, and European countries are secretly implementing a 12-hour work system, how much attention do people pay to those lonely elderly people and orphans?

By providing them with three meals a day and some basic essentials, it would not be difficult to win many people’s favor, so why not do so?

“Yes, Your Highness.” Prime Minister Evan replied.

This is a very simple task, but it can bring huge prestige to the royal family and the government, so Prime Minister Evan answered very decisively.

“What about the situation of education and medical care? What progress has been made in the construction of our schools and hospitals?” Arthur asked.

In terms of people’s livelihood, in addition to various welfare policies, education and medical care are also the focus of Arthur’s attention.

“Your Highness, as per your instructions, the Ministry of Education has built 107 primary schools, 11 secondary schools, and the National University last year. We have currently enrolled more than 12,300 students, and the number of admissions is expected to increase this year.” The Minister of Education, Richard Burke, stood up and replied.

Building a hundred primary schools was the task Arthur had given to Minister Richard during a previous cabinet meeting, and to Arthur’s surprise, Minister Richard had successfully met the target.

“How about the university? How are our precious university students doing there?” Arthur asked with a smile.

Primary education is about some basic essentials and rarely goes wrong. But university is different; those few hundred precious university students will be the backbone of Australia’s technical industry in the coming years, and any problems would break Arthur’s heart.

“Very well, Your Highness. Since the university adopts a half-theory and half-practice approach, the students’ mastery of various knowledge is smooth, and the learning plan is being carried out in an orderly manner,” Minister Richard said with a smile.

Adopting a half-theory, half-practice teaching method for university students was also the Ministry of Education’s helpless choice.

Because industry and various constructions require a lot of technical talents, and Australia’s reserves in this area are not perfect.

As a result, these university students have become valuable technical talents and are occasionally pulled into industry and other departments as temporary laborers for a whole day.

However, there are also advantages to this approach. Because of the hands-on practice, these university students’ mastery of their knowledge is very effective.

Although it makes them physically and mentally exhausted, their learning efficiency has indeed improved, and they can solve some common technical problems encountered by various departments.

“The nutrition supply for the university students must keep up, as they will be the backbone of our country. In addition, in order to solve the problem of the shortage of technical workers in our country, while attracting skilled workers to immigrate, I think it is necessary to establish a technical school, recruit ordinary workers for short-term training, and enable them to master specific skills to enter more advanced positions. The Ministry of Education can discuss the plans during this period, and the faculty can be hired from Europe. Our existing excellent workers and talents can also serve as temporary teachers. The main purpose of this technical college is to cultivate technical skills so that Australia can train more skilled workers and talents,” Arthur suggested as he looked at Minister Richard.

Although the education at the university is very smooth, the precious university students will become the backbone of Australia’s technical industry in the future. They are more research and management talents, and naturally, they cannot be allowed to work at the grass-roots level.

This would lead to a problem, that is, the shortage of Australia’s technical workers cannot be alleviated.

Therefore, it is very necessary to establish a technical school specifically for training technical workers. They do not need to be highly educated, but as long as they can master certain techniques and abilities, and grow into qualified or even excellent workers, they will have met Arthur’s expectations..