(i mean't to slowly reveal this through IC, but im deciding just to dump it all at once to see if I can get any more IC inspiration)
Australia Pre-Unification Timeline
June 2015: Accusations from the Indonesian Government about payments from australian maritime officials to people smugglers, find root in many media sections and even work it’s way to the UN, who begin to investigate the accusations, which if true breach international law
September 2015: After a 3 month investigation by the UN, several key members of the Australian Government and Armed forces are arrested by the UN for trial in the international criminal court, the investigation not only uncovered solicitation of people smuggling but also numerous accounts of human rights being deliberately ignored and broken
February 2016: protests over the government's actions and calls for a new election soon are heard in all major cities in the nation, the new government under Malcolm Turnbull promises elections to be held in May.
May 2016: Labour destroys the Liberal party at the election in the biggest landslide to date in australian history with the liberals only gaining a measly 12 seats in government. other significant events include the deregistration of the Palmer United Party after pitiful performance at the polls and failing to retain a seat or gain any senate positions, the Jackie Lambie Network takes 2 seats in the lower house and 5 in the senate. Bill Shorten is sworn in as Prime Minister
January 2018: in a move that speaks of predetermined intent the trial of the former Australian government concludes, and the results are announced on Australia day, bringing great shame to the Australian people when all members are found guilty on all charges and to be imprisoned in Geneva for life. Australia day is quickly disbanded as a tradition and the new national holiday is declared as federation day or the 1st of January
December 2018: the Christmas incident occurs, when two Royal Australian Navy frigates accidentally attack and sink 3 smaller and unarmed vessels of the Indonesian Navy believing them to be people smugglers, further confounding the incident is no way of telling whether the incident took place on the Australian side of the border or the Indonesian side, due a high-intensity storm at the time causing an EMP effect
March 2019:Tension continues to rise with Indonesia following the failure to arrest or detain any crew members of the ships involved in the Christmas Incident, trouble is further confounded by the arrival of 6 new nuclear submarines from Sweden, although originally having meant to have had their engines replaced with electric, this does not occur.
August 2019: Amid the growing tension in the seas around Indonesia, the next federal elections take place, the liberal party makes minor growth bringing them back up to 22, while the national party who decided to end the long standing coalition earned around 13. Labour lost several seats to retain a small majority in the lower house but only controlled around 40% of the senate. The big winners were the Lambie Network preying on fears of the people towards Indonesia, to promote its anti-muslims and xenophobic views it grows to become the second largest party in both the senate and the lower house.
2021: The Lambie Network manages to pass a series of reforms banning Halal certification on Australian products, and Sharia Law in the country. Many Muslims leave the country, while others begin to form some minor radical groups
2022: Amidst the new election campaign, the leader of the Lambie Network, Jackie Lambie suffers a serious stroke and passed away, a police inquiry finds suspicious circumstances surrounding her death. Due to the economic damage to the food industry by the banning of Halal, and the subsequent rout of both Labour and the now leaderless Lambie Network the coalition is reborn and rises to power to win a shock election, Malcolm Turnbull taking office as Prime Minister in his second stint although his first official time. Meanwhile tension is again rising with Indonesia after the Halal ban puts Indonesia into a minor famine that rapidly becomes more severe when an insect plague destroys much of the crops in the smaller country
2024: the Halal law is finally repealed, although much of the damage is done to the food industry, the economy is growing again after a resurgent second mining boom in western australia, and the decision to implement a mining tax. Of note is a constitutional change that modifies the time for elections from 3 years apart to 6 years apart.
2026: after still suffering from its food famine, a communist uprising occurs in Indonesia and the country begins to expand aggressively annexing the minor nation of Brunei, while little complaint is given by the Australian government, more funding is given to the armed forces in order to expand.
2027: the 2027 elections further solidify liberal hold on political power in Australia, although Malcolm Turnbull retires after the election to allow for new faces to come to power within the party although he still guides the Coalition from the shadows up until around, December 2034, when he believes that the party is no longer what it was under his leadership.
2028: realizing that Australia can no longer rely on the US for all of it’s military technology, the government begins the creation of a new faction within the armed forces to acquire and design locally built weapons and equipment
2030: Indonesia after fixing it’s famine and noticing the limited reaction it got from its annexation of Brunei, decides for a more ambitious plans of expansion, two options are drawn up: Timor-Leste and Sarawak belonging to Malaysia, attempting to avoid the wrath of Australia the nation quickly chooses the later option and annexes Sarawak, defeating the Malaysian navy who quickly cedes its claims to the country
2031: facing mass public outrage at the actions of Indonesia, the Australian Government quickly offers guarantees of independence to the Nations of Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, and forms the Oceanic Defense Alliance consisting of the two previously mentioned states, New Zealand, Fiji and several other island nations in the area, also secretly authorized is the activation of a secret nuclear weapons creation division who quickly begin work converting the Lucas Heights Nuclear Generator towards researching Atomic Weaponry, the old testing grounds in central Australia are also requisitioned for Nuclear testing.
2032: despite the declaration guaranteeing the independence of Timor-Leste, Indonesia invades on the 23rd August 2032, when the news breaks to Australia, people hold their breath as they await the government's response. On the 24th August, the next day, the Australian Government declares war against the Indonesia, with all of the Oceanic Defense treaty signatories joining at some point over the following week.
December 2032: by December the war has been going badly for Australia, after being forced out of East Timor and Papua New Guinea they managed to hold off the Invasion of the Western Australia and Northern Territory, however Indonesian Forces are able to gain a foothold in Cape York and begin to push their way down the peninsular into deeper
Queensland
2033: by September of 2033 the new equipment designed by the Australian arms industry, had arrived on the front lines and along with the new reinforcements managed to turn the tide forcing all Indonesian troops out of Australia.
2034: The Indonesian Campaign goes smoothly as troops manage to liberate the Nations of East Timor and Papua New Guinea. heavy jungle fighting still continues up the jungles on the way to Jakata, although west Guinea falls quickly after brief skirmishes to Australian troops.
September 2034: After heavy fighting continues to be bogged down towards Jakarta, an extreme measure is taken, the first two atomic weapons to be built by Australia are sent to Papua New Guinea to be used later, however upon arrival only 1 of the weapons is found in the cargo hold. As Australian and Papuan Soldiers joined now by West Guinean Soldiers and freedom Militias land in Borneo they are greeted by the sight of hundreds of burning structures as the Indonesian Army destroys it’s gas and oil drills while it moves deeper into the jungle.
December 2034: taking place on the same day as the Christmas incident, some say it was planned to demoralize the Indonesians even more, the operation to drop a Nuclear weapon on Jakarta is approved after several Divisions are lost to a modified strain of Malaria being used as a biological weapon by the Indonesian Army. The bomb causes millions of casualties in the cramped city conditions, as well as deforesting a huge swath of the jungle, days later the Indonesian government surrenders (or what was left of it)
February 2035: the Jakarta affairs, as the peace talks were known, lead to West Guinea being annexed by Papua New Guinea, West Timor being annexed by Timor-Leste and the rest of the Indonesian nation being annexed into Australia, although it would be managed indirectly as a client Government of the Australian Government rather than as a State within the federation as the Indonesians had hoped to achieve
2038: the first elections after the war, as can be expected the Liberal party experienced another curb-stomp over the labor party in the elections to continue to hold on to its reign of authority.
2040: despite it being 5 years after the Indonesian War, the government still has issues with rebuilding the oil rigs and other mineral collectors in the old Indonesian territory and dwindling stockpiles, begins to push the prices of Oil and gas up to high levels in Oceania. New Zealand increases its extraction processes but warns that it is soon going to reach peak oil and peak gas, many Australian mining companies are happy with the situation as demand for coal increases due to its relative cheapness and many mines are opened and new ones expanded.
2042: New Zealand reaches peak oil
2043: a ship is stopped in Port Moresby and searched by Police, who find the boat run by a terrorist organisation, formed from many of the Muslim groups after the Halal laws and the defeat of Indonesia, in their possession they have the missing Nuclear Bomb from the Indonesian War, intelligence reveals they intended to use it to blow up the city of Darwin, however when faced with capture they prematurely detonate the bomb destroying a significant portion of Port Moresby.
2046: the new elections, show a starling fall for the Liberals as they suddenly find themselves out of favour with the populace for their mishandling of the current resource crisis. Labour find themselves in power for the first time in decades
2047: New Zealand's economy goes into recession, when its oil and gas reserves dry up.
2048: the new Labor government manages to get the old oil and gas stations back online in Indonesia after more than 12 years of delays and problems, the speed at which the problem is resolved convinces many to continue their support for labor. Sadly the solution comes a little too late to be of service.
2049: faced with an increasingly unstable economy New Zealand finds itself with no other option than to request admission as the newest state of Australia. the decision while costing some national freedom saves the New Zealand economy from nearly uncontrollable inflation. some people including Maori form nationalist Militias viewing the whole escapade as a sabotage act by Australia to force New Zealand into the Commonwealth.
2050: unable to sustain the heavy new activity the western Australian Mines slowly begin to deplete of resources, despite this the amount of money being made means nobody pays to much attention to it, especially the Western Australian State Government.
2051: after nearly 60% of the mines in western Australia are declared exhausted, new projects are started to find new mineral deposits, however in a show of things to come only a few small deposits are found with analysts predicting they could all be depleted by 2054 at the earliest and 2064 at the latest.
2052: The 2052 election saw the liberals returned to power by a slim margin after the promise of official ascension to the rank of State for the Northern territory. Although fresh in parliament the government announced several new budget savings initiatives, to help bring around a healthy budget and pay for more military and nuclear spending, chief amongst these is a cut to subsidiaries for mining companies and increased mining taxes, which feels like a kick in the teeth to the western australian government. who reluctantly begins to mine the last deposits at great cost to the state, for sales of very low price.
2053: many of the new deposits run out minerals within a year and the only few left running are expected to run out in 2054, with only around 1-5 major mines still operating into 2055. The western australia ponders its options, the idea of succession from the Australian Commonwealth pops up many times, although an agreement is made to try and fix the problem through a GST tax discussion, in which the state hopes to get a higher percentage of the GST allocated to its budget.
2054: The beginning of the GST discussions between the Western Australian State and the Federal Government, although the other states were present. from the beginning to conversation is sour as many states seem unwilling to see any funds diverted to what they believe is a dying industry. by the end of the year talks are already strained, and doubts that a solution can be found are beginning to creep in.
2055: The year would be heralded by the discovery by Northern Australia (as the northern territory had been renamed) of the largest remaining deposit of valuable minerals anywhere in the west . As the deposit lay smack bang in the middle of the border between West Australia and North Australia, conflict inevitably arose between the two states as they jostled for control of the deposit, the federal government unable and afraid to step in to stop the fighting, amidst this backdrop the GST tax discussion collapsed, with each side backing off to their own camp, despite arguably being from the same nation, there was still an air of tension as Western Australia has been prone to rash decisions and there was no knowing what would happen.
(will add the rest later)
