On December 3st, just a few days after the Christmas vacation, the Austrsian Governmt retered the whirlwind of state affairs.


    Thest day of the year oft coincided with the time for the Cab Governmt''s annual report meeting.


    However, as the new Cab had only be working for a few months, the report would be a summary of the previous Cab''s actions, thus, the contt of the annual report was rtively sparse.


    Of course, the main focus of this meeting was the new Cab''s n for its term.


    Due to the vtile situation in Europe and a the world, no one can be certain whether war will break out tomorrow.


    This implies that the work of the Fourth Cab Governmt is extremely difficult, and there is a high likelihood that they will experice a world war unprecedted in history during their term.


    This also means that the Fourth Cab Governmt''s role is very critical. A single misstep could pottially set the country''s progress of t years up in mes.


    While history from the future can provide Arthur many lessons and experices, who can guarantee that this world will follow the same course?


    Will Italy switch sides? Will the United States ter the war? Will revolution erupt in Russia Nation?


    Set aside these three questions, Austrsia itself is something that Arthur could not easily predict.


    Theoretically, whichever side Austrsia aligns itself with, it would be able to provide some substantial assistance, and possibly ev alter the course of the future war to some extt.


    But Arthur''s aim isn''t limited to this. What Arthur seeks is for Austrsia to gain a higher international status through this war and to befit from the defeat of other countries. After the First World War, it should be at least a yer, not a pawn.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Although the annual report meeting had be greatly streamlined, what was reported was mostly vital news.


    As of December 3, 9, Austrsia''s poption had officially reached over .5 million, with Australia''s poption at 8.7 million and New Zend''s poption at .4 million.


    The New Guinea Colony, Australian Timor, and Royal Territory poptions were 73,000, 9,000, and 8,000 respectively.


    Austrsia now officially had its second city with over a million people: Melbourne.


    Melbourne''s currt poption was just over .04 million people, making it the second economic cter of Austrsia, behind Sydney. These two cities were considered the two brightest pearls in Oceania.


    With more than a decade of developmt, at least within Austrsia''s urban cities, the level of developmt has initially caught up with that of ordinary cities in Europe.


    For cities like Sydney and Melbourne, with poptions in the millions, their scale and developmt level is in no way inferior to top-tier European cities.


    In truth, this is quite normal, giv that Austrsia has devoted the strgth of the tire nation to developing these two cities.


    These two cities are peerless within Austrsia, establishing their unique dominance amongst the cities in Austrsia.


    Ev under Minister Grant''s advice, Arthur has already formted and issued relevant immigrationws, heavily couraged immigration to remote areas, colonies, smaller towns, and to some extt, reduced the welfare treatmt of big cities.


    Yet, still, four out of every t immigrants chose to stay in a big city, or at least, in a state capital with a poption in the hundreds of thousands.


    After all, onlyrge cities can provide more job opportunities and more opportunities for these immigrants to find.


    What''s there to do in small towns? Except for special cases like the Leonora Industrial Base, small towns are mostly gaged in agriculture developmt, serving at most as a farm owner.


    Most immigrants harbour dreams of striking it rich and are not contt with merely being obedit farm owners.


    T million is a threshold, a necessary condition for formally embarking on the path to bing a strong country.


    In this world, a country with fewer than t million people is destined to never be a powerful nation.


    But in reality, a poption of t million is only one of many criteria. If Arthur wants to achieve his ambitions, a poption of just t million for Austrsia is far from sufficit.


    In Europe, the number of regr and reserve troops of the European Nationsbined is in the millions, ev approaching t million.


    Though full mobilization would harm the foundation of these countries, it also indicates that these countries have the courage and the ability to fight a desperate battle.


    Now look at Austrsia, a 500,000-strong army may already be the currt limit. Any more would seriously impact the nations'' developmt.


    But if Austrsia wants to be a recognized Power with international status, besides a strong navy, and army exceeding one million is also very necessary.


    This shows that Austrsia''s poption must exceed twty million in order to have the strgth and confidce topete with other powerful nations.


    Giv the currt rate of Austrsia''s immigration, to exceed a poption of twty million, it would take at least another t years.


    If you take into ount that wh war breaks out in Europe, countries are sure to limit emigration. That means that during the brink and duration of the war, immigration to Austrsia will definitely decrease, possibly to a significant degree.


    In other words, it might require twty years until Austrsia''s poption can break through twty million.


    Twty yearster, World War II might already be on the verge of beginning. At this point, Austrsia is only just starting to build confidce in terms of poption, that might be somewhat toote.