Valens and Dinkeaw dissolved
Sunday 21st saw an Act of Parliament passed dissolving two Austenasian land claims, namely the Town of Valens and the Crown Dependency of Dinkeaw. Valens, which was annexed from Canada in December 2022, was home to six people. The Acting Representative of Valens dropped out of contact with the imperial government in mid-2023, and no response was gained from several attempts to re-establish contact with the town, including by posted mail. The trigger to move ahead with the dissolution of Valens is a proposed constitutional amendment, which will require near unanimity in Parliament to enact. Removing the empty seat held by Valens decreases the number of votes needed to meet the required threshold. Also dissolved is Dinkeaw, a small uninhabited area of land claimed from Thailand in April 2020. The owner of the land, who originally claimed it for the Empire, requested the dissolution of the claim for reasons of security and privacy.
Two new claims join the Empire
Peach Ponds, an area of parkland in North America, and Dinkeaw, a garden bordered by Thailand, were annexed to Austenasia yesterday evening by an Imperial Decree. Both areas of land are uninhabited, and were offered by different individuals who approached the government with the request that said territories be claimed by Austenasia. Peach Ponds was claimed by Casper von Navārdia – who also serves as President and Foreign Minister of Phokland (a state of the Holy Roman Empire) – and consists of Huddleston Pond Park of Peachtree City in the U.S. state of Georgia. Peach Ponds was annexed as a Territory, and Casper von Navārdia was appointed its Governor and given the noble title Count of Cowyetton. Lord von Navārdia already administered the park on behalf of the local city council, and as such was in a perfect position to both claim and subsequently govern the new Territory. Dinkeaw consists of the garden of the Thai residence of Yai Khadpo and his family. Mr Khadpo’s mother requested that their garden be claimed by Austenasia; it has been annexed as a Crown Dependency, with Mr Khadpo appointed its Governing Commissioner. Lord Edward Gunderson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, recently announced that Parliament would only consider urgent bills due to the pressures faced by its members relating to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The annexations were therefore made law by Imperial Decree, something which has not been done since an expansion of New Richmond in April 2015.
