When the Roman Republic faced an overwhelming crisis, a special magistrate, referred to as a dictator, could be appointed for no more than six months by a three-step process.

We now have a crisis in Australia where the federal government has abandoned its first duty of defending the realm just when Beijing is openly threatening to invade democratic Taiwan. This is being exacerbated by the serious decline in the quality of government, which means that, as we have long argued here, we are facing the real prospect of becoming the Argentina of the South Seas.

If we had a similar provision to Rome’s, what should the special magistrate (let’s name the office Proctor) do?

Learning from the master of common-sense solutions, Donald Trump, the Proctor should sign a series of executive orders (EOs) offering solutions to the appalling situation Australia is in. The most urgent among these would surely be an EO for a   Restoration of the Defence of the Realm as the first priority of government.

Major General Merrick, declared a ‘dope’ by Paul Keating just for warning about the direct threat that Beijing poses to us and its appeasement by the present government, could obviously be a principal advisor.

The issue is so serious that national service for young males should be introduced, not only for defence but also as a broad nation-building measure and one correcting significant failures brought on by the decline in education and apprenticeships.

The increased funding for defence and other matters could be made possible by two measures.

First, the immediate suspension of the imposition of the wasteful and dangerous net zero project, based on gigantic foreign-built solar panels and lethal massive wind turbines with bushfire-prone transmission lines involving the wanton destruction of forests, habitats and prime agricultural areas. According to a study by several leading universities, including Princeton, this will cost between seven and nine trillion dollars.

Even if a version of the theory of anthropogenic global warming were to be proven, current unilateral action by Australia remains pointless, akin to shooting ourselves in the foot.

Added to this, an Australian Department of Government Efficiency, AusDoge, should be established.

Such measures would release massive funding, with the Albanese government the most wasteful in the nation’s history. Who else would have permitted the Bureau of Meteorology to replace its website, with something users found appalling, at a cost of $96 million?

Who else would have spent billions in pointlessly trying to turn Australia into some mythical ‘hydrogen superpower’?

A priority Watering the Nation and Providing Hydro Electricity EO would reverse the anti-dam policy introduced by the Hawke government and essentially followed by the Coalition. The objective would realise the Bradfield Plan with the additions in the Beale Plan concerning the Clarence and the Bridge Plan in Western Australia, turning a vast part of Australia into a veritable food bowl for the world.

The capable Mr Alan Jones should be invited to take charge of the Water Project as Special Commissioner.

An EO concerning energy would order that, without subsidies, electricity in Australia should soon return to being  among the five-per-cent lowest-priced in the OECD, that  there be no prejudice against fossil fuel, that reserves of fuel as internationally agreed be held in Australia, that refineries increase, that sufficient policies for domestic reservation be in place, and that every effort encouraging the search for and acquisition of new sources of fuel be made.

Recalling the time within living memory when high, near-to-universal standards prevailed in Australian schools in terms of literacy and numeracy, an EO for the Restoration of High Standards and Removal of Indoctrination in Education, whether political or in relation to so-called gender issues, would come into operation.

Because of the disastrous fall in school discipline, among the world’s worst, the EO would also provide for sergeants-major from the appropriately experienced to be appointed to public schools subject to appropriate safeguards. Universities would be ordered to stop being covert immigration agencies, and the funding of frivolous research halted.

An EO would order that out-of-control immigration cease immediately to be replaced by immigration according to need.

This would increase significantly as the water program advances, as it did with the highly successful Snowy Mountains Scheme where over 100,000 immigrants worked.

An EO would declare that multiculturalism as a federal belief, dogma or guide is ended and that on federal buildings and at federal events, the only flag to be flown will be the Australian flag, and ‘welcome to country’ would cease.

Other EOs would provide that farming and small business, instead of being targeted, will be encouraged in terms of tax and regulation, as will mining.

As with immigration the objective of the indigenous affairs policy would be true and highly beneficial civilised assimilation as was the original intention of the 1967 referendum. There would be frequent audits of native title to ensure benefits are distributed fairly, and a moratorium on new claims.

The closure of public places now under native title hitherto open to visitors would cease and those closed inappropriately reopened. Federal elections would be held on one day, with photo-identification required, as on enrolment to vote.

Voting would be voluntary. In the House of Representatives it would be ‘first past the post’ with preferential voting retained in the Senate. The federal share of taxation, at about 80 per cent, the highest in any federation and inconsistent with the concept of federalism, would be reduced as soon as possible to the Canadian standard of 41 per cent. Those married may, if they wish, be taxed as one person.

New states would be encouraged where the population is in favour.

A public service with tenure but not competing with the private sector for remuneration would be restored with recognition through an honours system similar to New Zealand’s.

The aim of health reform would be initially to remove the gap payable by those privately insured or at least create an obligation for this to be always revealed in advance. Then we should return to the system based on mutual organisations returning them to the insurance industry where they could again impose a powerful downward pressure on premiums.