Albanese and post-China/US War Dictatorship: Part 2
Story so far:
Following a war between China and the US in which there are no clear winners, Australian Prime Minister Albanese wants to ensure that the US sticks to the AUKUS deal and to also increase his own powers. While Albanese is ruthless, his Defence Minister Marles is even more ruthless and manages to replace Albanese as prime minister.
Characters:
Prime Minister Albanese; Defence Minister Marles; Foreign Affairs Minister Wong; Treasurer Chalmers; Attorney-General Dreyfus; PM’s Chief-of-Staff Gartrell; Secretary of PM&C Davis; Secretary of Treasury Kennedy; Journalists Greg Sheridan, David Speers, Cameron Stewart and Nick McKenzie;; & Premiers: NSW Minns, Vic Allan, Qld Miles, WA Cook, Tas Rockliff, SA Malinauskas; Minister of Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy; Luke Gosling M.P.; Mike Burgess of ASIO.
Scene 20: Prime Minister’s Office
Marles: “Pat. I want you to take-over Defence and I will appoint Luke Gosling in your place.”
Conroy: “What about Moriarty? Should he stay?”
Marles: “He has been Secretary of the Department of Defence for nearly a decade. Hasn’t achieved much because he is little more than an office manager, but even an office manager can be useful if you can give him directions. Let him stay for a while.”
Conroy: “That leaves the appointment of a new Defence Force Chief of Staff. Vice-Admiral Hammond is the obvious choice if we want to bolster AUKUS. Lots of experience with subs.
Marles laughs: “And loves being in Washington!”
Scene 21: Public Service Office
Davis: “National cabinet starts in half an hour. It will be interesting to see if the premiers are still holding out. Marles is going to apologize for the way Albanese approached things but stick with the demand for referral of powers, saying that the street demonstrations and strikes underline the need for centralized control of law enforcement.”
Kennedy: “Not that this will help the economy!”
Davis: “I’m not being told much. Marles is even more secretive than Albanese. But I think that he is ready to make some concessions on trade with China.”
Kennedy: “WA will be happy!”
Davis: “Not only WA! I should help calm down some of the angry business groups.”
Scene 22: Office of the Foreign Minister
Wong: “Anthony (Albanese) is not handling the situation well. He has become a shell of himself.”
Dreyfus: “Every time that I try to talk to him I get the feeling that he will begin to cry. Marles has a lot to answer for!”
Wong: “Marles did not force him to dream of becoming another John Curtin.”
Dreyfus: “But he did push for extremely strong action against China, and it was Marles who got me to get ASIO to check on the G-G.”
Wong: “The death of Gartrell has not helped either.”
Both Wong and Dreyfus are silent for a moment before Wong says: “Marles is not telling me what he is planning next, and this has led to some difficult telephone conversations with quite a few foreign ministers. I don’t know what to tell them.”
Dreyfus: “National cabinet is about to start. Maybe we will learn more?”
Scene 23: Office of the Prime Minister
Marles, Conroy and Gosling are sitting around a table after the national cabinet meeting.
Conroy: “A surprise! The premiers seem to be falling in line – at least for now. The media remain mixed. The News Corp. mob are very supportive and even the ABC seems muted. Dutton does not know what to do. When he criticizes us he sounds pro-Chinese!”
Marles laughs: “We need to keep concern about China in the headlines. And we need to keep Wong, Dreyfus and Chalmers inline. Wong thinks the Japanese will try to repair things with China which means that we are the only true ally the US has in the Indo-Pacific.”
Gosling: “Yeah! India wants nothing to do with this stoush, particularly as Russia is being very vocal for China. And Indonesia says that it is not taking sides.”
Conroy: “It was a good move to soften the talk about conscription and instead emphasize, as you said, ‘general mobilization to protect our cherished freedoms.”
Marles now answers a call on his desk phone, and says: “Send him in.”
Marles greets Mike Burgess, head of ASIO: “Mike. Thanks for coming at such short notice. We have just finished a national cabinet meeting and there some things to discuss. Dreyfus should be here soon.”
Burgess: “Good. I would feel better given that I report to him.”
Marles: “National cabinet feels that we need to monitor Chinese in this country more closely. I know that many have left or are planning to go, but many of those staying will be loyal to Beijing. Don’t worry about resources. The national security budget is expanding rapidly and ASIO will get its share. Conroy has a few specific names that might be worth attention.”
Conroy hands Burgess a piece of paper, saying: “Keep it confidential!”
Marles: “It seems that Dreyfus is not coming. I will tell him about this meeting later. Thanks for coming Mike. These are difficult times and some difficult decisions need to be made.”
Burgess leaves the room.
Gosling: “I wonder what happened to Dreyfus.”
Marles: “I didn’t invite him.”
They all have a little chuckle.
Scene 24: Office of the Foreign Minister
Wong is sitting at her desk when Dreyfus quickly walks in.
Dreyfus: “It’s getting worse. I just passed Mike Burgess in the corridor. He had been in a meeting with Marles and his henchmen. He told Burgess that I had been invited! It is bullshit! Burgess told me what was discussed. I should have been there. ASIO is my legal responsibility!”
Wong: “It’s not only you. He called Keir Starmer yesterday. He didn’t tell me. I only found out this morning because I got a query from the British ambassador here who wanted some clarification on AUKUS. Apparently Marles was trying to keep the British on-board.”
Dreyfus: “There is a problem?”
Wong: “The are still trying to figure out how to handle China now that the American’s have a bloody nose. Maybe AUKUS is not the way to go for them?”
Scene 25: Office of the Prime Minister
Marles is dialling a number on his mobile phone, and angrily says: “I told you not to send text messages – on any app! They leave a record. I will call you when I need you.”
Voice in phone is also angry: “Just remember. You owe me bigtime!”
Marles: “I know.”
Scene 26: Public Service Office
Davis: “I have been cut out of the loop on almost everything. The government of Australia is being run out of the PM’s office. I spoke to Moriarty this morning and he does not seem to know what is happening in Defence – although he won’t admit it. DFAT have the same problem.”
Kennedy: “Thankfully it is harder to run the economy in this way.”
Davis: “Thankfully?”
Kennedy: “I don’t mean thanks for the current situation. I mean Treasury with the help of Finance is still needed and thus can have some control. The problem is Chalmers! He won’t even try to stand up to Marles and it is only when I can talk to him directly that we get some sanity.”
Davis: “I’ve seen a couple of suggestion that they will try to strong-arm the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates.”
Kennedy: “Well, as a Bank Board member I have heard nothing – not yet, at least!”
Davis: “Things are in such a flux now, but where do you think the economy is heading.”
Kennedy: “It will be almost impossible to avoid recession. The question is its severity.”
Davis: “I have thought of resigning. But, this would ….”
Kennedy: “No! No! That would only make it easier for Marles and his mob to …”
Davis: “I know.”
Scene 27: Press Gallery Office
Cameron Stewart: “I just spoke to Malinauskas in South Australia. He has heard rumours that the UK is getting cold feet on AUKUS, and suggests an article extolling the effect it will have on our technological capacity, employment and national security even if the Yanks withdrawer from East Asia.”
Greg Sheridan sitting in front of a computer screen: “Fine. But, look at this! Elon Musk may have been arrested.”
Stewart: “Really? Why?”
Sheridan: “No reasons given yet. His X-tweets have been all over the place, although one did suggest the navy lost its aircraft carrier because the US was lagging behind Chinese-technology. This would not have endeared him to many people, and he has not said he will stop making Tesla cars in China.”
Stewart: “He should be more careful about what he says.”
David Speers is sitting nearby and listening to the conversation.
Speers: “Maybe we should all be more careful. Albanese has met with ASIO’s Burgess – alone! Dreyfus is reportedly not happy.”
Stewart: “What? You think there is some sort of threat to free speech?”
Sheridan: “You know, I do wonder about the UK now. If you say a man is a man and a woman is a woman in a tweet you can end up fined or even in jail. And we had the COVID19 experience here – particularly in Victoria!
Stewart: “You’re being paranoid!”
Scene 28: Prime Minister’s Office
Marles is with Conroy and Gosling.
Marles: “Dreyfus says he wants to resign as A-G.”
Conroy: “Let him. He will always be in the way of what we want to do.”
Marles: “No. I would then need to replace him with someone – and there is no guarantee that they would be easier to manipulate. It’s good to know the flaw in the weave. Besides, he won’t resign. He likes the financial perks and the prestige of A-G too much.”
Gosling: “Any feedback from Burgess so far?”
Marles: “Only an official request for more money. I’ve told Chalmers to find a way of organizing this.”
Conroy: “Chalmers is sounding good on the economy. He’s been on several breakfast television shows this week and urging calm. He knows that he needs to listen to Kennedy and Treasury.”
Gosling: “By the way. How is Davis going?”
Marles smiles: “He is ok. Wants to know more all the time, but I involve him just enough to stop him from resigning. It’s a bit like Dreyfus but Davis is really more into the power stuff. Always wants to be a player.”
Conroy: “So he will now be getting very frustrated.”
Marles: “Yes. But better to keep him than look for a new face!”
Scene 29: Office of the Foreign Minister
Dreyfus and Wong are sitting at a table looking glum.
Dreyfus: “The Mostyn thing really plays on my mind. I set it all in motion because Marles said he had some suspicions. But why? Where did these suspicions come from? I mean, I almost feel that I was set-up to …to, I don’t know what …to bring her down!”
Wong: “Because she was a woman?”
Dreyfus: “No. Nothing like that. More that she was …”
Wong: “She was set-up?”
Dreyfus and Wong looked at each other with a look of surprise on their faces as they realized they had similar thoughts.
Dreyfus: “But how? Sure, she liked a few bets, but no-one who knew her thought she was out of control.”
Wong: “I am told that no-one ever does suspect. But … I wish we could ask Burgess what exactly happened!”
Dreyfus with a mild look of surprise on his face: “I can. It is my job!”
Scene 30: Nondescript Office
Nick McKenzie looked at his mobile phone which was ringing with a number he did not recognize.
McKenzie: “Hello”
Voice on phone: “Marles, Mostyn, Gartrell, the broker.”
McKenzie: “Who are you?”
Voice: “The Broker.”
Scene 31: Prime Minister’s Office
Dreyfus is with Marles
Marles: “So, everything is now finalized the referral of state powers to us! Great!” Anything else happening?”
Dreyfus: “We get some idiot calls. Someone who calls himself ‘The broker’ has been leaving messages for you at my office. Says he knows you.”
Marles says nothing but quicky grabs his mobile phone when Dreyfus leaves: “Why are you calling Dreyfus’ office leaving messages? Who in the fuck are you?”
Voice on the phone: “After all that I have done for you, and you still don’t know? You took the first step with Albanese and the dead woman! Then Gartrell! How many years would you get in the slammer? Life? And then there is the Mostyn thing!”
Marles: “I mean, who are you really? What is your real name? Who is behind you? You can’t do all these things yourself.”
Voice: “When will you deliver?”
Marles is about to reply when he looks at his phone and sees that he is no longer connected. He slumps into his chair.”