Read Online The Marmalade Files by Steve Lewis & Chris Uhlmann - Free Book Online
Authors: Steve Lewis & Chris Uhlmann
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and I am sure Secretary Trounson would agree â it would compromise Australiaâs national security. And that, Minister â well, that is a very big call.â
âThatâs bullshit and you know it, Jack.â Paxton rarely called the CDF by his first name, but he was clearly fired up. âThe bottom line is this. Budget cuts are inevitable, you know that as well as I do. I was trying to get us â Defence â on the front foot,hoping you would see merit in laying out some strategic savings to appease those bastards in Treasury.
âLetâs face it, youâve had it too good for too long. The build-up of defence and security assets since 9/11 has been extraordinary, fuelled by that warmonger John Howard and those patsies who hung on his every word as if he was fucking God. Well, he wasnât â and Iâm not fucking Satan. But I am about driving change in this arena, fellas, youâd better believe it.â
Trounson spoke up. âMinister, what about the build-up by China of its military assets in the Pacific? Itâs off the charts. It will have three aircraft carrier groups by 2025. It will control our trade routes. And Beijing is ploughing billions into the region, buying favour, trying to act as a kind of pan-regional financier. We donât want to leave ourselves exposed. The Americans are nervous, as you know, and so should we be.â
Paxton fixed the Secretary with a hard stare. âWhy? Why should we be nervous? Maybe itâs time for some ⦠er ⦠strategic realignment. China is our biggest trading partner now, or soon will be. It makes more motor cars in a day than our fucking industry makes in a whole year. It has a middle class of â what? â some 200 million people and they are growing like topsy.
âOur future lies far more with China, with those 1.3 billion people to our north, than it does with America and who it wants as its dancing partner.â
He was warming to a theme now. âPerhaps the time is right for a subtle shift in our thinking about the Chinese. The Americans have their hands full with Afghanistan, and Obama, for all hisrhetoric, has shown scant interest in the Pacific. The Stars and Stripes ainât what it used to be, fellas.
âWhat Iâm suggesting makes not only good sense from a Budget point of view, it will also send a clear message to the region â particularly to Beijing â that Australia is no longer interested in playing the deputy sheriff to the US, to being its fucking lickspittle in the Pacific. Do you understand?â
Paxton waved his hooked left hand menacingly as his words ricocheted around the room, so extraordinary the CDF and Secretary could scarcely believe them. Was Paxton, Australiaâs Minister for Defence, really suggesting Canberra cosy up to Beijing at the expense of Washington? Was he suggesting ANZUS, that proud strategic compact that had served the Americans and its two south Pacific partners so well for sixty years, was reaching its use-by date? For nearly forty minutes, they listened as Paxton, their Minister, offered the first outline of a plan that, if it was allowed to proceed, would overturn Australiaâs military alignment.
Shaken, the two men rose from their seats and collected their briefcases. Paxton had offered a gruff farewell, but if he wanted to be rude, well, that was not the Defence style. They left the Ministerâs office, delivering a courteous nod to the receptionist on the way out. They were too professional to show emotion but both men were livid. They were used to the occasional dressing-down from a Minister but Paxtonâs diatribe had gone too far. This was, they both agreed, an unofficial declaration of war.
Their surprise at the bollocking gave way to something else â a firm resolve to save the realm, to stop that meddling Ministerfrom destroying Defence. Most importantly, they would fight to protect the great US
âThatâs bullshit and you know it, Jack.â Paxton rarely called the CDF by his first name, but he was clearly fired up. âThe bottom line is this. Budget cuts are inevitable, you know that as well as I do. I was trying to get us â Defence â on the front foot,hoping you would see merit in laying out some strategic savings to appease those bastards in Treasury.
âLetâs face it, youâve had it too good for too long. The build-up of defence and security assets since 9/11 has been extraordinary, fuelled by that warmonger John Howard and those patsies who hung on his every word as if he was fucking God. Well, he wasnât â and Iâm not fucking Satan. But I am about driving change in this arena, fellas, youâd better believe it.â
Trounson spoke up. âMinister, what about the build-up by China of its military assets in the Pacific? Itâs off the charts. It will have three aircraft carrier groups by 2025. It will control our trade routes. And Beijing is ploughing billions into the region, buying favour, trying to act as a kind of pan-regional financier. We donât want to leave ourselves exposed. The Americans are nervous, as you know, and so should we be.â
Paxton fixed the Secretary with a hard stare. âWhy? Why should we be nervous? Maybe itâs time for some ⦠er ⦠strategic realignment. China is our biggest trading partner now, or soon will be. It makes more motor cars in a day than our fucking industry makes in a whole year. It has a middle class of â what? â some 200 million people and they are growing like topsy.
âOur future lies far more with China, with those 1.3 billion people to our north, than it does with America and who it wants as its dancing partner.â
He was warming to a theme now. âPerhaps the time is right for a subtle shift in our thinking about the Chinese. The Americans have their hands full with Afghanistan, and Obama, for all hisrhetoric, has shown scant interest in the Pacific. The Stars and Stripes ainât what it used to be, fellas.
âWhat Iâm suggesting makes not only good sense from a Budget point of view, it will also send a clear message to the region â particularly to Beijing â that Australia is no longer interested in playing the deputy sheriff to the US, to being its fucking lickspittle in the Pacific. Do you understand?â
Paxton waved his hooked left hand menacingly as his words ricocheted around the room, so extraordinary the CDF and Secretary could scarcely believe them. Was Paxton, Australiaâs Minister for Defence, really suggesting Canberra cosy up to Beijing at the expense of Washington? Was he suggesting ANZUS, that proud strategic compact that had served the Americans and its two south Pacific partners so well for sixty years, was reaching its use-by date? For nearly forty minutes, they listened as Paxton, their Minister, offered the first outline of a plan that, if it was allowed to proceed, would overturn Australiaâs military alignment.
Shaken, the two men rose from their seats and collected their briefcases. Paxton had offered a gruff farewell, but if he wanted to be rude, well, that was not the Defence style. They left the Ministerâs office, delivering a courteous nod to the receptionist on the way out. They were too professional to show emotion but both men were livid. They were used to the occasional dressing-down from a Minister but Paxtonâs diatribe had gone too far. This was, they both agreed, an unofficial declaration of war.
Their surprise at the bollocking gave way to something else â a firm resolve to save the realm, to stop that meddling Ministerfrom destroying Defence. Most importantly, they would fight to protect the great US
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