Dear reader, once again we plunge back into our saga. Our heroes held hostage by Sophie, and like imagination as a non- existent force in public policy, there’s no sign of any change to the status of our victims. Stuck and isolated, they await the answer to their fate. Telegraphed to them by an operative “out there’ who may still be manning* the antiquated PMG Pay-Phone set up when Australia was set to become a Nuclear Super Power way back in the 50’s. Are those days gone for ever? Or with Sophie at the helm of the Fair Work Commission, can she bring the golden era back? Find out in this next episode, and get a feel for the glacial pace of change in or nations parliament. For change is confronting, and by doing nothing we are at the very least, ‘arguably’, SAFE!
As we recall. The phone was sort of answered, yes indeed a 1950’s taped message, if that’s an answer. What Sophie really wanted was an operative on the inside, who could help us, doomed below the very desert wastes in finding a way out. So we waited…… waited…… and waited. Ces looked at his watch, ‘you know Sophe, its only twenty five days till Christmas’.
‘Bah!!! Humbug’!! Sophie replied, and for good measure she pulled back the safety on her MP 40. We had to hand it to Sophie, she knew her equipment and was dressed to Kill.
For the umpteenth time the recorded message replayed, we waited another hour, Sophie tapping the receiver and giving us furtive looks. We wondered why she just didn’t slot us there and then, but knew as a fully accredited Fair Work Commissioner, process was paramount.
Ces had had enough, he put it to Sophie; ‘What’s it with you Sophie? Aren’t you rich enough already, what’s with this power thing’? Ces sought compassion, reasoning surely within Sophe there must be some shred of compassion? Ces proffered the next question; ‘I mean Sophie, with all respect, do you really wanna be like Angus? He’s establishment, He’s got connections, as Energy Minister with Cayman Island trusts. He’s making a packet from the Murray Darling and rivers of gold from his dealings with mates like Nev, Twiggy and Mr Wu, but is it really what you wanna be doing? Does this espionage, and world domination thing, (there was a pause as Ces searched for the right epithet) does it…… nourish you as a person’?
‘Ha aha ha’. Sophie convulsed with laughter, ‘What are you on about, you think I care about humanity? I’m into MONEY!! Get me? It’s always the money. Fuck humanity! And whilst we’re here, when I meet up with Xi, you lot will be just a memory, cos we’ve got this situation in the bag. Crown is just kids stuff, this is the real deal’! And to stress the point she kicked Ces viciously in the shins.
Ces doubled over in pain , holding his bruised legs he hopped about until recovering he blurted, ‘I mean whilst were down here is there anything else we need to know’? He continued against all the odds, searching, delving into a crack, a hairline crevice of compassion. ‘If this is the face of a new Cold War with China, what’s really in it for you? Or was that Cold War rhetoric bullshit that you and Dutto and Pezullo confected just as a smoke screen’?
Sophie turned to us, Ces stepped back lest he get another savage kick in the shins. The fiftieth rendition of ‘Blue Hills’ over the receiver was in progress, and we could tell she was getting annoyed.
‘Yep all that cold war rhetoric was bullshit designed to keep the public off the scent. Back then, as now it was BIG NUCLEAR that really matters. And as far as we were concerned if you were Russian, Yank, Chinese or Pom it made no difference, we had to go nuclear, OR LOSE ‘!!!
‘Lose what’? Ces enquired
‘PROFIT!!. Nuclear doesn’t recognise international borders, it’s in a way’, she flashed her Argyle spandex and lurex encrusted hand- bag for emphasis, The JEWEL in the CROWN’!
Ces exasperated; ’Are Crown in on it’?
‘Just another silent partner, you don’t get rich by hanging round with soft spoken professionals, lawyers and journalists, she looked in our direction for a corrective sneer, or people like YOUSE’!
‘So you, you, you, are you the new nuclear envoy who would sell us down for just a bit of plutonium ,is that all there is, have you no national pride’?
‘Oh I’ve got pride allright, but its nuanced! Put it this way Angus and I have great friends who happen to go by the name of Vlad and Xi! Get me’!!
‘We’re all of us in this together, its bigger than the UN, and we don’t have to deal with the bureaucracy and’, turning to Benny Boy, ‘barrack room lawyers either. And, with substantial reserves of uranium in this shit country, and just a few native title claims that we can rub out with the next bit of corrective legislation. And, with Gina on the line and Xi in a mood for growth, Angus is keen to do business’.
‘Business?
Yep at any cost’.
At any cost, how the till rings! For who the till tolls ! Is this all that Sophie has in her bag. Find out in the next diamond tipped episode, “Three (more) Jewels for Gina’, or : You can have any colour you like as long as it’s GOLD’
* We, the editors would like to apologise for this antiquated term, but under the circumstances we felt it approprate to reflect 1950’s values which exist only now in the corridors of our Federal Parliament