CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TUESDAY - CANBERRA
The National’s front page exposé of the confidential deal for the Australian company Energet to supply rare earths to Matsushita of Japan quickly became the hot topic for the day with all the media outlets seeking comments from the P.M.’s office. The article outlined the shareholding arrangements between Ruby Resources, Mitsustrata and Northern Consulting. The media was quick to draw the conclusion that the secret rare earths deal was the catalyst for the Chinese terrorist attack on the Australian and Japanese Prime Ministers and the destruction of the plant at the mine. The disclosure of names of companies involved in the contract was the subject of widespread speculation.
Helen Kwang’s second article on the Land Council corruption scandal appeared on Page Three. It stated that the AFP had confirmed that bribes had been paid to O’Shea and had uncovered a number of suspicious overseas bank transfers to companies involved in the land rights negotiations. The AFP was continuing its investigation into the death of Bert O’Shea and had not ruled out murder as the cause of his death.
It was a sitting day of the Parliament and the Opposition Party lost no time in using question time to badger the P.M. on his knowledge of the rare earths contract. Crichton categorically denied any knowledge of the contract or of having dealings with the companies involved. He stated that he had never met with Takaya, the owner of Mitsustrata.
Under pressure by the media for comments, late in the afternoon the Prime Minister’s Office put out a statement categorically denying any personal knowledge of, or involvement in, the rare earths contract. The statement also denied any involvement by the Government in the Land Council corruption case. Prime Minister Crichton refused to hold interviews with the press.
The story gathered momentum in the evening television and radio news. Helen Kwang had numerous requests to do television interviews but agreed to do only one, the national broadcaster’s current affairs program, which had the best reputation for balanced reporting. She kept her answers concise and to the facts of her investigations. She refused to speculate as to the possible Australian ownership of the companies involved. After the interview she went back to her office and started writing her next article.
Commissioner Fisher switched off his television after watching Helen Kwang’s interview. He had arrived at his home a few minutes before the program started and had sat down with his wife to eat dinner in the lounge room in front of the T.V. set. He wondered where all this was going to end. It had become messy and he sensed some heads at the top level were going to roll. The evidence that Helen had given to him showing that O’Shea had taken bribes had been confirmed by his investigators. Sam Popolo had rung him to advise that there was some evidence that O’Shea might have been murdered. There were no fingerprints at all on the bottle of liquid heroine he had used to inject himself and only one set of O’Shea’s prints on the syringe. Most of the documents in his home and work offices had disappeared and his computer had been wiped clean.
Fisher’s team was in the process of tracking down the list of overseas shell companies and financial transactions that Helen Kwang had passed on. Nothing definitive had shown up yet but someone had gone to a lot of trouble to cover up their identity and activities.
WEDNESDAY MORNING -CANBERRA
The headline of the National’s morning edition printed the denial from the P.M.’s office of any involvement in either the rare earths contract or the Land Council corruption case. Helen Kwang had a piece outlining the complicated series of shell companies and transactions made through the Bank of Bahamas to set up the rare earths deal. She outlined the involvement of the mysterious company, Ruby Resources, in both the rare earths contract and the consultancy involved in negotiation of the land rights issue. She pointed out that efforts made to identify the ownership of the company had proved unsuccessful to date.
But the most sensational part of the front page were the two photographs pictured underneath the headline of the P.M.’s denial. Helen’s article made no reference to the photos. One showed P.M. Crichton in close discussion with Takaya, the billionaire majority owner of Mitsustrata. The other showed the Prime Minister leaving the Manuka Post Office carrying a large envelope addressed in bold black letters to RUBY RESOURCES.
The two photos were instantly re-published through social media and within an hour had received thousands of hits on the web. There was an uproar when Parliament sat as question after question was asked as to the Prime Minister’s involvement in the scandals. The Leader of the Opposition called for the Prime Minister to resign and moved a motion of no-confidence in the Government. The motion was narrowly defeated. Crichton stalked out of the Parliament leaving his colleagues to face the music.
As Parliament broke for lunch, Anna Sentoro was mobbed by ministers and back-benchers alike seeking Crichton’s resignation. She gathered senior Cabinet members around her and suggested they meet immediately in the Party Room. The view of the group was unanimous that the Government would be in danger of being brought down if the situation was allowed to drag on. It was clear that Crichton had to go. A group of four senior ministers led by Anna was selected to approach Crichton. They marched to his office and requested a meeting. Crichton had no forewarning of their arrival and immediately took a confrontational approach. He claimed that the allegations were all lies and a plot to get rid of him. He abused Anna for showing disloyalty. Anna explained calmly that the party was totally unanimous in its view that either he resign immediately or he would be voted out in the party room. The Government was already down in the polls and would not be able to survive a scandal of this nature. They gave him an hour to make his decision and walked out of his office.
At a hastily called press conference on the steps of Parliament House later that afternoon, Crichton made a short announcement that he was resigning from the leadership and the Parliament. He claimed that the allegations made against him were fallacious and vicious but for the sake of the Party he would step down voluntarily. He was completely innocent of the allegations but he didn’t want to put his family or colleagues through the stress of such a malicious campaign.
He was immediately besieged by journalists yelling out questions but turned on his heels and hurried back to his office surrounded by security officers. As soon as he left, there was a mad scramble by the journalists to file their reports for the evening news.
Subsequently Anna Sentoro was contacted by several key players in the party, encouraging her to run for the leadership vacancy. She went home and discussed the leadership question with her husband and children.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON - CANBERRA
The Government Whip called order to the meeting of Liberal members in the Party Room. He called for nominations to the leadership of the political party in the light of the resignation of Malcolm Crichton. Anna Sentoro was quickly nominated by one of the backbenchers. The Whip called for other nominations but there was only silence in the room. The Whip then announced that the new leader of the Party and Prime Minister Designate would be Anna Sentoro. She gave a short speech thanking her colleagues for their support and vowed to work with them in overcoming the current crisis and developing policies that improved the lives of the Australian people.
The Chief Whip walked out of the Party Room and announced to the waiting Press Gallery that the Party had elected Anna Sentoro as its leader and Prime Minister Elect.
WEDNESDAY EVENING - MELBOURNE
Jake walked through Melbourne airport having just flown in from Sydney. He paused when he saw the face of Anna Sentoro on television in the terminal. She was giving a press conference at a hotel in Melbourne. The commentator mentioned that she would be the third Australian Prime Minister within a period of two weeks and only the second woman ever to be an Australian Prime Minister. Jake listened to her in admiration as she made an acceptance speech in which she paid enormous tribute to Neville Murray whose state funeral was to be held in Melbourne the next morning. Jake had complete faith that she would
make a great Prime Minister and could create a new era in Australia’s political history.
He walked out the terminal and caught a taxi to take him to his sister’s place at Black Rock, a bayside suburb of Melbourne. When he arrived at the front door he was greeted by the fresh faces of two excited little girls who immediately jumped into his arms calling him “Jake the Snake”. Melanie and her husband Alex laughed as he carried the girls into the hall way.