The Mandarin Code Read Online Free Page B
Author: Steve Lewis
apply the finishing touches to a plan he and Toohey had been hatching for months.
They called it the Big Bang, their bid to break the cycle of dire news. To change the national conversation. To lay down a platform for an unlikely election win.
We can claw this back.
The truth was, Laborâs own research matched the public polls. The party was heading for decimation. But the internal polling also showed there was a glimmer of hope amid the ruin. While it confirmed that barely 30 per cent of the population was prepared to vote Labor, a surprising 38 per cent still identified themselves as âLabor votersâ. If the Toohey Government could win back its base it could be competitive.
We need to capture their imaginations and their hearts. To show only we can deliver jobs and a fair go.
And that was what the Big Bang was designed to do. It was the ultimate circuit-breaker, a multi-pronged, multi-billion-dollar plan to boost jobs, skills, education and health.
Privately, Papadakis admitted its purpose was to dig the government out of a hole. But he also firmly believed it was visionary and âLabor to the bootstrapsâ.
Its long-term cost was breathtaking, and only partly offset by cutting existing spending, particularly on Defence. The real genius of the plan was the revenue stream tapped to fund it. The bulk of the money would flow from a yet-to-be-signed deal with a Chinese state-owned energy company. It had been two years in the making, driven by the PM and a trusted few in Cabinet.
It was unique. The Australian Government would sign a 99-year lease ceding control over a massive gas-field just off Darwin to Sinopec, the worldâs fifth-largest company. It would give the Chinese what they coveted: real energy security through effective ownership of every step in the supply chain.
And it would give the Toohey Government what it desperately needed: cash. Money was a big problem: revenues were falling, government spending kept rising and the Treasurer, ridiculously, had staked Laborâs economic reputation on a return to surplus this very year.
The beauty of the plan was that the gas-field was offshore and located in a territory, not a state. That meant all the bountiful tax revenues would flow directly to the Commonwealth, and as a bonus the Northern Territory would enjoy the benefits of massive investment. And the money would flow from the moment the deal was signed, with a $10 billion down-payment on the lease. Sinopec would then pay $1 billion a year, tied to inflation. At the end of the lease the site would revert to the Commonwealth, hopefully helping to combat the inevitable claims of âselling off the farmâ.
And we will deliver a massive social dividend. Whitlam-on-steroids.
The beating heart of the Big Bang was a plan for universal mental health coverage.
A Medicare-like set-up to cover a yawning gap in the health system. It would deliver to every family what the expensive advertising blitz would repeat ad nauseum: âPeace of Mindâ.
Even the economic hard-heads in the party agreed: the social benefits easily outweighed the cost. Secret focus group testing showed that the punters loved the idea.
Papadakis scribbled small patterns as he pondered Tooheyâs grand vision. This could work, could get the government back in the game.
Sure, it was a high-wire gamble, Laborâs last desperate chance, and the Tories would ensure there was no safety net if Toohey stumbled.
CHAPTER SIX
Canberra
Amanda Wade cast her emerald eyes across the paperwork, straining to find a clue that would shed light on the mystery of this Asian corpse. Facts were proving elusive.
For nearly two years, Detective Sergeant Wade, the chief coronial liaison officer for the ACT Police, had worked in this gleaming warehouse for the dead. The state-of-the-art morgue had cost ACT taxpayers $5.5 million, replacing the dilapidated forty-year-old centre at Kingston. It had been designed to store up to one
They called it the Big Bang, their bid to break the cycle of dire news. To change the national conversation. To lay down a platform for an unlikely election win.
We can claw this back.
The truth was, Laborâs own research matched the public polls. The party was heading for decimation. But the internal polling also showed there was a glimmer of hope amid the ruin. While it confirmed that barely 30 per cent of the population was prepared to vote Labor, a surprising 38 per cent still identified themselves as âLabor votersâ. If the Toohey Government could win back its base it could be competitive.
We need to capture their imaginations and their hearts. To show only we can deliver jobs and a fair go.
And that was what the Big Bang was designed to do. It was the ultimate circuit-breaker, a multi-pronged, multi-billion-dollar plan to boost jobs, skills, education and health.
Privately, Papadakis admitted its purpose was to dig the government out of a hole. But he also firmly believed it was visionary and âLabor to the bootstrapsâ.
Its long-term cost was breathtaking, and only partly offset by cutting existing spending, particularly on Defence. The real genius of the plan was the revenue stream tapped to fund it. The bulk of the money would flow from a yet-to-be-signed deal with a Chinese state-owned energy company. It had been two years in the making, driven by the PM and a trusted few in Cabinet.
It was unique. The Australian Government would sign a 99-year lease ceding control over a massive gas-field just off Darwin to Sinopec, the worldâs fifth-largest company. It would give the Chinese what they coveted: real energy security through effective ownership of every step in the supply chain.
And it would give the Toohey Government what it desperately needed: cash. Money was a big problem: revenues were falling, government spending kept rising and the Treasurer, ridiculously, had staked Laborâs economic reputation on a return to surplus this very year.
The beauty of the plan was that the gas-field was offshore and located in a territory, not a state. That meant all the bountiful tax revenues would flow directly to the Commonwealth, and as a bonus the Northern Territory would enjoy the benefits of massive investment. And the money would flow from the moment the deal was signed, with a $10 billion down-payment on the lease. Sinopec would then pay $1 billion a year, tied to inflation. At the end of the lease the site would revert to the Commonwealth, hopefully helping to combat the inevitable claims of âselling off the farmâ.
And we will deliver a massive social dividend. Whitlam-on-steroids.
The beating heart of the Big Bang was a plan for universal mental health coverage.
A Medicare-like set-up to cover a yawning gap in the health system. It would deliver to every family what the expensive advertising blitz would repeat ad nauseum: âPeace of Mindâ.
Even the economic hard-heads in the party agreed: the social benefits easily outweighed the cost. Secret focus group testing showed that the punters loved the idea.
Papadakis scribbled small patterns as he pondered Tooheyâs grand vision. This could work, could get the government back in the game.
Sure, it was a high-wire gamble, Laborâs last desperate chance, and the Tories would ensure there was no safety net if Toohey stumbled.
CHAPTER SIX
Canberra
Amanda Wade cast her emerald eyes across the paperwork, straining to find a clue that would shed light on the mystery of this Asian corpse. Facts were proving elusive.
For nearly two years, Detective Sergeant Wade, the chief coronial liaison officer for the ACT Police, had worked in this gleaming warehouse for the dead. The state-of-the-art morgue had cost ACT taxpayers $5.5 million, replacing the dilapidated forty-year-old centre at Kingston. It had been designed to store up to one
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