[Australia]: National Security Committee of Cabinet Meeting #200401

[Bruno]

Admiral Melo Gomes began his response with a composed yet assertive demeanor, acknowledging the contributions and concerns of each nation represented.

"Thank you all for your input and support. Portugal is committed to the safe evacuation of our nationals from New Caledonia, and we appreciate the collaborative spirit demonstrated here from everyone.

To the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, we are grateful for your offer of logistical support, truly. We will coordinate closely with your ports to ensure the smooth operation of our mission, particularly regarding refueling and resupplying our fleet. Your support is invaluable at this time, and realy goes to show the lenghts that Australia is willing to go to support other nations in times of crisis." He would pause

"Minister Chuan of Thailand, your intelligence on the Kanak Independence Movement is crucial. We understand the need for careful navigation of this situation, as its extremly volatile. I reiterate that Portugal’s mission is strictly humanitarian, focused solely on evacuating our Portuguese nationals from danger. We will avoid any actions that might provoke hostility from the Kanak Movement. Thailand support in this issue, in the my government eyes, really shows how Thailand as changed. And we are truly happy to be able to coordiate with you and honored to support you if a humanitarian crisis hits your nation."

"Wiceadmiral Gagor of Poland, we respect your stance on maintaining security and order in the region, this is obvious. We assure you that Portugal’s retrieval operation will be executed with utmost caution. We however understand you need to regulate the area to avoid further escalations. As such, we propose that Portugal perform its national duty to retrieve our nationals from Australia to prevent overburdening their resources. If Thailand is willing to transport them to them or New Zealand. This would streamline the process and ensure all foreign nationals are promptly and safely returned to their home countries. Acknowledging all the Australians concerns regarding foreign nationals in their nation. There is presently on our records, aroudn 400 Portuguese nationals stranded in the nation."

"To the representative of New Zealand, we appreciate your willingness to accommodate refugees. Portugal’s mission remains focused on our nationals, but we are open to coordinating further should the need arise. Finally, we acknowledge the complex logistics involved. Our assets are en route and will arrive in New Caledonia, or Australia or New Zealand within two to three days. We remain committed to our primary objective: the safe and swift evacuation of Portuguese nationals. We will continue to work closely with all involved nations to ensure the success of this operation.

Thank you."

Owen ManBear Bossza007 basedcnt

 

[Owen]

The Prime Minister would shake her belief in the complete lack of critical thinking skills from the Thai representative.

"Let me make it clear.... once more.... for those who didn't quite understand. Foreign nationals who are in New Caledonia are allowed to come into Australia in an unlimited number. This is because, they are only temporary. They will be moved onwards to their home countries. Unlimited refugees, those who are New Caledonians, cannot come into Australia in unlimited numbers. We should be afterall, trying our best to resolve the situation on the ground before depopulating the entire island. This is not segregation in the way that some may see this as segregation so we do not need to get emotional over that point or think this is some sort of Jim Crow law. Australia has over 100 different visa categories, every single category is different and therefore it is essentially a form of segregation for over 100 different groups of people. This is because every person has different circumstances and different reasons why they need to come into Australia. We segregate our immigration system based on the status of being a citizen, a non-citizen or a permanent resident. They all come with different rights. That's how modern immigration systems work. I cannot belive I need to sit here and make that clear. There is a difference between foreign nationals and refugees based solely on their ability to return to their own countries. Refugees will only be able to go back to New Caledonia, they will need somewhere else to resettle in the mean time if they cannot return. Therefore, we can accept unlimited foreign nationals as they will be able transit onwards to their home countries and don't require resettlement.

Anyway, I won't be needing to repeat myself as I have found out that the Thai Government has decided to withdraw their Ambassador to Australia, I hope that many representatives here can finally see the clear over-reactions that the Thai Government likes to have. This isn't the first time we have experienced this level of over-reaction from them. In good faith I cannot allow the Thai representative to continue being here in a highly classified National Security Committee meeting if we do not have something as simple as the exchange of Ambassadors. Our Ambassador will remain in Bangkok because we're not toddlers. Thai Navy ships will not be allowed to dock in Australia anymore, you can stick to your plan to transport everybody to New Zealand. You can communicate directly with the New Zealand Government on the coordination of that matter. If anyone else needs to communicate with the Thai Government, you can do that in a separate forum. Good night Mr. Leekpai."

The Thai representatives video link would be cut from the Cabinet Room.

"By the sounds of it they were getting to cuddly with the seperatist movement anyway, who knows what they have informed them of.... Again this was never intended to be a coordinating forum, its still an NSC meeting where decisions on Australia's security is made. We invited representatives here to liaise with the Australian Government on efforts pertaining to Australia's role.

Admiral Gomes it is a pleasure to have you here. I hope the point I made before, directed to no one in particular, is received by you. Your nationals will be able to come to Australia in unlimited numbers and they will be flown back to Portugal from Brisbane Airport. If TAP has the capacity to transport them back to Portugal, that would be very much welcome and reduce the burden on our airlines. They should be able to land in Singapore for refuelling with no issue."

Bossza007 Bruno

 

[Bossza007]

Government House
21:00 ICT (GMT +7)
Bangkok, Thailand​

Chuan sat calmly, attentive to the Australian Prime Minister's words until the video link abruptly cut off, leaving his laptop screen black. As a staff member began disconnecting cables for screen sharing and recording, Chuan blinked twice, realizing the meeting had concluded. With a wry chuckle, he remarked, "Well, that was quite an experience for an old man like me," eliciting laughter from those in the room.

In the corner, Chuan spotted Thaksin, leaning against the wall with a smile. Nodding to him, Chuan approached his successor, one of Thailand's most recognizable figures. "Mr. Prime Minister, no one informed me we were withdrawing our ambassador just to entertain ourselves," he quipped. "What's been going on? I've been stuck in this room for days."

Thaksin returned Chuan's smile. "Well, Mr. Secretary, as the Foreign Minister warned you, anything can happen, especially with Australia involved," he said, glancing around before continuing. "We're working on building trust with the Kanak Independence Movement. It's the key to safely extracting our humanitarian volunteers. Our post-agreement stance is still quite fluid.”

Chuan's face twisted into an amused expression. "So, what's your take on the recent demonstration at the Democracy Monument, Mr. Prime Minister?" he asked, his tone light but probing. "The Libertarian Socialist movement just pulled off its largest gathering yet since our Republic's inception. It's clear they're not aiming for a stateless society; a classless one seems to be their goal." He retrieved an intelligence report, scanning it before returning to Thaksin. "Looks like there are a couple of moves to further rattle the French Economy. Some of our folks are still drawn to Marxist theories of global revolution."

Thaksin nodded, motioning for Chuan to share the report. "That's one way of putting it, Mr. Secretary. Most of us lean towards gradualism and reformism. Not everyone sees a communist society as the ultimate aim of our socialist ideals, especially after the Cold War's Communist Insurgency," he mused, scanning the report again. "Personally, I don't believe we should overtly back the independence movement, though many Thais sympathize with the people of New Caledonia. Politics has shown me just how intricate international relations can be."

Chuan nodded respectfully to Thaksin in the traditional Thai manner. "Take good care of our Republic, Mr. Prime Minister. An old man like me needs his rest." With that, he left the room, catching Thaksin's parting words: "Your time may have passed, but your contributions to our society are still meaningful, Father Chuan." Chuan nodded, his steps steady as he made his way down the hallway.​

 

[Odinson]

Rear Admiral Goodman had been quite for some time on his secure connection. He was not a diplomat, but he was use to advising officials in the Pentagon and, sometimes, the White House.

"Prime Minister, thank you again for inviting the United States to this NSC meeting. I know that your government and the others who are currently here only want the best for their people and the people involved. I just want to echo again that whatever any of our governments and armed forces do, we need to coordinate directly with the Polish who have operational control of most of the island, and all of the waters surrounding it. The United States will soon have a naval presence in the area, but it should be far enough away as to give the Polish and the French some breathing room. It is my hope, and the hope of the Federal Government, that this crisis can be solved by coordinating and working directly with the Polish government and Polish military forces. If any of us try evacuating civilians from the island and, for example, rebel forces were to shoot down a few helicopters and take prisoners, we would just find ourselves in a worse and more escalated situation," he said.

 

[Owen]

"Yes I agree Rear Admiral, at this time it seems like the Thai Navy will be conducting the evacuations as per the request of the Polish Government. Unfortunately if you want to relay that same point to the Thai Government you will have to do it directly because I cannot allow them to stay in this meeting without even having an Ambassador in Canberra. I'm worried about them to say the least. I'm worried about the ability of their forces to get everyones nationals out safely. They do not have the greatest of reputations and now we have to put our full trust in them.

Our forces will be on standby in Brisbane as a contingency if things go south. It should be said that given our close proximity we offer the best chance at a rapid response to any unfolding situations. Please let me know if there is anything we can do to offer the United States logistical support in the region. Fleet Base East in Sydney will be open to your forces."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"Thank you, Prime Minister. I will pass that information to the Secretary of The Navy," he said. "Vice President Sinclair spoke at a press briefing at the White House a few days ago. He stated that, according to the State Department, there are no Americans on New Caledonia at this time. Every intelligence factor we have points to that being true, as remarkable as it may sound. Regardless, our interests in the area are to contain this situation and also prevent it from escalating, while also supporting Polish and French forces on the island," he said.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"You will be allowed to enter the territorial waters of Australia, including the territory of Norfolk Island and the Coral Sea Islands. We will also allow you to enter the territorial waters of the Republic of Kiribati as Australia has defence responsibility over that country along with New Zealand. I'm sure my New Zealand counterpart here will not have any issues with the U.S. Navy entering New Zealand and associated states territorial waters including Tokelau, Niue and the Cook Islands and the Independent State of Samoa to which they have defence responsibility over.

I should also mention that, and you can pass this onto your government, that Australia and New Zealand signed the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty without the United States and at this time it remains a bilateral treaty between Australia and New Zealand with the option for adding the United States in the future. This was the same treaty proposed in 1999 to the U.S. Government."

Odinson basedcnt

 

[ManBear]

The Wiceadmiral would speak. "In regards to transporting equipment to Australia to transport to New Caledonia, I have been briefed that due to the amount and weight of equipment, supplies and personnel being brought over, there will need to be a temporary lay over midway over Australia and we have predetermined the best location would be Alice Springs Airport. Utilizing public information regarding the airport we have determined this Airport would offer the most secure location for the Polish forces as well as the Australian citizens. The runway lengths are appropriate for takeoff and landing of the aircraft. I hope this is acceptable to the Australian government or if you have any alternatives for them. We can insure that Polish forces do not disembark the aircrafts during this layover."

Owen

 

[Owen]

The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Angus Houston, would reply.

"What exactly are the details of your logistical movements? Are these flights directly from Poland and they can't make it as far as Brisbane and have to land in Alice Springs or are you stopping elsewhere beforehand? We have a few sites you could land at which would probably be more appropriate, as in they are Air Force sites and not a civilian airport. It's not the most secure because of its civilian nature. Australian Federal Police do not even patrol that airport. RAAF sites are more secure and we have a few in Western Australia and the Northern Territory with 10,000 foot runways you could land at it if its simply a matter of flying directly from Poland and need an extra little fuel to keep going. What is your determined range of these aircraft with their full payload?"

ManBear

 

[ManBear]

Wiceadmiral Franciszek Gągor would respond to the Australian Air Marshal's question.

"The aircraft will be flying from Chiang Mai Air Base in Thailand where they will have been refueled for the trip to Australia. We will have two refueling tankers travelling with the C-5 to insure they are able to make it to the destination but having an alternative location to land incase there was an incident during transit would assist our forces in safely delivering supplies and reinforcements to the forces in New Caledonia. The current route will involve the C-5 carrying five KTO Rosomak vehicles, two CC-150 transport planes carrying combination of soldiers and additional supplies and equipment, two CC-150T refueling planes set up with the refueling boom to assist in the transit, and two squadron of fighters to escort them to Egypt, where we operate a refueling wing, their first refueling stop will occur. The C-5, two CC-150s, and two CC-150Ts will depart Egypt and fly to Chiang Mai where they will undergo their final refueling for the trip to Brisbane. Between the two CC-150Ts, the C-5 should maintain enough fuel to arrive at Brisbane, but like I said, having a secondary location to land established beforehand would help ensure the safety of the mission. For the return to Poland, they will return via the same path. A more secure location such as an RAAF Air Base would be preferred but as we said Alice Springs is also an acceptable location. The length of runway for any of the aircraft involved does not extend past seventy-six hundred feet.

The anticipated range of these aircraft go from four thousand, two hundred, and sixty klicks for the C-5 under such a load. The CC-150s should have a range of roughly nine thousand, six hundred while the CC-150Ts will roughly have a range of eight thousand, eight hundred klicks."

Owen

 

[Owen]

The Chief of Air Force would assess the information given by the Vice Admiral on this laptop.

"Well you will need to air-to-air refuel between Egypt and Thailand that's for sure. Somewhere over India. And again from even Chiang Mai to the edge of Australia's coastline, it's still more than 4,260km away. You will need another air-to-air operation over Indonesia. Between Chiang Mai and Brisbane, Alice Springs is actually going out of the way a bit but if you land at Darwin, which is somewhat directly on your route and is a joint RAAF-Civilian Airport, you will have enough fuel to go from there to Brisbane. We have RAAF Security Forces at Darwin and it is a fully fledged RAAF base with units based there. Alternate landing sites include bare bases RAAF Base Curtin and RAAF Base Scherger as well as RAAF Base Tindal. If you wish to save yourself an air-to-air refuelling operation over Indonesia you can go due south of Chiang Mai and land at RAAF Base Cocos Islands. It has a runway sufficient enough and the security threats on that island are minimal. There are some RAAF personnel stationed there. You can then head west to RAAF Base Curtin or RAAF Base Learmonth and then you will have enough fuel for the journey to Brisbane. Or you can go to RAAF Base Tengah in Singapore and then fly to Darwin and then Brisbane. Up to you what you want to do Vice Admiral."

ManBear

 

[Owen]

"I think we should consider a blockade on New Caledonia to make sure there are no weapons going to the rebels to spiral this conflict any longer. There is obviously no local production of weapons and ammunition on New Caledonia, so these supply lines need to be choked. The Royal Australian Navy stands ready to enforce a blockade.

Also how are the hospitals on New Caledonia coping? If there are individuals in New Caledonia who need immediate medical treatment but can't get it at the moment we are prepared to evacuate them to Australia via either RAAF transport planes in medevac configuration or government and/or private civilian air ambulances."

ManBear

 

[ManBear]

"Thank you Air Marshal. We didn't believe in inviting ourselves to a RAAF Air Base without permission which brought us to our decision to initially request to utilize Alice Springs. Per your recommendation we will utilize Darwin as our secondary spot if the pilots feel they cannot make it to Brisbane airport with fuel levels at indicated crossing points. We will maintain our flight path from Cairo to Chiang Ma to Darwin/Brisbane depending on the need.

In regards to a blockade and the hospitals in New Caledonia, we will address the former first. With the amount of foreign ships around New Caledonia with the Portuguese on their way, the American Carrier Strike Group, the Navy NEG group there, as well as our own first flotilla, we feel there has already been an established blockade currently enveloping New Caledonia. Additional ships would only bring further complications to the ships already in the area of operations and increase the chance of accidents, especially with Thailand no longer being involved in the talks and maintaining the largest fleet presence in the area.

In regards to hospitals, Polish forces operated medical clinics and surgeries throughout the Island but those operations have ceased once the hostilities began and our unarmed doctors were targeted for murder. As far as I am aware, the hospitals are still functioning thanks to the Thai imports but with any urban battlefield, loss of some functionality is to be expected. Between targeted attacks from insurrectionists and counter attacks from Polish forces on entrenched insurrectionists we can only hope that the loss of functionality is minimal. But I'm sure you are aware of Murphy's law, Air Marshal. No plan survives first contact with the enemy and anything that can go wrong will go wrong. We will do our best to minimize any effects to civilians but the nature of the battlefield makes that even harder."

Owen

 

[Owen]

"Very well, I will let the necessary support squadrons based at Darwin know of your anticipated arrivals." The Chief of Air Force will say.

The Prime Minister would just sigh, accepting defeat in this battle with the Polish to have Australia have any role besides giving access to some bases and seaports. It was clear they were adamant that Australia doesn't get involved at all.

"Very well then. Unfortunately we need to conclude the meeting there as myself and the other Ministers do have other political engagements to attend to. I do appreciate you joining us for this NSC meeting. Any matters pertaining to the air bases or logistical movement of your forces in Australia can be consulted directly with Major Jessica Ward, who is our Defence Attache for Central Europe based at the embassy in Berlin. She will be temporarily moved to our embassy in Warsaw at this time. Thank you everybody for coming." The Prime Minister would shuffle papers in front of her and the participants would begin filing out of the Cabinet Room and the video links would be disconnected.

ManBear