00:00In this game of seduction to grow the business, Frederick reveals a talent for showbiz and
00:17makes the NSCA irresistible.
00:29To the banks, the NSCA's public service mission makes it look like a quasi-government body.
00:35And no one was any the wiser.
00:45To this day, people still believe that the National Safety Council of Australia Victorian
00:49Division was a government department.
00:52And we weren't.
00:53We were a private company.
00:54It was a private, not-for-profit organisation.
00:56And our charter was to rescue people.
00:59That was what we were there to do.
01:01We did a job once at Pine Gap, which is a U.S. top-secret facility.
01:06We were cleared in to go and do this job, provide helicopters and provide a service.
01:14Yes, our helicopters were contracted to hover and observe potential rioting at Pine Gap.
01:25But no more so, though, now than other civilian contractors are contracted to fly over the
01:32detention centres and monitor and observe.
01:35One of the main helicopter companies in Australia at the moment, CHC, are contracted to go out
01:40to Woomera and they sit there and they film and they're waiting for, but they're civilians
01:44like we were at the time.
01:46And what about the claims that you have intelligence connections, the CIA, for instance?
01:51It would be nice, wouldn't it?
01:53Would it?
01:53I don't know.
01:54Oh, well, then you wouldn't have to chase people to pay you bills, would you?
01:58You have no connections, whatever, with any intelligence organisation from any country?
02:03Certainly.
02:05Certainly not.
02:06Certainly not.
02:06The opportunity comes to John because all the current thinking, or even then, of subcontracting
02:11things like security to private organisations, you know, we've had the worst of it in Iraq
02:16in recent times.
02:17So John volunteers his services to the government as a private subcontractor to subcontract
02:23to help security with the Springbok tour, for example.
02:27Now, it's documented that his paratroopers, whatever they were, his horsemen were there
02:32and he lent some services there.
02:35In terms of the Safety Council being sanctioned by an intelligence service, such as ASIO or whatever,
02:41I can't say yes, definitively, but can you imagine an operation, a company, a private
02:50company operating in Australia nationally, all over the country, with ex-SAS people, with
02:56para-rescue people, with helicopters, fixed wing?
03:00I think it would be difficult to understand that within Australia, someone within an intelligence
03:08organisation or a government organisation didn't have some sort of overview.
03:11on what was going on.
03:12It's difficult.
03:13I mean, they had a fair amount of resources, they had highly intelligent people, they had
03:20paramilitary training.
03:21It would be a logical conclusion to say that someone knew what was going on.
03:26Who, when, where, I don't know.
03:29There was times where there were certain aircraft that came in that certainly were not Australian
03:34Defence Force and certainly weren't, I didn't recognise on the Civil Air Register in Australia
03:40as designate Victor Hotel, which is a designation for all aircraft in Australia.
03:45And certainly there was aircraft that came in that we just thought, nice, nice, nice aircraft.
03:49And you just didn't bother asking because, you know, you just went, oh, okay.
03:56Yeah, you just went, oh, it's just another thing Freddo's getting up to.
04:00John used to get a lot of calls from the US and those calls would never identify themselves.
04:06They'd just say, put me through to John.
04:08You know, every single time.
04:10And military people speak in a certain way and they were military people that were calling.
04:15They weren't, or military or intelligence, they weren't civilians.
04:18So, and then once you've been through that and you, you know, you listen to that,
04:23you kind of go, what the hell is going on here, you know?
04:26Is this part of a military organisation?
04:29Is it part of an intelligence organisation?
04:31Are we owned by the Americans in some way?
04:34I have to concede it's a real possibility that, you know,
04:37there was someone like the CIA involved in some way, manner or form.
04:41It's definitely possible.
04:43Whether it happened or not, I don't know.
04:45I'd love to know the answer to that question.
04:47For me, I didn't sign up for that.
04:50I signed up for a world-class search and rescue service
04:54that was dedicated to saving the lives of Australians.
04:57I didn't sign up to be a covert operator.
05:01He was in the process of setting up some huge contract in China.
05:05I'm led to believe, had it actually come off,
05:08the contract in China would have saved the Safety Council
05:12and repaid all the debt.
05:13So I guess if we look at him from a point of view of a visionary,
05:16rather than a madman who can't see where he's going,
05:20I think he always could and he did anticipate pulling that off.
05:24He told me about private contracting to build bridges somewhere in Cambodia
05:29or I think it was Cambodia that he mentioned or Vietnam.
05:32and he used those events to enhance the status of his organisation.
05:39So having volunteered to do the work, the government having accepted him,
05:43he now became a government contractor, which again helped him with the finances.
05:50Thunderbirds are gold.
06:01Now that was our little favourite name.
06:03We used to call it the Thunderbirds.
06:05And mainly because we had everything and anything.
06:08We could adapt to most situations.
06:11We could adapt to pretty unique equipment.
06:15And some of the gear was very advanced in that time.
06:19It was paramount of equipment in the world.
06:23Ask National Safety Council staff about their jobs
06:37and they'll tell you there's no better place to work.
06:40For adventurous young men, the Safety Council has it all.
06:44State of the art equipment, superb training and plenty of live action.
06:49Among other things, the Safety Council is involved in firefighting,
06:54search and rescue, underwater survival techniques
06:58and decompression services for divers suffering from the bends.
07:02The Council is also a pioneer in remote sensing techniques.
07:06Its infrared scanners can detect fires through smoke and at night.
07:11Much of the Council's work is done in conjunction with the emergency services
07:15and the Defence Forces.
07:17It's therefore not surprising that many people believe
07:20it's a government-backed organisation.
07:22In fact, it's a private company with its own board of directors.
07:26Thank you, sir.
07:27Thank you!
07:28Thank you, sir.
07:29Thank you, sir.
07:30Thank you, sir.
07:31So, guys, I'm coming to the show.
07:32You're welcome.
07:33Are you at the Only Careers?
07:34I'm coming to the National Safety Council.
07:35Thank you, sir.
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