From England it appears that a bleak cold winter is descending on the Australian people. Spring it may be, but from afar it feels the ice of Thatcherism (supported by that two-bit actor Regan) is taking over the land. The coldness of hard right wing neo-liberal thinking that targets those who are disadvantaged and cuts company taxes for captains of industry.

As the Guardian newspaper notes today:

Labor has failed to win many plaudits for Australia’s relatively strong economy, which has recorded 22 years of uninterrupted economic growth, and boasts low unemployment and relatively low interest rates. Both major parties accept that voters feel under cost of living pressure, despite studies showing the average Australian household is in fact $5,302 better off in real terms than it was in 2008.

It appears that a majority of Australians think they are at risk of losing their lifestyles (stuffed full of consumer goods – and a little more) to asylum seekers, single unemployed mums, gay people, Indigenous people, environmentalists, sick people in hospital, the unemployed, the disabled, low income working families . . . because these are all the people that the conservative right wing Coalition government led by Tony Abbot will target.

Small government (neo-liberal economics) equals less public service and less focus on the common good. A budget surplus never affects the income of the rich, it targets the poor.

Many Australians have been hood-winked into thinking their own assumed right to consume, combined with disillusionment at the tragic display by the Labor Party of internal betrayal and lust for power, makes Tony Abbot the better option for the country. For those committed to equity, equality, justice and human rights it is a sad and ill-informed choice.

So what is the best response? Its time to change this outcome and the time begins today!

Time to begin today to make sure that a Tony Abbot Government is never elected again. Time to begin to think beyond the bar-be-cue and the backyard pool. Time to think beyond xenophobia and the ridiculous assumption that in Australia there is not more than enough to go around.

Time today to plan for resistance every time this government takes from the poor and gives to the rich. Time for the fragmentation of this resistance to end and for energies to be combined to speak for justice and human rights whenever they are attacked, both domestically and internationally!

Time to speak without fear for the rights of all people. Time to build a new way of living beyond the paucity of mindless consumption and selfishness.

This is what will help us to ensure that Australia welcomes the stranger, provides care for the vulnerable, embraces difference and provides all Australians with equal access to healthcare, housing, education (without carrying a life-long debt), employment opportunities and public services.

It’s time to demand that all this is provided by the government for the people and of the people, in a way that builds society for the common good.

Injustice happens when good people stay silent.