Abbott's War on Everything and its Casualties

Abstract

The title of this issue echoes a satirical take on Australian politics by the irreverent Chaser boys. Yet many Coalition policies are no laughing matter. Despite Tony Abbott’s invocation of ‘Team Australia’, the Coalition was at war not only with the usual suspects such as parliamentary Opposition parties, terrorists and drug traffickers, but also with refugees, multiculturalism, the poor and infirm in Australia and overseas, trade unions, indigenous people, the environment and, indeed, the plethora of advocates for these causes. There seemed to be few Aussies actually on the team apart from the Coalition itself, individuals in the highest income bracket and powerful sections of corporate Australia.