It's so cruel you'd think it could only come from a Dickens Christmas tale. But this isn't fiction.
Late on Monday night (17th Dec) it was leaked that the Government is considering robbing one of their most desperately needed programs to pay for one of their cruelest: half a billion dollars would be stripped from our aid to the world's poorest, to pay for locking up asylum seekers.
Australia's foreign aid program saves 250,000 lives and sends 1,000,000 children to school every year. Cut that? Cut it so we can lock up families in detention centres? Merry Christmas indeed.
It's not too late to intervene. The Prime Minister is away right now, so we're told Cabinet will meet in just over a week to react to this leak and clarify their position. They could decide to walk this move back, or to cut even deeper next budget. In the mean time, they hope we're all going to forget about today's news, distracted by celebrations and cricket.
So here's the plan: we're working day and night to make a new TV ad exposing this move. If we chip in together we can put it on TV during the cricket test matches - the very moment the Government thought we'd all be distracted by:
http://www.getup.org.au/dont-they-know-its-christmas
There's more at stake here than one leak, one budget cut. This is the second time this year we've seen it: when budget choices get tough, foreign aid is cut, because the world's poorest -- our neighbours in East Timor and Papua New Guinea -- don't have a strong political voice to complain.
Meanwhile those who complain the loudest are untouched, so our tax dollars are still subsidising the mining industry to the tune of $5 billion a year in fossil fuel handouts.
If we don't stand up and fight now, the equation will remain the same every time and for every government. We must stand with advocates for foregin aid like Tim Costello of World Vision and Jack de Groot of Caritas and show that this won't go unnoticed, and it won't go unanswered.
Click here to chip in to this urgent TV ad, and we'll air it right when they thought we wouldn't be paying enough notice to stop this cruelty: the summner cricket tests.
http://www.getup.org.au/dont-they-know-its-christmas
Our movement exists to defend reason in the face of cynical politics, and this is one of the moments we were created for. We rallied before when rumours of an aid budget cut were circulating -- and helped stop millions of dollars of cuts. Now it's time to let them know we're still watching, by showing them that compassion doesn't take a holiday.
Your action now will make a real difference for people who rely on Australia's aid funding to help lift them out of poverty.
Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp team
PS -- With your help we can have a crew working day and night this week to expose this move, and you'll be the first to see it. It's like the government promising a Christmas gift, only to snatch it straight back when they think nobody is looking. So let's make a TV ad letting Australia know that's exactly what's happening. http://www.getup.org.au/dont-they-know-its-christmas
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