Do not be mistaken, Joe Hockey claiming that “striving to achieve equality is not the role of the Government” is a declaration of an ideological culture war.

Society is not an individual endeavor, community is not an individual endeavor, humanity is not an individual endeavor, all of these take a collective approach of people working together and caring for one another, driven by egalitarianism, by contrast the individualists free-market ideologies of neoliberalism that drives this Government’s policy and it’s supporters, are freely described as driven by self-preservation and greed: i.e. the people who support these ideas actually admit they are based on selfish, self-centered greed, rather than caring for others.

“Despite a number of pre-election promises to the contrary, the Abbott government has embarked on a bold ideological mission to transform the way Australians relate to the state. Treasurer Joe Hockey calls it “the end of the age of entitlement”, which, “… will involve reducing the provision of so called ‘free’ government services to those who feel they are entitled to receive them.” (The Conversation, “Oh, What a Lovely Culture War, 25th Aug 2014)

This campaign has been urged on by the government’s cheerleaders in the right-wing press and the much-maligned yet ubiquitous Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). Given half a chance, the IPA would remake Australia as a free-market, individualist utopia straight out of their libertarian fantasies.