By Yuanyi Tham
Donald Trump rules for the rich. Since his second term as US president began, Trump has unleashed an aggressive wave of attacks on living standards and civil liberties, with the full backing of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires. From sweeping public sector layoffs and devastating “Liberation Day” tariffs, to the mass deportations of migrants and attacks on women’s and queer rights, Trump’s far-right agenda enriches him and his ultra-wealthy mates by strangling working class people.
Here in Australia, many oppose Trump and his far-right politics – one in three Australians think he’s the biggest threat to world peace. But there’s also a sense of apathy and helplessness, an assumption that what’s happening in the US has nothing to do with Australia, and that there’s nothing we can do about it because “they’re so far away!”. This is far from the truth; Australia doesn’t exist in a bubble isolated from the politics of other countries around it. Trump’s victory has emboldened right-wing politicians around the world to attack working class people in their own countries. This includes Australia, where both major parties are willing to undermine our rights and living standards for the sake of power and profit.
Look no further than our government’s pathetic response to the cost-of-living crisis. Prices have skyrocketed, real wages have fallen, and owning a home is a lost cause for many. But instead of investing more in welfare and public services, our politicians want to cut them. Peter Dutton recently vowed to cut “wasteful” government spending if he wins the election – the “wasteful” spending they’ve identified includes Welcome to Country ceremony funding, adding fuel to the racist culture war against Indigenous rights. Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan is also putting thousands of public service jobs on the chopping block to “eliminate inefficiencies”. Both parties have taken inspiration from Trump’s Department ofGovernment Efficiency, a department created solely to lay off workers and slash government spending. So much for serving the people.
While our public services are being gutted, military spending is on the rise. Australia currently spends around $56 billion on the military, or around 2% of GDP. The Trump administration has been pushing Australia to increase its military spending to 3% of GDP, and our politicians are folding to the pressure. In its latest budget, the Labor government promised an additional $50 billion in defence spending over the next decade. The Coalition wants to spend more money on the military at a faster rate. This capitulation to Trump’s militarism will be paid for by ordinary Australians. Increasing military spending means taking funds from other aspects of government spending; it means no increases to Jobseeker and youth allowance, no investment in public housing, and less money for healthcare and education. It means worse living standards for everyone but the rich, who profit from imperialism and war.
On top of all of that, Trump’s right-wing politics has exacerbated racist and sexist attitudes globally. He outlawed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs on the basis that they were “divisive and discriminatory”. In practice, this has meant removing diverse hiring practices, defunding public schools that support LGBTI and BIPOC students, and banning gender-affirming care. Trump’s eagerness to attack oppressed minorities has encouraged other right-wing figures to do the same. In Queensland, just a week after Trump was elected, the Liberal state government banned puberty blockersfor trans youth. The Liberals have also been threatening to crack down on “woke ideology” in universities – that being courses promoting Indigenous rights and left-wing activism in general. The ones being divisive are Trump and his far-right supporters in Parliament, who are stirring up culture wars to distract from their unwillingness to fix the cost-of-living crisis and better our lives.
I could go on and on about the many insane things Trump has done, and the politicians here and around the world who support him. All of Trump’s agenda could have a material impact on Australia in some way, as it does in other parts of the world. The US is one of the most powerful countries in the world, and Australia looks to it as a major political ally. The interconnectedness between the two countries means that our politicians will respond – and have already responded – to the policies that Trump implements. Most of the time, this will be to the detriment of the Australian people, who have no say or control over what our politicians do in office.
That’s why it’s important that we in Australia actively oppose Trump. Students in particular have an important role to play – from the anti-Vietnam War movement to recent anti-government protests in Serbia and Turkey, students can spark mass political movements that challenge the bosses and politicians that rule our society. With Trump in power and fascism on the rise, student activism remains as important as ever in challenging far-right politics.
