The Federal Budget Analysis and Action

The federal budget was unveiled on Tuesday (11th of May, 2009) and TEAR Australia's Changemaker's group has released an analysis of the budget and the attention it gives to international aid, climate change and other issues of social concern beyond our own shores. TEAR Australia is an aid, development and education organisation that works from a Christian framework of thinking and practice. The great part of this update is that there are things that you can do to have a say in what is going on with the budget. The site offers a template for an email that you could write to Wayne Swann (the federal treasurer) plus his email address; encouragement on writing a letter to the editor and the online directions to make this happen; and access to a more detailed budget analysis document from the Australian Council of International Development.

When the last budget came out, I received a similar update from TEAR Australia's Changemakers group. I took the information, constructed a short "letter to the editor" and sent it to both "The Courier Mail" and "The Australian" newspapers. The Courier Mail published my letter in the Letters to the Editor section of the paper, put it right in the centre of the page and attached a picture to it. It was the most prominent feature of the page on that day. A number of people I knew commented on it and I felt that I had played a small part in putting the issue of the budget and aid committments in front of people for their more serious consideration. It took me less than half an hour to do it all and I think that this small amount of effort was worth it.

To have a look at the budget analysis update, click here.

To join Changemakes and receive these kind of updates regularly by email, click here.

I don't know about you, but these issues of social concern are the issues that mostly determine who I vote for at elections. It seems to me that with the Bible's priority of concern for the poor that we must make these issues the highest on our voting agendas. What prompts you to vote for a particular party at an election? Is it that you and your family have always voted a certain way? Do you as a Christian, have an opinion of the rightness of one party over another? Do you simply look for how you will be best off if you vote one way or another?

The Bible talks a lot about the central importance of generosity and hospitality and of a concern for those who are marginalised, poor and/or oppressed. Politics is all about the distribution of resources and power. So, our Biblical concerns for justice and compassion should have primary place in our political decisions and more broadly, in the political realm. We can't be lazy or complacent when it comes to our government's decisions on how our nation's money is spent. One party or another party in power at any given time could mean hundreds of millions of dollars going in the right or wrong directions. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the decisions of our governments. Let's not take it for granted. Write a letter! Write an email!

Don't let anyone tell you that you should keep you faith out of politics! If our faith and spirituality mean anything in this life, then it is the political arena where it can be best expressed!

Shalom...