Contributed by Joe Montero

The Government is stifling the right to protest.Armed police are raiding journalists. Whistleblowers are facing appalling prison sentences.

The Morrison government is squeezing, step by step, the right of Australians to speak out, and the road is being cleared to impose the will of the powerful interests it serves. This is the power of the big end of town.

We are living at a time when the scale of wrongdoing and corruption existing within the parliament, he highest echelons of the bureaucracy and the boardrooms of the biggest corporations is becoming more obvious.

Australia has witnessed the banks getting away with all sorts of scams to rip off the public. The Morrison government was forced into a Royal Commission. It lost control and it exposed the extent of the wrongdoing. Now it is doing everything it can to bury the exposures and do nothing about cleaningup the banking system.

Australia is suffering government prepared to indulge in witch hunts and character assassination, in order to push through a dream of getting rid of the unions, taking form the poor to give to the rich, and further merging government and the public sector with the interests of its benefactors.

Nothing is being done to meet the challenge of the climate crisis. We get the pretense that it is otherwise, while carbon emissions actually go up.

Then there is the dirty record of involving Australia in conflicts in other countries, justified by lies and directed against other peoples. The real reason is to assist the American government in its geopolitical ambitions of global dominance and access to resources.

And they don’t like it when people complain about these wrongdoings and get furious, when whitsleblowers expose details and lies. Journalists find what they can say without inviting reprisals is narrowing down. Those who speak out are singled out for special attention.

One of the targets is GetUp. The online activist organisation, which contrary to accusations is not aligned with any political party, is fighting back. It has no intention of being silenced. This was made clear by its National Director Paul Oosting, in a very recent addresses the National Press Club.

The targeting of GetUp is part of the broader agenda, and it is occurring because GetUp has been doing a good job of defending us all. It is in our interest to respond, when the call goes out to give a little help.

GetUp relies on money coming in from ordinary Australians and is not dependent on big donors.

If you want Getup to continue and do more, consider becoming a donor through this link