Australia going down the U.S. path?

Australia going down the U.S. path?  Reader and friend Simon M. (himself a transplanted Aussie) sends along a link to this article, and some color of his own:

First thing I noticed is that it's well written which makes a nice change. Second thing I noticed is that this is just the kind of thinking that, in part, caused me to move to the U.S.

"Hockey and Abbott have made their choice. They want us to follow further down the US path. They believe that if you want something, you should pay for it yourself. If you can’t afford it then you don’t deserve to have it because you haven’t worked hard enough or tried hard enough."

I don't give any points for trying hard but other than that I'm with Hockey and Abbott.

The article is a classic progressive vs. conservative (in U.S. terms) world-view, told from a progressive perspective.  In this case, the progressive is complaining about the new (relatively) conservative tilt to the Australian government after the recent elections – though by American standards, it's got a long way to go before they could call it either conservative or small government.  But it's a move in the right direction.  :)