This scenario will not be unfamiliar to working class people. The official unemployment rate is nearly 6%; youth unemployment more than double that. Polling indicates that the true unemployment rate is 9.1%, and at least 1 in 10 employed people are trying unsuccessfully to get more work. In regional and rural areas, those numbers can be more than twice as high. Our politicians, media and even the meagre welfare systems that we rely on in hard times, all denigrate and humiliate anyone finding themselves in that 20% of the population whose needs for stable employment and fair income are not being met by our economic system.

“The concept of “mutual aid” is not just some abstract idea, dreamed up by idealistic academics. It is already practiced widely in working class communities, where mates helping each other out in hard times is already part of our national culture”

I was one of the lucky ones. A friend who had gone through the same hardships as I had was taken in by a family he knew and they provided him with a stable place to live while he started his apprenticeship. That same family, working class, with children of their own, took me in off the street while I found my feet. I was still sleeping on a couch, but it was the most stable and safe I had felt in months. Soon, I was able to find stable housing of my own, and things started looking up. I’m still grateful for the help that was extended my way - it’s no exaggeration that it helped turn my life around.

It wasn’t the government, my employer, organised charity or any social program that was willing to help me - it was members of my own economic and social class, the working class. When Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin in 1974, it took days for the armed forces to arrive at the devastated city. When they did, they were amazed to find that everyday people, faced with almost total devastation. Instead of waiting, they had already begun self organising into clean-up and rescue crews and volunteers from surrounding areas worked selflessly to feed and clothe their neighbours. Millions of dollars were raised all around the country and the refugees were warmly received in nearby towns.