Australians - at least most of them - are ignorant...

We all know Australia is a horrible place to live. Re-education camps, gulags, mass exucutions of political opponents and famine. It's a wonder why anyone would want to live in Australia.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if were much easier on average to start and maintain a business in Australia than it is the US. Many of our most substantial business centers and enterprises are heavily and inconsistently regulated and our tax code is a Byzantine mess. I bet our union laws are stronger than yours, too. We have federal and state collective bargaining laws that are even more Byzantine than our tax code. Our economy is being drowned in government paper work and the pushers of paper. Your politicians and public employees seem patriotic enough run their government efficiently.

 

I was reading a while ago that the average time to get the paperwork done to start a business in Australia is about 3 days, compared to about a month in the US.

We pretty much only have Federal tax. When I'm doing my income tax (which I should really get on) I don't have to do my Federal taxes, state taxes and whatever. It's just one tax.

 

This is what many foreigners do not understand about our government. It is very authortarian and our public sector and politicians have zero patriotism. Governments in Australia and Germany and Switzerland are very functional and organic, their people are patriotic and homogenous; not so in the US; each State is unique and sovereign; there are too many clashing and disparate political spheres in our country to effectively cohere on a national scale; that is why I get frustrated with foreigners who support expanding the US central government; our central government is not like yours; our police are not like yours; our public sector is not like yours; you may have a good national healthcare system in Australia but our government is broke and corrupt and bought by corporations; I am afraid of them! I do not want them in charge of my healthcare. These people are criminals!!! You live in a country where Australians have strong families and cultural unity, so you have a good, functional government. It doesn't work like that here. The only thing we do great on a national scale is war and we have been mucking that up too.

 

Australia is also a Federation. Before WW2 the states collected income taxes. During WW2 the Federal government got sick of asking the states for money (the Federal government constitutionally the only government in Australia allowed to prosecute a war) to run the war and so started also collected taxes. The constitution allows governments in Australia to collect taxes, didn't just limit it to the state governments.

Anyway, it was decided that it was far more efficient to have just 1 level of government collecting taxes that the state governments haven't taken it back up since, even though they complain all the time about the amount of money allocated to them by the Federal government.

 

True, but our Federation is older and much bigger and composed of many disparate cultural spheres that often clash with one another. Australia is much more homogenous in that regard and that is why they are able to more effectively implement policies on a national scale. They are more cohesive as a people. Our central government is just criminal in its loyalty to corporations over the people. That is why many libertarians want to constrain the US government, not expand it.

 

Go back 100 years ago though and Australians considered themselves British first, a citizen of their state second and then considered themselves Australian. Not that they didn't consider themselves Australian, and any Pom who told them that they weren't Australians would get his face punched in, but it was the smallest identity. One they still felt proud of though.

Nowadays the only time we feel a member of a state first is during a State of Origin match for a sporting competition. Somewhere along the line it all changed and there are growing calls for the states to be disbanded and only exist as a tradition.

 

The problem with Australia is that in someway we are becoming more "American". We have lost our cultural indentity a few decades ago,, could have something to do with American mass media and popular culture being in our faces all the time. The younger generations embrace this.

Australians are now becoming consumer oriented. We have some of the biggest credit card debt in the world. People just want to spend and spend. We are also becoming very insular.

Luckily for us, we have good social policies to catch those who have fallen through the net and our universal healthcare system works. But on the other side of the coin, people can grasp opportunities and do really well in life.

The problem with Australian politics isn't the politicians but the parties. In effect Australian politics is still one huge men's club,, I believe we weren't quite ready for a female Prime Minister because of this men's club. Our main political parties aren't as polarised as in America. There are some very smart people on both sides of the political fence but they are hampered by party politics and the party line. This is evident with the problems of boat refugees landing in Australian waters. No-one is able to make a decision which will be best for both the refugees and Australia as a whole. They are playing games with people's lives.

 

Still wrong country. *sigh*.

 

I don't think we're that insular to be honest. I think the media likes portraying Australians that way, but statistics don't support it.

1/4 of the population are foreign born for starters. 1 in 3 Australians travel overseas each year. That seems to be the opposite of insular.

 

Travelling to Bali is NOT going overseas

 

All so true. Kiwis look on Aussies as the Yanks of the South Pacific.

 

Except Aussies are smarter and better looking..

 

Like Yanks?

 

Yanks and Kiwis

 

yep. Definitely.

yanks especially would hate it here.

They should not even THINK about coming to such a backward, communist country.

 

I think that's true, but there is way too much of an element that is self congratulatory and insular.

Proportionately, more Australians travel overseas - and not just to Bali. A much higher proportion of the country live and work overseas for extended periods of time (often contributing high level skills to other countries' economies), and you meet Australians travelling everywhere. But we also tend to be a bit inward looking - like now ... our economy is strong, but we focus on how badly we are doing (which isn't entirely Abbott's fault), we seem to have largely lost our cultural cringe, but still want to cast our lot in with Europe and US, rather than acknowledging we are part of the asian region. We tend to congratulate ourselves on how well we do in the international sphere - including identifying how generous we are, and what a positive influence we have on other nations ... while not acknowledging that a significant part of our international aid budget is tied aid, which benefits the donor country and may not be focussing on the needs of the recipients, and failing to recognise the tactics we have used on our near neighbours ... most recently with Timor L'Este over resource issues, and a bit of a laissez faire attitude from our government when australian companies wreak environmental havoc - things we would not stand for in our own country.

in some ways ... the recent tears and self deprecation over the olympics provides a good example of where we are at. we think that internationally we are the golden people ... but when faced with reality, we need to review that a bit. I couldn't care less if we don't put more money into winning gold medals at the olympics - but I do hope we put in the effort to be more the international player that we believe ourselves to be.

 

we remember the crucifying of our troops on foreign shores (ANZAC day) - but I know nothing about Battle of Australia day. never heard of it.

 

Even when overseas, Australians celebrate Anzac Day.

My wife and I attend the Anzac Day dawn service every year at the Australian Ambassadores residence, along with members of the New Zealand expat community. Even some Lao government officials attend.

 

lol

At any given time 5% of Australians are in the UK.

5%? Might be 2.5%. It's something like that.

 

It wasn't too successful. In fact, a number of Australian historians have written articles saying that there was no such thing as the Battle for Australia, just that it looked like it at the time.

 

I was just having a dig at you

I agree,, Australians are great travellers.

Even in Laos there is a substantial Australian expat community, and that's not including Aussie tourists. Australians make up one of the largest expat communities per capita.

Where there's a bar, you'll find an Aussie

 

And Aussies look on the Kiwis as the lazy bludgers of the South Pacific.

 

Hello. Who pressed your button?

 

Bludger=someone who lives off the earnings of a prostitute.

Interesting thought