To think the people on Wanted Down Under have unrealistic expectations?

[CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook]

Just watching this morning, as have a late shift. It's a 'revisted' episode so idea when it first aired. Mum has a small budget of £150,000 but wants a 'dream home' in Australia. First apartment too small, as is the second. You only have a budget of £150,000!! Eventually last house hits all the right notes, but is £60,000 overbudget. So she'll just work harder.

Planning to do Social Work, so goes to an experience day. The SW's are dealing with the case of an indigenous Aboriginal family. They work with a lot of indigenous families and their customs. Does she know anything about the Aboriginal people? No. Not done any research So what view of Australia does she have?

Everytime I watch this program the participants seem to have massive unrealistic expectations. AIBU to think they should at least know something about the Aboriginal people if they plan to move there?

I was on WDU. Moved to NZ 5 yrs ago. My life is so much better here, despite being told on the show we'd be worse off. We have an amazing house on a detached block, pool, no neighbouring property, great community, wonderful summers and great opportunity for me in terms if now having my own successful business. If anything I had very low expectations that were exceeded.

You have to be able to get a Visa to be on the show.

Why not though? Is it that Aboriginal culture doesn't have to be engaged with and has little impact? Or it's a secondary culture subsumed within the wider 'Australian culture' or that it still essentially feels like UK with a minority culture that happens to be there? I find that hard to believe since there are many Italians, Greeks, Chinese etc there.

Aboriginal people are a hugely disadvantaged population in Australia. With this disadvantage comes dysfunctional behaviour and social issues which means that for your average middle class (white) Australian, you do not actually have to interact with Aboriginal culture in any meaningful way. I have spent my whole adult life in Australia and never had an Aboriginal friend or work colleague. The life expectancy of an Aboriginal man is eight years less than a white person and Aboriginal people are the most incarcerated people on earth.

@NoTheresa - yes the spiders - even if I could get a massive house pool etc and work fewer hours for more money ( which I could not ) - no no no - just the spiders ( the snakes I can deal with. ) My parents spent a year in Melbourne and were glad to come home ( no offence to anyone who lives in Mebourne ) just their opinion) but the story my mother told me about drawing a curtain & the size of the spider who was lurking there - no no no .

And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face such high rates of disadvantage because of the sustained 200+ year genocide initiated by the British colonial forces. It was written into the constitution. Learning the true history of Australia would benefit so many on this thread.

The reason you perceive it to be racist in Australia is dripping from your posts on this thread. Paternalistic, racist and condescending views of a country with the longest surviving cultures on the planet. That have survived despite massacres, forced child removals and incarceration for observing traditional practices.

The Queen is still our head of state. It's certainly nowhere near post-colonial while the colonisers are still in charge.

I'm so glad I can't watch Wanted Down Under. It sounds like the producers are exploiting our country for laffs.

@Solasshole haha me too, and why I'd never ever go back. Most of all though the shows makes me happy to know I live in a country and city that I love. That's a great feeling.

@Paperplain What are of law do you work in?

@Trebla interesting you need to be eligible for a visa to go on the show.

Dexy - corporate real estate. Wha t about you?

@edgeofheaven You’re only talking about Sydney, however you can live less than an hour commute to the Sydney CBD for under a million. You can also live in other capital cities - Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth etc - and still have 6 figure incomes. On 6 figures in Adelaide you’d have a great house, great location and be comfortable. Adelaide is one of the most liveable cities I be the world - you can live 10 mins from the the CBD and 10 mins from the beach for well under a million.

Australia also has lots of can regional towns that are bigger than some of the capital cities and they are lovely (if you do Rv want to be near the beach). I think if more WDU participants looked outside of Sydney and Melbourne they would get a lot more for their money.

Totally agree with all points above.

People who are serious about emigrating to Australia or New Zealand aren't selected because they have done their homework. They know the property prices, cost of living, salaries and job prospects.

The thing which I think the worst aspect of the whole show is the "messages from loved ones" where some parent or sister for their purely selfish reasons sits and cries and says they'll miss them and please don't go, you'll ruin my life and I;ll never see you again. A supportive, loving parent would be saying (as many do) that of course they'll miss the people emigrating but they have to follow their dreams and live their lives for THEM, not for their needy relatives.

@PotatoScallop It’s on Foxtel in Australia.

Also people are not denigrating Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders - they are asking whether you should learn about their history/culture before moving to Australia. My answer is no, we didn’t specifically research Aboriginal history, just as we wouldn’t have researched Native American’s history if we had moved to the US or Canada. It doesn’t mean we don’t care about these people - we care about all people regardless of ethnicity - but not knowing the history before coming doesn’t make it harder to settle or anything.
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I think the point being made was that in the episode yesterday the applicant was a social worker and was told that she would have a high percentage of indigenous families as clients in that particular area. In those circumstances, and when you're trying to secure a job, of course it makes sense to swot up on basic Australian history and the issues affecting that group.

Just as if you were a teacher and applying to work in the Australian school system you'd have researched the education system, school entry age, when they sit exams, balance between private/state and so on.

Ahh gad, this show!

"We want a five bedroom house with en suites and a family bathroom. We NEED swimming pool, house must be detached and come with 10acres of land".

Family is shown EXACT home of their dreams

" It's too big. "

@PotatoScallop - you may never have seen the show - which is an odd position to comment from.
It doesn't ridicule Australia - what it does show is how "ordinary" it is, and how unrealistic people's expectations of it is. Most people on the show seem to expect a Neighbours or Home and Away life style - forgetting even the boring off screen bits of those shows (that people actually have to go to work, take out the rubbish, etc.). It's a bit like moving to Dallas and being disappointed that you don't live in a fabulous Ranch.

Maybe you could make an Australian versions full of people who think moving back to the UK or Europe would be like living in Downton Abbey or some cool French film. But most Australians I have known are too sensible to fall for it.

PotatoScallop - it's not poking fun at Aus AT ALL. It's poking fun at the Brits who have very very ordinary jobs as an electrician or a teaching assistant and think they can waltz over to Aus, earn a million dollars between them and buy the fanciest house in Sydney.

If there are "negatives" such as an electrician having to retrain to different standards those are because of lack of preparation on the applicant's part. I love Wanted Down Under, they usually show it on telly just after Christmas in the darkest, coldest part of January and it's like being on holiday in the sunshine.

OP I live in Australia...and people do work less in general. There is a much much better work life balance! That and the more agreeable weather, you tend to be outside a lot more and have a generally healthier lifestyle. In addition it is a far more child friendly environment. I speak to my friends with kids back home in the UK all the time and they constantly comment how much there is for us to do here with kids, and much of it is free too.

Housing in the major cities can be more expensive but not when you take into account the higher wages.

Check out this comparison in costs between London and Sydney;

www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&city1=London&country2=Australia&city2=Sydney

I miss the UK so so much, and have no ill feelings about my life there but I have to say, whilst there are obviously some downfalls, Australia certainly wins when it comes to raising children.

I remember watching something as a kid (80’s) which showed a postman who had moved to Australia. He has loads of money, a big house and didn’t have to work much.
I think people are still stuck on that view.

We had a relative that emigrated in the 80s, she really hated it, she felt totally excluded as a woman over there and they ended up coming back.

I lived in Australia for 36 years and I worked way harder there, and with longer hours, than I do in UK. It is individual I would say.

I’ve seen only a few and the ones I have seen seem a bit badly thought out and there’s always one family member who really doesn’t want to go.

Want a big house
Want a pool
Want to be near the sea
Want part time work, doing what they do here but with more pay
Want it to be always sunny
No crime
Want to live next to the cast of home and away...

Always seem rather amazed that they can’t buy a mansion and loads of land for £100k and live like they are on holidays. Funny that. I suspect they only go on to get a free holiday!

@tomatosalt

I have worked with many indigenous Australians in my workplaces - doctors, nurses, social workers (mostly these), a podiatrist, dietitians, a headmaster

I do not disagree AT ALL that they are disadvantaged but just giving another experience.

Oh and I forgot, one is an author

@ScotsinOz I admit I don't watch the show that regularly but the ones I remember were always looking at a major city like Perth or Brisbane.

My point was just that people who have average jobs and average homes in Britain have the idea that they'll live like millionaires in Australia, it makes absolutely no sense.

People do have funny ideas. Since I've come to live here, I have had people ask me what its like to live in a "civilised" country. My town back home is a fast, flashy, shiny, modern city. The place I am here in UK is slow, semi-rural and a bit backward in many ways. It's quite interesting the way people perceive us.

10-12 years ago you absolutely could move to oz and live a lifestyle in excess of what you could achieve in the U.K. either shirt or long term. I had plenty of mates doing things like labouring who moved out for a few years, early well, lived well then came back and settled home. Equally had quite a few stay or there - generally those friends that had a bit more cash behind them and bought a property before things booked too crazy.

@girlsname - London is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, although house prices are falling fast. I live in the South East and would have to lower my standards massively if I wanted to move into London (which I don't - too crowded and polluted). Most people on WDU don't come from London - but often small towns in less prosperous areas of the country.
London and its lifestyle does not reflect most of the rest of the UK.

@MollyButton London is the capital of the UK and where the majority of the highest paying jobs are. Therefore in the UK it's the only fair comparison to Sydney