Tell me the bad things about living in Australia.

[ilovepixie]

Following on from the USA thread what's the worst thing about living in Australia.

The bad things about living in the UK:
Sexism
Racism
Snobbery/Class-obsession
Overcrowded
Poor education
Inadequate health service
Grey skies
Lack of imagination or will to fix problems

@ilovepixie

Aim to live and work there temporarily for a couple of years before you commit to a permanent move. We found it was long enough to get over the initial wow factor and discover all the pros and cons. We had a fantastic, memorable time, and the decision to move back to the UK was a finely-balanced one, but we don't regret it.

@schoolsoutforcovid no “cringing” required. Where we come from, depending on the wedding, men either wear a Morning suit or a kilt. After the ceremony (any photos required etc), you then change to evening wear for the evening reception - all very standard in our circles, but obviously “foreign” to the Australian people we’ve met, and clearly not done in your circle.

As for why I use the username ScotsinOz, it identifies I’m from Scotland, but live in Australia, so my opinion or views may be different to others currently living in Scotland. In no way do I identify as Australian and never will.

There’s a huge amount of Art Deco stuff around in the U.K. if you know where to look but not all crammed in to one place

I think that until recently we didn't value Art Deco much. There's loads in London but, with a few exceptions, I just sort of came across it. I think perhaps mine is the first generation (born mid 50s) to really value it. My parents just thought they were ugly old buildings. To them, they weren't old enough to be interesting or modern enough to be exciting.

I'd never heard of the De La Warr Pavilion until I moved to East Sussex or the beautiful Art Deco hotel on Burgh Island until I walked along coastal path that goes right past it. And having grown up in the London suburbs, I know of whole streets of Art Deco semis, with curved glass in bay windows.

My house was built in the 30s, and is totally lacking in any Art Deco design except two doors that have Bakelite Art Deco door handles. They were on two doors upstairs, all the others appeared to have been replaced by nasty metal 60s handles. I took them off and they're on the two downstairs internal doors now.

@schoolsoutforcovid yes it was in 2005-2006 when I lived in London

ScotsinOz this is not usual wedding practice in Australia. Have you not thought of adapting to the culture you are living in?

I know we are a totally racist country, but personally when went to London found them quite overtly / proudly racist. I remember asking my colleagues cluelessly what a “packy” was ! You wouldn’t go around here using the word “abo” at least not where I’m from...
Vikingwife’s story happened for me too- literally just calling people packy . I’ve only lived in London since early 2014 so hardly ancient history. But schoolsoutforcovid will assume I’m making it up too?
I can’t wait to have a baby in oz and feel looked after as opposed to the nhs where I was a nuisance who happens to have had a baby and needs to be kicked out ASAP.

Is Sydney a little superficial? A friend of mine moved there a few years ago and has turned into a total bimbo Stepford wife type ever since.

I thought it a term Aus used more. For the cricket team?

Been a while since I’ve watched cricket in Aus I’m sure that’s what was used in childhood though.

@JavaQ

The bad things about living in the UK:
Sexism Haha, compared to Aus or NZ
Racism See above
Snobbery/Class-obsession Not in my experience in N and S London
Overcrowded Yes in central London but I chose that, my brothers in rural Worcestershire and Hertfordshire, and my parents in W Sussex would argue this.
Poor education UK hold positions 1,2 and 10 in world university rankings, the highest Australian university is 32
Inadequate health service I could always have a (free) next day GP appt. Pay the same taxes in NZ and have to pay.
Grey skies Really? Have you seen the current weather forecast?
Lack of imagination or will to fix problems Not even sure what this means

The fashion is waaaay behind
That's a plus imv, some Uk fashions are less than flattering. Not any countries that I can think of follow blindly like in the UK. I'm not talking about catwalk fashion I'm talking about local high street users' fashion.

I'd rather be in Australia during a pandemic. We have lost 103 precious lives compared to the 38,000 poor people who have died in the UK. Turns out our distance, lack of overcrowding and functioning health service have been to our advantage.

DSis is in Australia - it is a fab place, spectacular scenery but so different from here. It's like comparing chalk and cheese really, except they speak English.

Ricky Ponting lives there!

I’ve lived in both the U.K. and Aus (as well as the ME).

Evening TV got me, here we have things like Have I Got News For You to chill out with on a Friday night. Over there it was the Matty Johns Footie Show. Not only was it a lower quality of humour but the host had been involved in a widely publicised sex scandal (he was captain of a rugby team who had all allegedly had group sex with one girl in NZ which she said wasn’t consensual), despite this, he was widely considered to be an Aussie hero.

I was also there when Julia Gillard was running for and became PM. The first female in Aus to do so. The vitriol towards her for being female and daring to run for a position of power was unbelievable, not only in the press but in general conversation. I was living in Sydney and I overheard several comments about not voting for her because how could a childless woman know how to run the country.

The above was 11/12 years ago, so maybe things have progressed.

Good points were, I loved the light in Sydney, seemed so much cleaner and brighter. The centre, around the harbour is beautiful. As are the Northern Beaches such as Bilgola. I felt quite safe walking round the city by myself. I enjoyed skiing in the Snowy Mountains, different scenery than Europe, skiing past the gum trees was beautiful.

I agree with some comments about the Anglo population being cliquey - all my friends were either Aussies who had lived abroad, 1st gen Aussies or other Brits.

There are few decent art and history museums in the large cities. Every 2 years or so, there would be a big Picasso or Monet exhibition but that was it - it doesn’t compare well to even our provincial galleries, such as the Tate in Liverpool. The Justice and Police museum in Circular Quay was good and distinctly Aussie and I always thought that maybe they should have more museums celebrating Aussie history and culture.

As others have said, books and clothing are expensive compared to the U.K..

I enjoyed my time there but prefer living here, in the Northern UK. It just suits me better. Perhaps if I was more sporty, I’d have chosen to settle in Aus because sport is much more central to life there than it is here.

ScotsinOz this is not usual wedding practice in Australia. Have you not thought of adapting to the culture you are living in?

What would that be then? Given we are multi cultural and many people of different nationalities hold weddings here.

@TazSyd - a lot of the reason for the vitriol against Julia Gillard was because she wasn't elected by the people - she was elected within the party to replace Kevin Rudd. I was here then too. I remember there was a lot of disdain for her, being a woman, and when she was defeated by Kevin Rudd again in 2013, that was the end of her, effectively.

Evening tv became a lot better when ABC 2 started doing comedy after the kids' tv switched off - including heaps of British comedy shows (yes I know, I can't let go) - but I really like Adam Hills' Spicks and Specks too.

The Paki thing - I was utterly horrified that the Pakistani cricket team were referred to as the Pakis. Honestly horrified - but the sports news reporters, on the tv and in the papers, didn't think anything of it.
Growing up in the UK, where it was such an appallingly racist abuse term, levelled at anyone with brown skin, regardless of whether or not they actually came from Pakistan, it made me properly cringe. It still does. And yes, I know it's started being used more freely again in the UK, which is to its utter shame.
Another word which is commonly used here, that people have been trying to remove from common usage in the UK, is r*rd. Utterly disablist, but people don't mind so much to use it here, same as in the USA. I don't allow my boys to use it and if the husband does, he gets reminded that it's an inappropriate term.

We can all go in circles all day saying that our experience is different from other people's, and it will be, because we all live in different areas of Australia.

The vitriol towards Julia Gillard May have been because she was elected by the party but it was extremely sexist. I was shocked to read/hear it. That was an example of Australia being like the 1970s for me.

We only get a female prime minister if a man doesn't want the job because the countries in a mess and they don't want to get the blame/ job of sorting it - that is what happened with Thatcher and May.

Julia Gillard was the target of a campaign by the billionaire mining companies to discredit her leadership following the proposal of a Carbon tax. She was actually a very measured and forward thinking leader (IMO) and yes, she was the victim of misogynistic treatment. I would suggest watching her speech on the subject.

Misogyny is a a global issue that needs to be stamped out. Before singing Rule Britannia and making sweeping statements based on a week holiday at Bondi Beach 20 years ago, maybe you should all partake in some self reflection and see how you can fix the problem in your own communities.

This thread is like someone forming an opinion on the bad things about living in the UK after watching some Piers Morgan and Katie Hopkins YouTube videos.

This thread is like someone forming an opinion on the bad things about living in the UK after watching some Piers Morgan and Katie Hopkins YouTube videos

Yep.

I lived in the UK for a while. It's a very different place to AU, but I wouldn't dream of taking my years in England as somehow representative, and pronouncing on 'the culture, country and people'.

That would be silly.

I am quite happy to list the bad things about AU, but they need to be grounded in some kind of reality!

(I do agree that Queenslander houses are lovely; my view of AU architecture is skewed by being a Sydney-sider. Oh, and in answer to the person who suggested Sydney turned her friend into a Stepford wife? That's a friend problem, lol, not a city problem).

Totally agree @Poppyfields12

Julia Guilard was recieving really really terrible advice. Obviously there is always an element on intellect, she should have realised how badly she was screwing up but equally it’s not like she was PM during a time of crisis, if she’d happened to have better advisors (and maybe some public speaking training) she wouldn’t have crashed and burned so badly.

As a returnee after 15 years in UK
Bloody expensive
Travelling other than Asia is a bloody long way & even that's far
So regulated. You need an electrician to change a lightbulb kinda place
Almost impossible to get any type of trade work done & noone multi tasks
Slow internet,

It would be great to hear examples of the racism. It sounds like it’s endemic? I have heard this from Aussie friends but have never been.