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.

I'm knocking 60. I lived in Oz, til 15 years ago, for 15 years. I love Australia, but only Covid and the likely outcome of Brexit would drive me back.

Why?

Primarily the parochialism. The casual racism. The sexism. The sheer MONOCULTURE of so much of Life. I lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. The first two as a backpacker (6 months apiece, not 2 weeks); the latter two as a resident.

My DH is from a rural Queensland town; I met him 25 years ago so I do have a handle on rural Queensland attitudes. He must've been a foundling, given how cultured, well read, tolerant, enquiring, educated, and self-educated he is- he is compared to his hill-billy family. He loves footpaths. Real ale. Decent, combative journalism. Europe...

So much of Australian culture is so one dimensional. It's like living in a Daily Mail editorial.

Yes, it's beautiful, but, you have to drive miles to get anywhere. You really do.

State education is an undirected, self-assessed mess; and then your 'private' options are religious foundations. Where your kids might be taught, legally, that Darwin was a fraud. Australia has a lot of religious conservatism. A lot.

Australians are, by and large, good people. But almost American in their self-congratulation, hence the pommie-bashing.

Flag waving is everywhere. Things are deemed, in government, 'UnAustralian'

Make if that what you will.

As for the wildlife, not a fan. I hear the 'you could live where I live in Sydney and see nothing for decades', and raise spiders as big as my hand indoors 😂 (Huntsmen, actually great predators of 'killer' spiders, at home!'); actual redbacks (handle of the DC's toy box) 🙄; brown snakes and funnel webs in our suburban back yard. And 5" long centipedes is the wood chip...🤪

And picnics disrupted by 5 foot long water monitor lizards in Noosa. 😂

We are evaluating our options.

Suburbia shocked me, miles and miles of just houses with no pavements and no shops and just nothing.

I feel I've been v negative, I had a brilliant time there, my daughter is half Australian and is desperate to visit, but it's just not for me to live.

Australia, andAustralians do a great PR job.

Do you have any Australians at work? Pitch in a bit of light hearted banter about, say, a sports team.

Light that blue touch paper, and stand back.

Of course that isn't representative of so many Australians, but dare to question any aspect of Australian life especially sport; and you'll get a measure of priority.

I've already posted, a few minutes earlier, but.... sport.

Australians very much like to see themselves as class-blind; as egalitarian.

The better off send their DC to private schools, most, especially outside cities, run by religious foundations. They'll wear a uniform Billy Bunter and Harry Potter would balk at (unless you're at a Northern Irish grammar 😉)

Your child's sports achievements will be embroidered on their blazer. Row after row. Their 'top at Maths' won't get a look in. No one cares.

This is the culture.

This.

It's like North Korean generals & their medals.

Nauru and Manus Island. Enough said.
But also Government's appalling record on environmental issues... Great Barrier Reef / destructive mining / Why the hell there are so few solar panels around.
Materialistic culture... very American - all about the big TVs and the massive new car.
Private schools are mostly v religious... Catholic... run by nuns and brothers.
Mosquitos in the summer. Effing freezing cold houses in the winter with no heating.

The heat can occasionally get too much. The clothes are SHIT and so is the bedding and furniture.

I see no racism or sexism at all.

Oh yes! The lack of pavements is just weird!

I live in an older town...historical (for Oz) and some streets have just dirt paths because the council's never paved them!

These are older, well established houses too...over a hundred years old.

We’ve lived here ten years.

*Food is more expensive- both at the supermarket and at restaurants.
*9 of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world live in Australia, but I can’t say I’ve seen many.
*Spiders are BIG, but there is no need to check the toilet seat for them unless you live in the outback.
*There is not a lot of culture.
*The fashion is not years behind, but a season behind because it’s winter when the northern hemisphere are in summer. I assume the internet brought Australian fashion up to date. It is overly expensive for what you get, or so extremely cheap and tacky it makes Primark look like designer wear. H&M are overpriced compared to what you pay in the UK. They market H&M like it’s designer too.
*It’s so far from the UK and Europe, and a weekend away to Asia means you only get one day actually away - the rest is flying.
*You can’t get plain bread or a proper Chinese curry as we know it in Scotland.
*People dress very casually. We are used to dressing for dinner or in full black tie and evening wear to events, but many people don’t understand what this means.
*Ladies don’t wear hats to weddings.
*People always assume you are part of the wedding party if you wear a kilt or a morning suit to a wedding. People don’t change for the evening reception and we are always questioned as to why we have changed (because it’s after 6pm!).
*Going to the races is just an excuse to get ridiculously drunk, have a fight, pass out, and get your picture in the Daily Mail.
*Bushfires are not always Australia wide, but last year/early this year and the first year we arrived (2009) had such extremely wide ranging and devastating bushfires that I’m shocked more people didn’t die. It is absolutely horrific, and I haven’t been directly impacted by the bushfires (except for the smog/smoke that covered the city, so I can’t imagine how bad it would be to live in an area that has been affected or is at risk of bushfire.
*Lots of things Slate more expensive than the same in the UK.
*When it rains, it pours down, rather than constant drizzle.

There are loads I could list, but there is also a lot of things I could list about the UK being bad too. There are also lots of positives too, including a wide choice of private schools, however entry is extremely competitive.

As for the person saying state schooling was expensive - i believe it’s only a few hundred dollars that is required to be paid, but schools can ask for more (but not compulsory to pay). That’s cheap compared to the $50k plus I pay a year for my

The other positive is that you don’t necessarily need a degree to earn good money, which I think offers people more opportunities.

But I was amazed when I visited the NT and TNQ just the poverty and open alcohol and drug abuse that seems rife in the communities so you can understand why people who live alongside that have a different view

I'm amazed that people don't realise Aboriginals were and are systematically disenfranchised, denied opportunities, denied decent housing and healthcare, experienced hideous racism, ostracised, treated as if they were nothing, spoken to in derogatory fashion. Ground down by vicious racism and inflicted poverty. Similar issues with Native Americans in USA.

How on earth do some people simply not understand cause and effect? I've heard of living in a bubble but comes a time when being so ridiculously uninformed in this day and age has to be purposely done.

Racism, sexism, pubs not opening late, the price of marmite.

Beetroot in burgers

Spiders (I like them, but they can be huge)
Summer heat
Slow internet
Lots of media (musicals, TV series, etc) can take forever to get here or be hard to access.
Holidays are expensive with long flights.

The "lack of history" comment is such a colonial, ethnocentric view. Humans have lived in Australia for 65,000 years, and there is a long and rich Aboriginal tradition and culture. Yet most Europeans (and Australians for that matter) disregard this as to them "history" means dusty castles and written records.

(I'm not Australian, nor do I live there, if it matters.)

And yy, @DeeCeeCherry

Another typical MN Australia bashing thread 🙄

I'm starting to think I'm going to have to give MN a miss as these threads crop up so regularly.

I think the British would do well to take an inward look and maybe some quiet time to think about how the rest of the world view you lot.

I'm really glad to not live in the UK anymore, and quite frankly can't really think of anywhere in the world I'd rather be right now than in Australia 🤷

As an Australian living in Melbourne there is so much I agree with and disagree with here. I don't find it hard to surround myself with people who are passionate about feminism, Aboriginal rights and equality. There is so much work being done to combat racism and sexism. I work for an arm of the police.We begin every public training program with an acknowledgement that we are meeting on Aboriginal land. In Melbourne I can attend world class ballet, opera, theatre, film festivals and writers festivals ( in non COVID times). The racism is more overt than in the UK but we have had nothing to bring it out like Brexit. There is a very subtle class system here which it is possible to ignore. Much more social mobility than the UK.
Yes, it is far away from the UK but that is hardly a revelation to anyone who looks at a map.

@AtaMarie

I agree- it trivialises indigenous cultures that were non-literate until colonisation. But there is truth in it: the UK and the rest of Europe have been comparatively heavily populated for a very long time. The resulting written records and dusty castles are an extremely rich source of culture. Furthermore, in NZ at least, finding out the history of Maori culture is difficult, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Australia is the same.

I've never been there but on telly the thing I don't like is those weird metal garden fences that look like storage containers. Hideous, don't let light through, and probably give you third degree burns if you touch them.

I think I actually started a thread about Australian garden fences once :)

I’m more with @startuprepair, although of course I’m devastated for the poster who couldn’t find a good Chinese curry like they do in Scotland . The culture comments do remind me of an in law who did a big trip travelling and was telling me about it. He was totally unimpressed by London, nothing there and no history. Places like Rome, now that’s history . (I completely disagree with him by the way!)
Yes there’s racism. But hello brexit. The treatment of aboriginals is deplorable, but more awareness than there used to be. A long long way to go there and little government interest. Food- yes strawberries are better in Britain but there is great food here, not to mention it is a joy to be drinking Aussie coffee again. I like art and culture and don’t know much about sport, I dont expect to be penalised for this!
I moved back to Melbourne last year, I’m happy to be back

EVERYTHING WANTS TO KILL YOU AND IT IS FULL OF NOPE

As an Aussie (albeit dual citizen with strong links to the UK) this is a fascinating read.

Interesting to see racism featured so prominently in the responses; the rest of the world assumes the main reason the UK is leaving the EU is to shut out foreigners.

As an inner suburban dweller in a southern city, the snake/shark/spider thing just isn't a factor.

For me, day to day life in Melbourne isn't that different to how it was in London apart from the weather (and more recently in London, the fear of terrorism).

Snakes, i had one in my kitchen a couple years ago now. Not a small one either.
Spiders
Public transport is crap, especially in country areas, its non existent lol
Im used to prices of stuff, ive grown up here, i love online shopping cos of it, much cheaper, selection of stuff is better too. Refuse to pay retail on anything as i know we being ripped off.

But i love our weather, well summer that is
Love our scenery and isolation. Isolation has proved well for Aus in corona times
Our wildlife is mostly awesome and cute
Many people very laid back, live and let live. Dobbing is a big no no here for most, as is curtain twitching, we dont really discuss politics unless we bitching bout it.
Our love of sport, esp AFL

Will preface by saying im white so there a good chance there more hidden racism i dont see or overhear

On racism, it depends where you are id say
Some areas nah, never seen it, you see many nationalities getting along fine, thriving communities, all welcome

Other areas, id hate to be any colour but white just out of fear.
The ones that do make their feelings known are real loud assholes and usually a type. Think aussie bogan, flannie shirt, commodore driving, vb drinking, never left their state, look like they bred with their relatives types

Never been but I imagine the heat 🥵 and spiders and other scary wildlife