I hate, hate, hate Australia

[Einsty]

So this is an unashamed venting thread, so back away now if you would love to live in Oz or do, and love it.

Short story, back a year after a decade in the UK and am still adjusting, I guess.

Aus has changed a lot, and mostly in ways I don't like. Just want to get a few things off my chest so I can stop muttering and get on with it.

First whinge: service - Australians think they are famed for it, but it is almost universally shit. Unattentive, almost resentful, and clearly beneath the person working in a shop, funky cafe or suburban small business. Want to go elsewhere because they haven't looked at you when serving you, or acknowledged keeping you waiting, brought the wrong order, not brought your order, or overcharged you. They couldn't care less.... And then I keep hearing how dire things are in retail. Any wonder!?

Second whinge: racism. I spent a decade swearing it didn't exist in multicultural Australia. Does it what? I hear curry muncher and noodle all the time.

Anyhow, that is two off my chest - I just feel that Australia is so busy boasting about itself and being self congratulatory that it is failing to realise it has taken it's eye of things that count - like truly world-class childcare and education. Standards are low and I reckon we - because I am now here for good unfortunately - will eventually regret how smug Australians are...

Sorry, came too late to the thread a few weeks ago to but in but have wanted to vent ever since...

What's wrong with golliwogs ??!

gollies are seen as rascist and reiforcing colonial attitudes and stereotypes.

sunnyd- goodness knows where you go to dinner parties- I have never heard people harking on about empire at a dinner party (ancient buffers at family dinners perhaps).

oh. How do you spell racist? rascist?

You're missing the point CaptainNancy in exactly the way a lot of white, middle class Britons do! Of course 30/40 somethings don't sit around discussing "the empire". it is just that natural superiority thing that so many British people do - the assumption that all things British are by definition better than all things non British. If you don't understand the allusion it's difficult to explain!

I understand what you're alluding to, I just do not come across those attitudes in the circles I move in. I may be white mc, but I am married to a non-brit (who has been targetted for his ethnicity in UK and in Europe, and told to 'fuck off back to [his] own country), and am quite removed from 'establishment'.

I think the attitudes you describe are on their way out. I think people have much less national pride, and less boastful of being British than previously.

I too am married to a foreigner. He says he's never personally come across racisim in the UK. He did notice it a lot in his work place in Australia (not to him but to others).

I'm concerned about the Golliwog thing being racist. Are Maori dolls also considered racist? I've just been in NZ and bought one for my neice!

maybe in the ten years you were away, you bigged up Australia in your mind to keep in from slipping out. When you got back it didn't match up to that picture, so it seems like it has worsened.

I think it might pendle back into place. If not, do you really have to be there "for good"? Maybe there is somewhere else, nearer your family than Europe but more your kind of place. Not sure really but almost anywhere is nearer to Australia than Europe

I agree Claudia-people are people but I guess the other Oz I know locally is a bit like that too- just really lacking self awareness and says really tactless things, and just a bit self absorbed
I know there are some lovely ozzies but in my few months there i did meet a lot of....."Oh Yeah stick it on the bbq" types.But Oz has developed a superiority complex of late in my opinion perhaps because they are aware many want to live there.I used to but am put off by some of the ozzies I have met sadly.

I have heard the racist Australian thing loads of times, I must admit I have never been there, although my sister lived in NZ for a couple of years.

I doubt Australians are more racist, maybe they are just less subtle than Europeans. Lets face it the complete classism in this country can be compared to racism, we have zero amount of high ground to stand on.

I think moving back 'home' must be way more difficult than moving somewhere new in a lot of ways. We moved from the UK to NZ three years ago and I wonder if we'll find it impossible to go back. Give yourself a bit of a break and realise you probably have culture shock.

I agree re Australian service and the racism btw. Good for you for doing something about it. A lot of Aussies say to me it doesn't exist, just like a lot of white Brits say the same in the UK. (I'm another with a 'foreign' husband.) I think a lot of people just aren't exposed to it. I have ethnic minority friends who live in Sydney and they do get a bit of it. But their quality of life is so much better than the country they migrated from and they feel like they have a real chance to improve their lot. They have only been there three years and already I can see how well they are doing through hard work and determination. I'm so pleased for them. Oz has a lot going for it.

And if you want better service you could always jump the ditch....

I agree LittlestKiwi. For me both England and Aus are home, and each time I switch I find it v hard. I think it's almost impossible not to imagine/remember the grass as greener than it is.

I also don't think you'll find Australians who say there is no racism here. Of course there is! What I think Australians find gauling is the implication that it is worse here than countries like England. Different maybe, but I really don't believe it's worse.

On the boasting front, I also think it's worth noting how good Australians are at taking the pss out of themselves. Almost as good as they are at taking the Pss out of the kiwis !

I completely agree with you Bubbaluv but what upsets me is the broad statements labelling all Australians as racist/ sexist/ smug or whatever.

I am none of these and don't like being insulted in this way. Threads like this really piss me off and leave me feeling like I need to defend myself.

Everywhere I've ever lived has had some racism/classism. What we found stunning was the way some people in NZ would make quite jaw dropping comments or statements to us as total strangers. It probably didn't help that we spent a lot of time with estate agents in the early days. Somehow we have learn't to manage it and shut down conversations that seem to be heading that way I think. Whether it translates to a greater inequality of opportunity is a much more difficult question.

Things in the UK changed a lot in a short period of time. I think they will here too.

Hi,
This message is about six years too late... I am Australian but lived in the UK for two years. When we came back, I believed that Australia would be exactly like England except warmer. We are both teachers and we felt that lessons on the UK education system could benefit Aussie schools... we believed we'd be sought after. Unfortunately, no one told us there was an over-supply of teachers (44,000+ in NSW). I came home to find all my clever, bilingual/ trilingual friends had left teaching and were working in admin. I found the public school system here to be frankly disgraceful- the illiteracy and innumeracy was mind-boggling, vastly different standards, no regulating authority like Ofsted (and you know things are bad when you miss Ofsted). We both wish to return to the UK at some stage, as a lot of our friends have, because the quality of education is SO much better. I really feel that Australia is failing its young people: both students and educators. #thesystemisbroken

I have to be honest, everyone I know who has ever visited or lived in Australia has commented on the prevalent racism! I'm talking at least 25-30 people over the years and every single one has mentioned being shocked at the casual racism displayed. To be honest Australia is rather known for it in the States (which is ironic I know!)

Yes, people are racist and the service is slack.

But the health care system is awesome, the weather is fab, the food is great and the beaches are endless. Work life balance is fair and I general the people are friendly and welcoming.

A famous elderly Aboriginal actor (the one from the Pan movie) tried twice to get a taxi after leaving a theatre, possibly an awards ceremony or a well-received play (something like that). When the taxi drivers saw he was Aboriginal they drove away and wouldn't take him. Two separate occasions. This story was all over the papers and I felt so sad for him.
In a TV interview later on, I learned from him that the cabbies were Indian/Pakistani recent migrants!! This wasn't at all the impression I'd got originally. No mention of it!!

We both wish to return to the UK at some stage, as a lot of our friends have, because the quality of education is SO much better. I really feel that Australia is failing its young people: both students and educators.

Which is funny because Australia ranks above the UK in the education stakes as of 2016.

Not sure what you mean Op as to whether you're from OZ or UK but of course if doesn't matter in the magical multicultural land. All I know is, I shared rooms in my flat in Edinburgh in the 1980s and the most horrific expericence of my life was a let to an Australian couple. Unreconstructed is not the word.

I am Irish living in Australia and I find that some of the most difficult people here are those from the UK who sort of have the "we own you" attitude. The whinging pom's as such. Some of the worst racism comes from those sections as well. Australians seem to be much nicer to me once they realise I am Irish and not English. Of course there are lovely English people here as well, you can't lump all the people from a country into one group. It's like the stereotype of the Irish here drinking and fighting, I haven't seen it but, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

We are in Sydney, when service is good you keep going back, you get better service then from being a regular but, yes I do notice that someone who stops in for one coffee might only get a cursory hello.

We are happy here, the kids love it. This summer is killing me though, it is neverending.

My daughter and her Bristolian DH moved to Sydney from London 4 years ago. They are shocked by the casual homophobia, sexism and racist comments made by colleagues. I am aware that people from other parts of Australia think that Sydneysiders are not truly representative of the real "Aussie bloke", but my DD and her DH find making Australian friends very difficult, because of the materialism and obsession with money that is so prevalent. The class-consciousness of the average SSer puts to shame any Brit that I have ever known.

This summer is killing me though, it is neverending.

How awful is it?! I think this is the hottest/most relenting summer I can remember. I was in Sydney for a week in January and was ready to pack up and move to Ireland.

I'd probably take the PISA rankings with a pinch of salt.

PenelopeFlintstone if the taxis didn't stop, his did he know that they were recent migrants? (Genuine question)

*how did he know