Is Australia truly the greatest country on earth?

[SB076]

Originally Posted by XWGT

Hmmmm
The world is a big place.
No Australia is not the best place in the world.
But its not the worst either.

I would suggest Australia is the best for some people, just as other nations are best for others. Part of living on a diverse globe, with diverse climate, culture etc. its up to the individual to define what is best for them

[mcnews]

Originally Posted by [THOMMO]

Clearly no one commenting lives in Perth, you all need to move hahaha

I am sure some of us grew up in Perth and spent most of adult life there and have moved on since. :-)

Even though I was there all last week with work

It has it's pros, the weather and beaches by far the best features. But there are still some very big downsides to being in Perth too, and I think it highly unlikely I will ever move back there. If I go back to city or burb living it is going most likely me Melbourne or if I get sick of the cold and city then Sunshine or Gold Coast hinterland area.

But I do have visions too of living in Portugal/Spain/Andorra for a few years. I do love those areas and living there would be a great experience.

Can't imagine going through life only living in one city or area the whole time. Before I leave this earth I would like to have lived in at least five cities for reasonable periods of time and experience all their unique charms along the way.

[sprintman1]

Originally Posted by [THOMMO]

from the 3 trips Ive had over there I wouldnt give up my lifestyle here to live in the US. Its so nice here.

I have to say americans are nicer though, if you jump in a lift there people will say hi and talk to you and even more when they hear you're from australia. back here you'd be lucky to have someone hold the door for you let alone spark up a conversation

Not all of Australia is the same on that front, it varies hugely from place to place with Sydney being the worst.

[sprintman1]

Originally Posted by XWGT

Vietnam
Malaysia
Sabah
England
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Switzerland

Added to that my wife is English and lived in Germany for 7 years.

To summarise

Australia is a great place to live, but its not perfect. Far from it.
Its cost of living is very high compared to other first world nations.
Our tax burden is medium to high
Our health system is good but no rival for the NHS.
Our personal freedoms have been traded off for perceived security threats.
Our public transport systems are archaic and falling behind rapidly.
The urban sprawl makes infrastructure difficult to provide and many areas lack decent services.
Our educational standards are slipping.
Many live in substandard conditions and are alienated from the Australian dream
Our political system is a closed shop and shows no signs of improving

Alternatively
If you are able to work, you will enjoy a reasonable standard of living
We enjoy political stability
Freedom of movement
Limited freedom of speech
A generally peaceful existence with low threat of violence of attack.
An expensive be accessible education system.

As I said its not the greatest country on earth. But its not the worst either.

You were doing well until the NHS bit...

[b0son]

Originally Posted by sprintman1

You were doing well until the NHS bit...

Is our system really that great?

Fine if something minor happens and you need to go to hospital. But the situation with specialists in this country is a joke, trickle-fed into the system(where are the 457's for these guys) so we have to wait months and pay thru the nose.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by mcnews

I am sure some of us grew up in Perth and spent most of adult life there and have moved on since. :-)

Even though I was there all last week with work

It has it's pros, the weather and beaches by far the best features. But there are still some very big downsides to being in Perth too, and I think it highly unlikely I will ever move back there. If I go back to city or burb living it is going most likely me Melbourne or if I get sick of the cold and city then Sunshine or Gold Coast hinterland area.

But I do have visions too of living in Portugal/Spain/Andorra for a few years. I do love those areas and living there would be a great experience.

Can't imagine going through life only living in one city or area the whole time. Before I leave this earth I would like to have lived in at least five cities for reasonable periods of time and experience all their unique charms along the way.

Yeah horses for courses and the grass is always greener.

In the last 10 years we have done outer Melb, Geelong, Hobart, Launceston, Brisbane and now upper QLD.

Obviously there are good and bad bits about both, IMO its about concentrating on the good at the time because nothing ever lasts.

Deep.

[Dash_XR]

Greatest is subjective but definitely the luckiest, our own private little corner of the world tucked away from all the crazy.

US has allot of positives but allot of negatives too.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by [THOMMO]

from the 3 trips Ive had over there I wouldnt give up my lifestyle here to live in the US. Its so nice here.

I have to say americans are nicer though, if you jump in a lift there people will say hi and talk to you and even more when they hear you're from australia. back here you'd be lucky to have someone hold the door for you let alone spark up a conversation

From my experience Americans in general are more sociable, not necessarily nicer.
Although I saw many nice Americans on my two trips, I also saw people commenting on others conversations and actually getting into to an argument with strangers over small, trivial things.


The US is an awesome place to visit. There is so much to do and see and there is always something happening, but I would much prefer to live and work in Australia than the USA any day.

[The Yeti]

I spent 3 months in Italy for work and 3 months in Germany for work in 2005 but I wouldn't say I lived in either, I simply worked there, I think the people in these 2 are no more or less friendly, I met all kings and made some great friends,, their cost of living once you converted the euro was a little better than outs and their public transport ***** all over ours

I will say this, the food in these two is so much better, in regards to cheap eats, it's not so much the 3 major food groups (McDonald's KFC and dominos) the food you by in little restaurants and bars is way better yeah you can get the food groups but they (or wernt in 2005) on every corner or off the side of servos.

I think we have it pretty good here and my little 5 acre slice of Sydney for me is the best place on earth

[Charliewool]

Costa Rica's my dream for retirement! (Pacific coast side.. Ojochal)
(And sooner rather than later!)

[malazn mafia]

Australia is alright in any other place but Victoria. Here the authorities are either completely useless, migrants with no idea, or a power tripping person who obviously was a high school bully. Have a breakdown or flat tyre ? Nobody will pull over to help. Every man for himself. Got something stolen, got assaulted? The police are Not there to help.

USA? Haven't been to the rest of it but Californian people are extremely friendly and seem to treat strangers as their neighbour. Blew a tyre on a pothole in a rental and within 1 minute a guy pulled over in his f150 to assist, and he was just a guy going home from work, not some opportunistic tow truck driver trying to convince me I needed to get towed or buy his services , like in Australia. Got pulled over for being a bit too heavy on the foot in the rental mustang going uphill and the state trooper was courteous and polite and explained to me the real dangers of running into a deer at 90mph and to please take care, and let me on my way. Try having this happen in Victoria. Have had many run ins with the gestapo and every single one had a smirk, smart comment or acted like they had caught a big prize fishing when pulling over someone 10kph over the limit.

[sprintman1]

Originally Posted by b0son

Is our system really that great?

Fine if something minor happens and you need to go to hospital. But the situation with specialists in this country is a joke, trickle-fed into the system(where are the 457's for these guys) so we have to wait months and pay thru the nose.

The NHS is close to collapse.

[Tex Scrotum]

Let's see......18 years ago I had squat, mainly because I was a moron and rebelled against the system.

This plan was simply not working!

So I had a revolutionary idea and decided to work with the system.
This included showing up for work each day and doing what I was told, paying my taxes, bills and debts and generally just trying to be a decent human being.

I met a great girl and we got a house and a mortgage and had a couple of great kids.

I live by the beach, have an easy 20 minute commute to work, get 6 weeks paid leave a year in a truly beautiful part of the country.

I'm worth way over a million dollars, am mortgage and debt free, own three of my dream cars, a large modern home and have half a dozen great surf breaks with in a couple of kms of where I live.

I'm not sure how all of this happened really except pulling my head in and keeping my nose clean.

I don't really gamble much or drink that much anymore and I've cut back on the drugs a fair bit.

So the question was "Is Australia truly the greatest country on earth?"

Hmmmmm........it'll do me

[Trump]

Originally Posted by Tex Scrotum

Let's see......18 years ago I had squat, mainly because I was a moron and rebelled against the system.

This plan was simply not working!

So I had a revolutionary idea and decided to work with the system.
This included showing up for work each day and doing what I was told, paying my taxes, bills and debts and generally just trying to be a decent human being.

I met a great girl and we got a house and a mortgage and had a couple of great kids.

I live by the beach, have an easy 20 minute commute to work, get 6 weeks paid leave a year in a truly beautiful part of the country.

I'm worth way over a million dollars, am mortgage and debt free, own three of my dream cars, a large modern home and have half a dozen great surf breaks with in a couple of kms of where I live.

I'm not sure how all of this happened really except pulling my head in and keeping my nose clean.

I don't really gamble much or drink that much anymore and I've cut back on the drugs a fair bit.

So the question was "Is Australia truly the greatest country on earth?"

Hmmmmm........it'll do me

My hat is tipped Tex, well done

Back in my parents day, your story was the norm; work hard and reap the rewards was common place. There is a reason many of my parents peers called Australia the land of milk and honey.

These days, for every story like yours, there are ten more where the end result has been quite the opposite. Hard work, keeping to the straight and narrow and being a good citizen hasn't reaped the rewards commensurate with the effort and toil. Granted out of those ten, a few live well beyond their means and are ultimately responsible for their predicament. But the remaining six or seven, living within their means and leading thrifty, basic lives is a challenge in and of itself.

I used to work for Centrelink many moons ago and a lot of the people that came through the doors were working poor, people that were working full time jobs, but not making enough money to make ends meet. These were people that didn't dig their own holes by financing anything and everything, they led simple lives. But because even their meagre incomes were beyond the threshold for any payments, we couldn't help them beyond suggesting they work second (or even third) jobs.

Australia hasn't gone to the dogs (yet), but if we're not careful, it will become a basket case.

[Tex Scrotum]

Originally Posted by Loud_Noises

My hat is tipped Tex, well done

Back in my parents day, your story was the norm; work hard and reap the rewards was common place. There is a reason many of my parents peers called Australia the land of milk and honey.

These days, for every story like yours, there are ten more where the end result has been quite the opposite. Hard work, keeping to the straight and narrow and being a good citizen hasn't reaped the rewards commensurate with the effort and toil. Granted out of those ten, a few live well beyond their means and are ultimately responsible for their predicament. But the remaining six or seven, living within their means and leading thrifty, basic lives is a challenge in and of itself.

I used to work for Centrelink many moons ago and a lot of the people that came through the doors were working poor, people that were working full time jobs, but not making enough money to make ends meet. These were people that didn't dig their own holes by financing anything and everything, they led simple lives. But because even their meagre incomes were beyond the threshold for any payments, we couldn't help them beyond suggesting they work second (or even third) jobs.

Australia hasn't gone to the dogs (yet), but if we're not careful, it will become a basket case.

Thanks mate, but I wasn't trying to brag (although it certainly could be taken that way), it wasn't all smooth sailing, I made some good decisions and some bad decisions like we all do.

My point is; if a drop kick simpleton like me can do it then there's really no excuse why others can't make a half decent life in this country, obviously bar the "real" hard luck stories.

18 years ago I had a long hard look at myself and decided to stop blaming the government, the police, my employers etc etc for all of my perceived problems.
I lowered my expectations and what I thought were my god given rights and what I deserved and seriously questioned my motives, jealousy's and where I was at.

I think if more people did that then the person, the country and the world would be a far better and richer place.

[Trump]

Originally Posted by Tex Scrotum

Thanks mate, but I wasn't trying to brag (although it certainly could be taken that way), it wasn't all smooth sailing, I made some good decisions and some bad decisions like we all do.

My point is; if a drop kick simpleton like me can do it then there's really no excuse why others can't make a half decent life in this country, obviously bar the "real" hard luck stories.

18 years ago I had a long hard look at myself and decided to stop blaming the government, the police, my employers etc etc for all of my perceived problems.
I lowered my expectations and what I thought were my god given rights and what I deserved and seriously questioned my motives, jealousy's and where I was at.

I think if more people did that then the person, the country and the world would be a far better and richer place.

There's a difference between bragging and honesty, and your story was the latter

The problem these days with starting from first principles is that a living income is still required. Back when you made the positive choice to move forward, I contend it was possible to start from scratch and make money comparable to a living wage. These days, someone making a seachange would end up in severe financial hardship. And if one is over 40, a fresh start becomes an order of magnitude harder as there is a stigma with giving a middle aged bloke a fresh start (mostly has to do with the fact that they can get away with paying a kid peanuts for the same role).

[MITCHAY]

I have no basis for comparison but given the experiences I have heard about I think most are on a good wicket here.

It is certainly a country that you get what you put in for the most part I believe.