Why do you want to live in Australia?

[McLovin]

Absolute nonsense. There is a whole thread devoted to the worst of our culture, "Alcohol Fueled Violence" Have a read of it, nothing to be proud of. Many families are grieving, I had a tear roll down my face when I heard on the news the following and I didn't even know the young chap:

---
A Sydney teenager who was seriously assaulted on New Year's Eve has died in hospital.

Daniel Christie, 18, passed away after his family took the decision to switch off his life support.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-11/teenage-boy-assaulted-on-new-years-eve-dies/5195566
---

Since 2000 91 people have died from being king hit. By comparison, 20 people/year die from being struck by lightning in Australia. Crime has been falling in Australia for decades, the 24 hour news cycle perpetuates the myth that we're living in dangerous times.

 

[CanOz]

Top 7 reasons why my wife and i will move back to Australia one day are as follows:

1.) Climate
2.) Air Quality
3.) Standard of Living
4.) Education and health care
5.) My Super is there and we want to invest there
6.) Great people with an awesome sense of humor who really know how to enjoy life!
7.) Great Wine at good value

 

[johenmo]

Top 7 reasons why my wife and i will move back to Australia one day are as follows:

1.) Climate
2.) Air Quality
3.) Standard of Living
4.) Education and health care
5.) My Super is there and we want to invest there
6.) Great people with an awesome sense of humor who really know how to enjoy life!
7.) Great Wine at good value

CanOz - guy who's in Harbin atm is looking to get out. Your 1, 2 & 4 are there along with somewhere that speaks English. Hoping for ANZ. Air Quality is so important - little do we realise how important it is. SW WA or Northern NSW coast are good climates.

 

[Calliope]

Andrew Bolt's blog;

New Zealand is simply beautiful

Even its weeds by the road sides are beautiful - lupins, vipers bugloss, briar rose, tobacco plant, broom, poppies and more. I’ve even see hollyhocks. In the north, of course, the lushness is a knockout.

Why did I never before consider visiting the place? Now I even lazily dream of buying a cottage just north of Queenstown, lake below, mountains above. In fact, had I millions I would knock on the door of Paradise itself.

Sigh. Back home today

Nowhere in Australia (except, maybe, Tassie) do we have its well defined seasons. My wife and I made plans to retire to that beautiful country, but fate intervened.

 

[wayneL]

For me it's pros v cons.

There are aspects of Oz I find irritating to the core and I fear those aspects are worsening. But for the moment, the pros outweigh the cons.

Unfortunately, all the best countries get screwed up by politicians and fo gooders.

 

[Julia]

Andrew Bolt's blog;

New Zealand is simply beautiful

Even its weeds by the road sides are beautiful - lupins, vipers bugloss, briar rose, tobacco plant, broom, poppies and more. I’ve even see hollyhocks. In the north, of course, the lushness is a knockout.

Why did I never before consider visiting the place? Now I even lazily dream of buying a cottage just north of Queenstown, lake below, mountains above. In fact, had I millions I would knock on the door of Paradise itself.

Sigh. Back home today

Nowhere in Australia (except, maybe, Tassie) do we have its well defined seasons. My wife and I made plans to retire to that beautiful country, but fate intervened.

A couple of winters in New Zealand, particularly in the South Island , should pretty quickly reduce Andrew Bolt's enthusiasm.
For that matter it's frequently a maximum of about 14 degrees in mid summer in any part of the country.

And, let's not forget the odd earthquake or a thousand. About half of Christchurch is still displaced.

But if you like cold weather, and don't mind having your abode shaken from under you, New Zealand is the most wonderful place, not just for the incredible scenery, but for the courtesy and genuine warmth of its people.

 

[skc]

A couple of winters in New Zealand, particularly in the South Island , should pretty quickly reduce Andrew Bolt's enthusiasm.
For that matter it's frequently a maximum of about 14 degrees in mid summer in any part of the country.

And, let's not forget the odd earthquake or a thousand. About half of Christchurch is still displaced.

But if you like cold weather, and don't mind having your abode shaken from under you, New Zealand is the most wonderful place, not just for the incredible scenery, but for the courtesy and genuine warmth of its people.

Good to see you Julia

 

[Bill M]

I regularly switch between Melbourne and Taipei (Taiwan) which is quite similar to Korea in terms of living standards so here are my thoughts:

Safety: In Australia you would be wary to walk alone on the streets at 1am..also all the horror stories on certain train lines. In Taipei you will see granny's walking around at 1am trying to sell you all kinds of food, groups of grandpas praciticing taichi in the park and kids playing in playgrounds. Yes kids out playing in the midnight. You will almost never see a drunk and rowdy person on the street.

For me it's pros v cons.

There are aspects of Oz I find irritating to the core and I fear those aspects are worsening. But for the moment, the pros outweigh the cons.

Unfortunately, all the best countries get screwed up by politicians and fo gooders.

A couple of well balanced posts here from those that spend a lot of time overseas. I have spent a great deal of time living overseas too. Here are my pros and cons of living in Australia.

Pros

1. There is nothing like coming home to a country where you are a citizen and equal rights and the rule of law is afforded to you. Overseas in most places you are a just a foreigner or tourist or in some cases just a second class citizen and you are not treated equal. You can not buy land in many, you can not invest in many products, in some cases double pricing occurs and sometimes the local law makers are corrupt and you will nearly always lose out to the locals should something go wrong.

2. Having an Australian passport unlocks the world for me. It gives me unrestricted worldwide access. I can travel anywhere anytime with the appropriate visas. With some countries I don't even need a visa and get free permitted stays, just because I have an Aussie Passport. Some people from other parts of the world do not have this luxury.

3. I live in a regional area about a 100 kms north of Sydney and I like my house and land. Here it is like living in the outback. There is no air pollution and wildlife is everywhere. I have cockatoos, lorikeets, parrots and many other native animals drop into my backyard and say hello. It's like a live show of nature, all day. Some people pay lots of money to come here and see what I get for free. Australian wildlife is beautiful.

4. The investment climate is great. I can invest in anything (legal) I want without any government interference. I can buy a business, real estate and stocks to my hearts content and our banking system is secure and world class. Plus we have some of the best interest rates in the world, I wouldn't put my money anywhere else.

5. A very simple thing, if I want a drink of water I just turn on the tap and out comes decent drinking water. Having to buy drinking water daily in many parts of the world is something you constantly got to think about and is a daily chore.

6. Medicare, if I get sick and I get treated in a public hospital I do not pay anything. My local Doctor Bulk Bills so I do not have to pay directly for my blood tests or Doctor visits either. We have a good medicare system and if you are poor you can get treatment without having to pay anything. In some countries no insurance means you go to a very overpopulated 3rd. world hospital with minimal care.


Cons

1. Our public transport is expensive, overcrowded and sometimes doesn't turn up. An example of this is the train from Sydney CBD to the International terminal, it is around $15. In Singapore it is $3 for the same distance.

2. No street food here in Australia. They banned it years ago due to safety concerns. Why is it that all over Asia it is a way of life and people enjoy it by the thousands?

3. Here it is expensive, way more expensive for food, restaurants, travel, hotels etc. Even though it is more expensive the service isn't better.

4. I also think we have a safety problem here. I've seen abuse on the trains, assaults in the street and general drunk and disorderly conduct many times. Friday and Saturday nights are particularly bad. I certainly wouldn't want to put my wife or daughter on the train at 1 AM from Sydney CBD to Penrith on a Friday night. And lets not forget the western Sydney shootings that are still going on week after week and the Police can't get on top of it.


As others have said, there are good points and there are bad points of living in Australia. In most cases the good out weigh the bad. There is no utopia out there but I do enjoy going overseas looking for it and in the mean time having fun.

Good to see you Julia

+1 Welcome back.

 

[Sharkman]

So I recently came back from a trip to Seoul in South Korea, and was very impressed with the place as a whole. Specifically, I found that:

1. Things were cheaper, and food was in particular much cheaper (you could easily fill yourself up with street food for AUD $1-2)

2. Shops were open till later, with retailers closing nightly at around 10pm and a lot of restaurants closing at around midnight to 2-3am

3. Subway system was very efficient. They have a card system where you load money up on the card and just swipe each time you want to use public transport. This card can also be used in taxis and some vending machines. Further, although you may have to change 'lines' on the subway to get to your destination, you never really have to wait more than 5-6 minutes for a subway.

4. Related to (3), there was absolutely NO vandalism on the subway. No graffiti, no ripped advertisement posters (even though these were clearly within reach and could be easily pulled out) and no rubbish.

After my trip, I came back to learn that public transport ticket prices had risen again, with no visible improvement in services. This reminded me of a question my friend asked me a long time ago: why do YOU want to live in Australia?

The only reason I could think of was "because I grew up here and this is my home". But other than that, I couldn't come up with anything else. I think it is one thing for things to be expensive, but everything here is clearly over priced, meaning we pay much more than what we get in return for value. It just seems that everything in Seoul (and Hong Kong, I have been in previous years too) is more efficient than here in Australia, yet we pay lots more.

I know if I moved to, say, Seoul, and worked, I would earn less money, but it sure seems like a better alternative to living in Australia at the present time.

So I want to know, given the cost of everything here in Australia, why do you want to live here?

i've been thinking the same thing myself actually. i grew up in aust but moved to singapore when my employer decided to move my role here. initially i figured i'd stay for a couple of years then convert all my SGD back to AUD and return home, perhaps changing jobs if there was nothing available in our sydney office.

now, about 3 years on, i've decided to stay here indefinitely. the points you mention about seoul pretty much also apply to singapore, though you didn't directly mention a big one - super low tax rates. top marginal rate is only 20% here, and it kicks in way later than our 45% bracket, something like the equivalent of 300K AUD pa. i think i only paid an overall rate of 9 or 10% last year. you're right, the salary when comparing similar roles will probably be lower, but that's on a gross basis - if you look at it on an after-tax basis, salaries for most professional jobs should be at least comparable, if not better.

"but isn't it stinking hot there" you might say? well yes it is - for the first few weeks. and then you get acclimatised to it. "but i'll miss my family & friends back in aussie"? jetstar and scoot fares are dirt cheap these days, making it easy to pop back for a long weekend whenever you want without breaking the bank (of course if you pop back too often then the issue of the non-tax residency rules may arise unfortunately).

so yeah i think you've hit it right on the head TD... the asian tigers are great places to get ahead financially and great places to live. if you do find an opportunity to work in seoul or any of the other asian tigers - definitely 2 thumbs up IMHO!

it may not be everyones cup of tea though. you do have to be willing to respect "asian values" (which isn't an issue for me, being of asian descent myself). one of those values is the prioritisation of economic pursuits, which can potentially conflict with the "western values" of civil liberties and human rights. as skc alluded to, it is true that they tend to make abundant use of cheap labour, and there is virtually no welfare - both of which are major factors in lowering the costs of living, and the super low tax rates. so yes, as an expat your standard of living will probably be as good or better than you had it in aust, but the standard of living across the whole demographic spectrum is likely lower because of that. if these philosophies don't agree with you, better keep your trap shut (or not move here at all if you really disagree with it), you don't want to be bad mouthing the government here, as another important asian value is respect for authority...

 

[Tink]

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I am enjoying the photos weekly in the Herald Sun of "Melbourne at a Glance".

1930's
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...rne-in-the-1930s/story-fnkd6ppg-1226938943639

1940's
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...e|1|link|homepage|homepage&itmt=1402366064537

 

[SirRumpole]

Australia is still good country with a comfortable climate, good public services, relatively low taxation and the fact that although we may disagree on politics we can still talk about it freely and not get too serious (I hope). As long as we keep thinking that all politicians are b@st@rds we will get along ok.

Recently though I think we have been letting in too many of the wrong sort of people (I don't mean New Zealanders).

Middle East crime gangs are becoming more intrusive, and let's face it, they are putting good old Aussie crime gangs out of business . Honest Aussie crooks like Roger Rogerson and Karl Williams just can't compete with the likes of Obeid when it comes to cunning and contempt for the law.

If only a good Aussie like Chopper Reid was still around, he would have sorted the Gippos out.

 

[sptrawler]

Why do I live in Australia.
Because it has a free medical system.
Because it has a free education system.
Because it has whole of life free income streams.
Because it has free public transport.
Because it has subsidised medicines.
Because it has subsidised housing.
Because it has subsidised electricity.
Because it has subsidised licenses.

Also the weathers good.

 

[SirRumpole]

Why do I live in Australia.
Because it has a free medical system.
Because it has a free education system.
Because it has whole of life free income streams.
Because it has free public transport.
Because it has subsidised medicines.
Because it has subsidised housing.
Because it has subsidised electricity.
Because it has subsidised licenses.

Also the weathers good.

Communist.

The weather is only good because the politicians can't control it

 

[wayneL]

Communist.

The weather is only good because the politicians can't control it

Nah not communist, welfare recipient.

 

[trainspotter]

Because the ocean is full of these things.

 

[Tink]

Agree, Rumpole, Australia is still a wonderful country, though, I do feel the pendulum has swung a bit too far over to the left, and needs to come back in the middle.

Being a Melbournite, I love looking through all those old photos, where we were and where we are, and that goes for the whole of Australia. We have come a long way, some good, some not so good. Its interesting the comments you get about the changes through the years, and we probably all see things differently.

As many have mentioned here, the pros and the cons.
It is good that we can all express our thoughts on the country we live in, and what concerns us.

 

[rb250660]

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I would revive this one. Early this year I moved to Japan with my Japanese partner and have never looked back. I have no desire to move back to Australia at all other than employment, at least for the short term. With that said my industry (oil and gas) is at a low globally and I have transitioned to trading for income and plan to keep it that way for now. I am learning Japanese language and will try to transition to some form of employment here in the near future. However I would like to pursue trading as a sole source of income in the not too distant future.

I can echo pretty much all of what TD says below about Korea as it has been my experience in Japan. Clean, cheap, friendly and things just work here. Sure, it's difficult to open a bank account, buy furniture, connect the gas, etc. but once you have that difficult initial setup out of the way things are just so much smoother and easier here. I have a tiny apartment (so easy to look after compared to my ostentatious mansion I used to have in Australia) and I live within 500m of everything I could ever want in my life. The mall, gym, bars, restaurants, bakeries (I'm sure they are the worlds best), department stores, 100yen shops, strip clubs, 100yen public transport that comes every 3 minutes dead on time. If at 2am on Wednesday morning I decide I need a can of beer, a new pillow, some shoes, a frying pan and potato chips, no problem, just go down the road and it's all there waiting for me at a 1/3 of the cost to Australia. I went to an eye specialist with an eye infection a few weeks back. I had a full blown optometrists checkup, a consultation with an ophthalmologist, got 2 lots of antibiotics and had to cough up a full AUD$12 with my residence card and health insurance that costs $8 a month. Beats the **** out of PBS and Medicare.

And whenever I go to a shop there isn't some wanker behind the counter giving attitude with my change. I get a 'konbanwa', and 'arigatou gozaimasu' and a bow with my service, I return the courtesy and it's great. My life is so easy and stress free here. What ever happened to manners? The last time I was back in Australia I had a pretty severe case of reverse-culture shock. All I wanted to do was leave.

Something that really came to light recently for me is the ability to make my own decisions here in regard to how you want to run my life. I have spent some time in China and it's the same there too. If I want to smoke I can smoke. I don't have the government telling me it's bad for me and that's why we need to tax the **** out of smokes. I'm not a smoker but respect the decision of those who do to do so. Smokes here are $5 a pack, not $25. Same for alcohol, why are spirits so much cheaper here? I saw a bottle of Jim Beam for 670yen tonight and the local shops, that's about $9. My favorite is the BS alcopop laws (revenue raising gold mine). In Japan I often drink these 9% lemon flavored cans that cost 90yen, that about $1. A similar can in Australia is like $12-$15. What a fkn joke. If I chose to get smashed on high alcohol content cans that's my choice and I'm allowed to make that choice here and I love that.

Whenever I go back to Australia I am always asking myself 'why is this so hard', even before I leave the airport. The **** house attitude of the airport staff is a surefire way of knowing where I am. In Japan, I don't have some ******** tradie in his V8 commodore ute wanting to smash my face in because I merged in front of him in traffic. My stress levels are very low in Japan. Honestly WTF is wrong with Australians these days? I have given this some thought and I have reached the conclusion that the majority of people living in Australia are living in fear of losing their jetskis and motorbikes and XR6 turbo utes and 6 bedroom houses.

If you live outside Australia, where do you live and what do you love (or dislike) about it and what are the comparisons to Australia? I'd love to hear form you guys.

PS. This is obviously a bit of a rant but there really are better places than Australia in this world. Let the flaming begin!!!!

So I recently came back from a trip to Seoul in South Korea, and was very impressed with the place as a whole. Specifically, I found that:

1. Things were cheaper, and food was in particular much cheaper (you could easily fill yourself up with street food for AUD $1-2)

2. Shops were open till later, with retailers closing nightly at around 10pm and a lot of restaurants closing at around midnight to 2-3am

3. Subway system was very efficient. They have a card system where you load money up on the card and just swipe each time you want to use public transport. This card can also be used in taxis and some vending machines. Further, although you may have to change 'lines' on the subway to get to your destination, you never really have to wait more than 5-6 minutes for a subway.

4. Related to (3), there was absolutely NO vandalism on the subway. No graffiti, no ripped advertisement posters (even though these were clearly within reach and could be easily pulled out) and no rubbish.

After my trip, I came back to learn that public transport ticket prices had risen again, with no visible improvement in services. This reminded me of a question my friend asked me a long time ago: why do YOU want to live in Australia?

The only reason I could think of was "because I grew up here and this is my home". But other than that, I couldn't come up with anything else. I think it is one thing for things to be expensive, but everything here is clearly over priced, meaning we pay much more than what we get in return for value. It just seems that everything in Seoul (and Hong Kong, I have been in previous years too) is more efficient than here in Australia, yet we pay lots more.

I know if I moved to, say, Seoul, and worked, I would earn less money, but it sure seems like a better alternative to living in Australia at the present time.

So I want to know, given the cost of everything here in Australia, why do you want to live here?

 

[minwa]

I am learning Japanese language and will try to transition to some form of employment here in the near future. However I would like to pursue trading as a sole source of income in the not too distant future.

If you don't have to start work from the bottom/middle, Westernized Asian countries are great. But for most working population in Aus you can be laid back and do alright. Not in Asia though. 12hour work days plus evening/weekend work functions are expected.

No one really complains/suicides of the work/study here, it's pretty commonplace in Asia.

 

[CanOz]

After 12 years in China I'm over the moon to be back here in Australia. We are loving the fresh air and the open parks for kids. The downside is the expense but even then there are bright spots...the other day my son fainted at daycare, they called the ambulance and my wife accompanied him to the hospital, the lady cilento children's hospital. They took such great care of him....the cost, $0.00 even in Victoria I recall an ambulance ride was $1000 ten years ago!

I love Australia, but my reference is Canada and China....

 

[Tisme]

After 12 years in China I'm over the moon to be back here in Australia. We are loving the fresh air and the open parks for kids. The downside is the expense but even then there are bright spots...the other day my son fainted at daycare, they called the ambulance and my wife accompanied him to the hospital, the lady cilento children's hospital. They took such great care of him....the cost, $0.00 even in Victoria I recall an ambulance ride was $1000 ten years ago!

I love Australia, but my reference is Canada and China....

Let's face it, Australia (&NZ) is the last outpost of the great British Empire. A microcosm of the best of Western European and British Isles strength of character, fair play, warrior confidence, industry, high intelligence, of the arts, education, tolerance, etc, but above all .....humility.