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Why do you want to live in Australia?

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Tyler Durden

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24 December 2010
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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?
 
Tyler Durden said:
So I want to know, given the cost of everything here in Australia, why do you want to live here?
Click to expand...

Lifestyle, health & education.

We have been in the US for 6 months now and will definitely come back to Australia at some point, probably to start a family.

Aus has a great lifestyle with low population density. It's horses for courses, but the Aussie humour and attitude is great imo compared to most countries

And near free health and education are a big benefit. Here is costs us over $100 per week for average health insurance (would be over double that for top of the line) and my wife is studying at a mid tier institution and it is 20k pa A 'good' school is upwards of 40k pa.

Yes Aus is expensive, but it is still comfortable for most in the middle class and above

 
One thing here is Oz is there is no megalomaniac in the neighbourhood with his finger on the nuclear bomb button

What I like about Australia and life here is that really its all pretty easy you can be what you want to be and most will accept you, hold any reasonable political view and you wont be persecuted......much

Currently I cannot think of to many places world wide where you have such a choice climate, financial or environmental all in the same country.
 

+1 sums up my thoughts.
 

+1.

Not much. Agree.

gg
 
In the 1990's and 00's there was a lot of talk about productivity, efficiency and so on in Australia.

In recent years I've come to realise just how much of a joke that all was - practically everything we do is less efficient than just about anywhere else. It did create a lot of jobs for all sorts of "managers" though - but the Aussie definition of "efficiency" seems to mean tightly controlled and regulated, rather than actually being productive or efficient. That's a big part of why things cost so much in many industries these days.

I used to challenge all that quite strongly, thinking that people just didn't understand that what they were doing wasn't actually going to make anything more efficient, but these days I've just decided to work somewhere that's reasonably focused on getting the job done (at least by Australian standards) and accept the way we do things in Australia is the way it is and won't likely change anytime soon.

It does have its' advantages however. Very high wages by international standards in most jobs is a bonus if you want to travel or buy something from overseas. That plus the lifestyle, huge diversity of climate and natural environment within the same country, and lack of overcrowding - even our two "big" cities are unpolluted, quiet and peaceful compared to much bigger places overseas.

Australians often tend to whinge a bit too much I think. A Summer heatwave in Adelaide or Perth whilst you have an air-conditioned house is nothing compared to being stuck in that sort of of weather year round. Winter in Canberra or Hobart is warm compared to what's happening in Canada and parts of the US at the moment. Our houses are expensive but at least you get a decent house to live in. Food might cost a bit but at least it's safe to eat and there's no shortage of it. And so on. The trains might be expensive and running late but overall we're not doing too badly.

There's plenty of people on earth who would gladly accept our "problems" in exchange for their much more real problems any day.
 
Being born here I suppose I didn't have much choice, but having travelled to over 30 countries I've realised for a long time just how good we have it in Australia.

My friends who moved here to study then applied for PR and eventually residency all have the same view. Life in Australia is good, a lot better than probably 80%+ of the countries out there.

I work with a couple of Canadians and when I asked them why they moved to Australia they said one cold winters day they were staring outside at a few feet of snow, too cold to do anything outside and thought they'd like to move somewhere warmer, the people speak English, and not the USA. Australia was about the only country that fit their requirements.

I really do think quite often we moan about first world problems way too much. We also don't think things through much anymore. Just as with the weight loss industry it's all about the easy solution. Just 5 minutes a day and you too can have wash board abbs.

Too many of the important issues we need a public discourse on are difficult with no easy answers or solutions. Heck, sometimes defining the problem is difficult enough. Our political system finds these topics toxic so wont touch them unless they absolutely have to, and eventually the market steps in with it's own solutions, solutions that usually wouldn't be considered appropriate if being proposed by a Government.

I'd love to send every 14-16 year old away during a summer break for a couple of weeks to a poor country. Let them see what true hard ship is. They'd definitely be a lot more appreciating of the life we have here, and hopefully the whinging over trivial stuff would die down and people would be willing to tackle the more important issues the country is facing.
 
I dont want to live in Australia.

just can't afford to leave permanently yet...i have been living in my Manila Condo since the middle of Dec and head back to Sydney next week, but i don't really want to leave.

I have a better life and situation here, a higher standard of living..i can't work here and don't really want to, just know i don't want to leave...i can be happy and comfortable here, due to my lower middle class poverty i can't in Australia.
 

lol

Reminds me of ole Karl.

"The working men have no country. We cannot take away from them what they have not got."

gg
 
Space!

I emigrated from Europe at the age of three.
I was told it was mainly due to overcrowding.
I saw overcrowding in Sydney and Melbourne.

I see it creeping into Adelaide.

I may move to the Barossa Valley.
I'll probably be dead by the time highrise gets there!
 
I want to live here because:

1. I was born here so it's highly convenient
2. I speak the language
3. I know people here
4. I dislike planes. They make me feel sick
5. My pets would make it highly difficult to move
6. I have an Australian law degree which won't translate over to a profession in another country without years of study
7. It took me years to learn the basic geographical locations of the place!
 

Their elections are much more exciting than ours than ours. It seems a great place for a cynical guy to live.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
As a reffo I want to live here because:
1. The public transport is hopeless. Trains are sometimes up to 5 minutes late. And that's our biggest whinge.
2. Flyscreens on windows serve as burglar bars. You can go to sleep with all the doors open and only an flyscreen between you and the outside world and will wake up the next day.
3. Hardly anyone has guns, the shooting type.
4. If there is a murder, it is front page news and the police do everything in their power to find the guilty people and the public are horrified that something like that happens in their home town.
5. You can walk the streets at night without fear.

Must I carry on.......
 
Tyler Durden said:
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.
Click to expand...

So what are you still doing here?
 

There are two sides to every story... A few weeks of holiday gives you a glimpse but hardly the reality of living in a country like Korea. While it's convenient to you as a consumer that shops are open 'till late, it might be a very negative thing for non-unionised retail workers who are forced to work excessively long hours with little rewards. And the high frequency and low cost of public transport is probably more a function of Seoul's ultra high density population rather than far superior productivity.

To me Australia is as good as any country in the world, with the major downside being a high cost of living. However, I think, to a large extent, the high cost of living has mostly resulted in a higher standard of living.

Money goes around the economy... so the $4.50 for a small coffee that you've paid might be a rip off on its own, it goes a long way towards higher rent (which supports high property prices, hence higher wealth effect, hence higher consumption overall), higher income for the coffee shop (and more staff employed at better conditions, more people off the street, better mental health etc), better food hygiene (and less productivity loss due to time wasted at the loo from food poisoning) etc etc.

There are many layers of positive effects stemming from that overpriced cup of coffee. While many of them are not fully quantifiable, they are quite real nonetheless. I don't think one can strip away the high cost of living without reducing standards of living somewhere else.
 
Baldric said:
5. You can walk the streets at night without fear.
Click to expand...

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
---
 

Actually I don't think it is nonsense. Crime rates are hard to get a grasp on by taking one or even a few well publicised incidents and extrapolating that to imminent danger for all. The homicide rate is has been trending down since the mid 80s. The assault rate has been going up but that is in a large part believed to be due to much higher reporting of assaults.

I've personally think it is much safer on the city streets at night than what it was 20 years ago.
 
I regularly switch between Melbourne and Taipei (Taiwan) which is quite similar to Korea in terms of living standards so here are my thoughts:

Convenience: As mentioned, shops are open until late..You don't have to take time out during the week day or wait until weekend if you have a job to go shopping/dentist/buy car..Food stalls are available EVERYWHERE it is so much cheaper/easier/tastier than cooking yourself. Oh and convenience stores takes it to a whole new level, you basically do most banking and postal services there..pay fines, pickup/dropoff parcels, pay bills, collect tickets.

Efficiency: Everything is processed so quick here. ID cards are made up on the spot, you don't need to wait a few days to collect it in the mail. Technicians (ISP, phone line) are all available on weekend. I once accidentaly threw paper towel into the toilet and it got blocked at 11PM at night, I called the concierge/security guard (there's always 24/7 concierge/guard at every apartment) and about half an hour later plumber came unblocked the toilet and costed me about $30 AUD..would've have been like half the price if it wasn't midnight and emergency call.

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.

Australia's positives I don't really need to explain I will just list them: environment, population density, wages, pet friendly.

Which is better to live in ? Neither, both is best so thanks to the flexibility of trading and also being young and unmarried I spend time in both places (along with a bit of time in other places).
 
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