Negativity, News... In Australia. How do you deal with it?

[ORC]

I try and live a balanced life and help where I can but I don't watch television purely because of the negativity on the news all the time as well as online. I'm not ignorant nor naive, I am aware of what's happening.

That said the immigration process is emotionally taxing.

Someone (who doesn't know I'm leaving) linked me to a portal on new on Australia and all i'm reading are terror threats, war, riots, people disliking the government, aboriginal land takeovers etc... I know probably when people from the UK or US read about SA they also just read negative things as that what sells. That aside, I used to only read a lot of good about Oz. What happened?

I know no country is perfect but how does everyone as expats / those who immigrate - deal with all the news in Australia or is it not a priority?

I know there's a topic is Australia the lucky place to be still but wondering how everyone takes news and what your thoughts are, especially considering you've all made the huge decision to leave a known life behind and start afresh.

For me (before reading all of this) it was a chance to start over, brighter future, make something and do better and give back. Also ensure there are opportunities for my kids oneday when I settle down and have kids...

Now I just feel a little... It feels so much of the same I'd be going to...

(PS: Halfway through my PR journey)

Thoughts...

[DXB2OZ]

RCO, my thoughts are pretty basic.

In SA, I assuming that either you, or someone you know has been a victim of violent crime. I would ask those on the forum, who have lived here long enough, how many people they know in Australia who have been victims of violent crime here (emphasis on the word violent).

Here, my kids will have a place at university (provided I can scrape the funds together) and have a great future, career-wise. They need feel no guilt about their skin colour or ashamed of their existence. What are their chances in SA? I don't know, and the odds are not enough to make me gamble their future.

I lived in the Middle East for 14 years and never came into contact with terrorism. I never wore a burka or an abaya. I had total freedom of movement, provided I showed a basic respect for the local laws. Christmas carols bellowed out of the speakers at the shopping malls, while the shelves dripped with Easter eggs. Muslims said "Merry Christmas" to us, we said "Ramadan Kareem" to them.

Don't believe everything you read. Good news doesn't sell papers.

[Bronwyn&Co]

I never fell for all the 'lucky country' hype and I don't fall for the 'doom & gloom' outlook either. You are safer in Aus by far, and your children will have more opportunities. It is a little less exciting, but most South Africans have had just about enough 'excitement' anyway. I wouldn't join the army in either country, myself We probably do have more natural disasters in Aus but on balance, as I said before, you will be far far safer.

Ps. The aboriginal land takeovers are not going to affect us.

Pps. The criticism of government is because people don't have real problems here and they need something to discuss.

Ppps. My biggest issue is mental health problems in the community but that is taboo to discuss, apparently.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[ORC]

Thanks all for the comments and thoughts

No place is perfect but it's what you make of it. I guess the journey of immigration is taking an emotional toll on me and then having people speak badly about Australia and then still reading the news...

That said... I've made up my mind. I'm getting PR and I'm coming over and I'm going to win and have a blast and enjoy every moment as I originally set out to do.

I was originally excited to come and now I still am.

One day at a time and live each day to the fullest

Thanks all.

[SurferMan]

Now thats the spirit RCO!

Aus has a few warts but compared to SA it's paradise. Just this am I tried to park in an open field, saw the gates were tied closed with string. I started to open them, when a chick across the road in an apartment said dont go in there, someone broke into a car there and the cops have the scene. I was like, that would not happen in SA.

[Nev]

Aus is not perfect, but even so it is a fantastic country and my wife and i have a quality of life here that is way beyond what we has in RSA.

The biggest drawback for us has been the distance from the people we have known all our lives, but we working hard on that and on keeping busy and i think our future and the future of our kids will completely outweigh that dawback.

[Donovan83]

Yeah that's the thing. My life is much better than it would have been but it's got a cost to it.

For example, I don't have a car and the likelihood of me having a car in the next 10 years is fairly low. It's not like I can't afford to buy one (it would be a stretch at the moment especially if I factor in the costs of insurance, fuel, etc), it's just the weighing up of being cautious vs living it up. I'm nervous to commit to a car because in doing so I'm putting myself at a higher risk of financial distress if interest rates go up.

The principle is that in SA I wouldn't have had to make that decision. You just buy a car and a house, it's not as much of a big deal... although maybe that is because you don't have an option other than to drive everywhere?

[heidim]

Dear RCO

Funny you should mention the news. Just last week I told Bronwyn&Co that sometimes I really miss South Africa because we used to get so passionate about things - passionate because it actually affected us. And here there is hardly anything to get passionate about. We watched news religiously in RSA. We watched to remind ourselves why were leaving. Here, if we watch the news once a week it's a lot. Why? Because news here is boring. There's nothing to report. There's hardly anything that affects us. The things you mention above may be an issue to some (the news editor?) but to us civilians, no, definitely not a concern. And I'm not in love with Oz. This is not a perfect country.

The only thing that seem to really bother people here is the boat people. And people here are commenting more on Oscar Pistorius than the topics you've mentioned!

The things that bother me as an immigrant - possibility of recession, inflated house prices and will we be able to retire comfortably one day.

[Mel-B]

I just came back from 10 days in Melbourne, It isn't a lot of time to spend anywhere, BUT all I can say is that we got lost in the city centre and not once were we having a nervous breakdown. It was totally fine! That probably impressed my husband the most. If we were lost in Joburg or even Pta city centre it would be considered dangerous. I'm sure there are problems but nothing on the scale that we are experiencing here. I watched news most nights at the hotel and they are making big issues about terrorism, but I watched talks shows about it as well and they take it very seriously. It doesn't mean your life is in danger there, just that they are being very pro active. One of the things that stuck in my head is when we saw a line of newly planted young trees and saw one damaged. A sign was erected next to it stating that someone had damaged the tree and listed the good uses of trees. It asked to please not do that again. WHAT? Someone took note of this one tree and made a sign about it? Blew my mind. I can see how living there for a long time these things could seem silly. But at this stage compared to my experiences in Pretoria I thought it was cool

[chzaau]

Did you look up any of the bad neighborhood area of Melbourne and go visit them at night to see if they made you feel uneasy like in South Africa ?

[Nev]

Why would they want to do that chzaau, should they go to the particularly bad areas in joburg to make a comparison or something?

[HansaPlease]

Did you look up any of the bad neighborhood area of Melbourne and go visit them at night to see if they made you feel uneasy like in South Africa ?

Come on, that's just a stupid question.

[Mel-B]

No not particularly, we went north westish and south westish (googling it will make it sound terrible) and I have to chucckle, as it seems to have a poorer reputation than the east. NOTHING I saw was terrible, here and there were beaten up weatherboard homes with unmaintained lawns, but I saw those in the east too. Imagine Pretoria 20 years ago but maintained and clean and really green, with 0 loiterers, no beggars or car guards. That was the overall feel. Every suburb had its own little feel to it though. I believe the forum members who said you can find a suburb that suits you. I'm sure there are dumpy areas somewhere but we were randomly traveling around and getting lost and didn't see anything particularly awful. What is it with the Holdens gps though - "turn slight right".... that slight right direction got us lost a few times.

[heidim]

I thought a bit more about your question and I think what those of us living in oz forget is to tell you that you have to look at news in Australia from a different perspective than what you do in RSA. In RSA we know the news is true or down played i.e. rape statistics are down (ja right), government promising to do deliver something (ja right) etc. In Australia it's the opposite. There is hardly anything 'news worthy' in comparison to RSA, so everything is made to be a big deal. So when you read news from Oz it is safe to assume that it is most likely exaggerated. And if it is not exaggerated, then to the Australians it may feel really bad, but in the context that we as Saffas are used to it really is not such a big deal.