What Dont You Like About Australia

[Jordy]

What the heck is a nanny state? Excuse my ignorance...

A government perceived as having excessive interest in or control over the welfare of its citizens, especially in the enforcement of extensive public health and safety regulations.

What an excellent definition!

An example of this: The Aus gov wants to decide for the people what we are allowed and not allowed to access on the internet. The government is planning a "filter" that will block what it calls "illegal material". While this sounds good in principle the Aus gov is refusing to define what it means by "illegal". The planned filter will bring Australia into a very select group of countries that includes countries such as China. In fact some people are saying that the filter will be comparable to that of China's internet filter.

Read here for details

http://libertus.net/...au-govplan.html

http://en.wikipedia....ip_in_Australia

http://nocleanfeed.com/

[Heymanse]

I know the counter arguement is that interest rates are so slow therefore you should be able to afford more but still the starting price / cheapest house in Mandurah is $350 000

I wish I could say the same about ours in the Hills NSW. The average house price is now $600 000! I will never be able to get a deposit together for a house like that, and even if I am able to scrape it together, by that time house prices would have doubled.

So yes, that is one thing I most certainly hate about Australia, no 100% homeloans, and worse of it all, there was a newspaper article in the Financial Review the other day saying that there has been an increase in the number of searches done on Google for 100% homeloans, and that people should just get used to the fact that there will be NO 100% homeloans in the near future. So there goes my dream of owning my own little piece of property here in Aus up in smoke

[Orion25]

Well from someone still stuck in Sunny South Africa,

What I currently don't like about Australia is that some of my best friends and family are there, but, I am HERE.

This is so not fair, wish we had started this whole process sooner. I wanna be in OZ!!!!!!

T

[rozellem]

Technical difficulty.

[rozellem]

Bev and others still in RSA. You have to understand that Aus is as big as the USA. What one person has too much of, another would have a shortage of (not necessarily, but possible) Think sun, water, vegetation, animals, people etc. We in Sydney never see a gecko or a green frog, hardly ever see a fly or a mozzie. But we have millions of tiny little lizards that sit on the walls outside to bake in the sun. There is in fact two that live inside my post box and scare the living daylights out of me (and probably them) when I open it.

There is a place to everybody's liking here, you just have to find it.

Here they are, you can see how you can mistake them for a little snake.

http://www.wherelightmeetsdark.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=29

[Bevmac]

Thanks for that Rozellem, im not really worried about the bugs/lizards/frogs im just scared stupid of them (yeah i know ridiculous) so long as i don't have to touch them im cool, I used to live in Durban for years with the gecko's terrifing the living daylights outta me, but as long as my 5 year old is around to pick them up and remove them im a happy chappy

[Kit]

We have the fence/snake eyed skinks in our garden and I LOVE them!! They are so tiny!

I don't, however, like our letterbox in the slightest: it's a brick pillar thing which has trees almost against it and you have to bend over to look into it, brushing your head/arm against the tree and for me scared of spiders it's the WORST!! Plus there's so much gunk in the letterbox itself, I'd be surprised nothing dangerous is living in there.

Also Aussies seem to LURRRRVE junkmail. I've never in my life received as much junkmail as we've received in the past month that we've been living in our house. I know you can put 'no junkmail' on the letterbox but then you miss out on the grocery store pamphlets.

I love the insect screens on our house, but there's one problem with them: they're not small enough to keep the flying ants out. Every night, without fail, there are flying ants all over our (white) couches. I have checked and they aren't termites, at least, but they're still annoying.

[bananagirl]

I dont like how they just park wherever they are in the road.... not on the sidewalk.... sometimes it is even where the road is turning! accident waiting to happen..

[HadEnoughofJuju]

@Everyone

For those of you that have been in Australia too long to remember what this place is really like, I challenge you, come back to South Africa and stay here for at least three months, make at least two trips to two different government offices one of which should be home affairs. Drive around Johannesburg for at least two hours uninterrupted. Call the Gauteng Provincial Government call center to report a problem or book your drivers test, (oops forgot that the GPG's call center crashed just over a year ago and still hasn't been fixed.) Try to renew your PrDP (professional drivers permit), I made three trips to three different traffic departments only to be told sorry the machines have been stolen or come back tomorrow we are only open from 8am to 10am. Buy something you don't want or need and stand in the customer care queue at Pick 'n Pay to try and get a refund. Report a faulty telephone line to Telkom by calling their supposedly 24 hour call center on a saturday morning. Try and find at least five street corners that don't have beggars standing at them.

Once you have completed all the above tasks I can almost guarantee you that you will call your airline and change your flight date to and earlier one, go home and stop complaining about what seems to be minor issues compared to those the rest of us who are left behind here face at the moment.

@Jordy.

I totally agree with you about the "love it or leave it comment". I too would be unhappy if that was the state of affairs in my neighbourhood. At least in Australia though, the police are doing something about the problem and not contributing to it.

Just my humble opinion.

[Springjock]

I would agree with that. Its a completely OTT post. Sounds like Hansie has been too long to remember what state SA is in. Compared to SA, Aussie IS paradise!

And 'barefoot shopping'!? This, coming from a South African!? Ag nee man!

[Jordy]

Just a reminder that this thread is one year old. It is from March 2011 not 2012.

[HadEnoughofJuju]

@Jordy

I realise that the post is a year old. I was just a bit irked that there are people that gave up their lives here in South Africa for better opportunities and a better standard of living only to sit there in the land of milk and honey and complain that things are not what they want them to be.

I understand that there are things that we will probably not like and that living in a neighbourhood that has a high crime rate is not pleasant, I would also complain about that. The difference for me is that (from what I have read) is that things actually work and problems get tackled and the police don't just respond with "sorry, eish ai ai ai" and leave it at that.

People need to realise that despite what they might think that Africa and South Africa are third world countries and Australia is a first world country, they both have their problems and neither of them is perfect, the major difference for me is the way that their governments deal with the problems.

That and the fact that I just needed a bit of a rant. Apologies if I offended anyone!

[rozellem]

Calm down guys.

This topic is like asking everybody what irritates you about your partner. You have been with them for ever, love them to death, would never consider leaving them but, it really gets up your nose how he leaves the toilet seat up, sings in the car, chucks his socks in the corner of the bedroom, hums while he eats, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes when you life is so close to perfect, a non issue will seem like a issue.

[MrsMupersan]

Rozellem, you have a gift for summing things up perfectly! :-)

[Riekie]

Australians are in general not progressive thinkers.

I'm not sure I'm agreeing with you on this one. Australians will only struggle with something for so long before they'll invent a tool or something to make life easier. For almost every garden activity, there is a tool and that's just simple things we use at home.

Here's a list of Aussie inventions which may change your opinion:

Stump Jump plough

Combine Harvester

Self-Propelled Rotary Hoe

Permaculture

Dynamic Lifter Fertiliser

Tank-Bred Tuna system

Box Kite

Sarich Engine

Wave Piercing Catamaran

The “Diff”

Ute

Ship Degaussing

Blackbox Flight Recorder

Inflatable Aircraft Escape Slide & Raft

Variable Ratio Rack & Pinion Steering

Zeta Platform

Premix Cement Truck

Hyshot Scramjet Engine

Deakin T2 Car

Hills Hoist

Electric Drill

Kiwi Shoe Polish (yes, this is an Aussie invention!)

Two Stroke Lawn Mower

Latex Gloves

Notepad

Telephane

Record Changer

Shepherd’s Castors

Aeroguard Insect Repellent (for all those flies…. LOL)

Garage Roller Door

Saltwater Chlorination

Pre-Paid Postage

Xerox Photocopying

Blast Glass

Refrigeration

Vegemite

Wine Cask

Zip Instant Boiling Water Heater

Electronic Pacemaker

Foundations of Physiotherapy

Medical Application of Penicillin

Medical Application of Lithium

In Vitro Fertilisation – Birth of the first Frozen Embryo

Bionic Ear

Aspro

Begg Orthodontics

Humidicrib

Microsurgery

Relenza – World’s 1^st Anti-Flu Drug

Spray-On Skin

Discovery of H Pylori Bacteria

World’s 1^st vaccine to prevent Cervical Cancer

Alexander Technique

Calyx Drill

Flotation Process

Thrust Bearing

Self Constructing Tower Crane

HLSmelt

CETO Wave Energy System

Smart Plastics

Samba Software

Moldflow Software

DQDB

Uniloc Software Protection

Internet Wi-Fi / Wireless LAN IEEE 802.1

Google Maps (Initially named Walkabout)

First Feature Length Film Ever Made

Free Music Machine (Forerunner to Synthesisers)

Fairlight CMI

Digital Film Workstation

Australian Rules Football

Callisthenics

Australian Crawl (Freestyle Swimming)

Automatic Totalisator

Polocrosse

Race Cam

Winged Keel

Access Class Dinghies

Speedo Swimwear

Teleprinter

Pedal Wireless

X-Ray Crystallography

Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

Mills Cross

Synroc

Gene Shears

Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe

SILEX

Coolgardie Safe

Kerosene Refrigerator

Stobie Pole

Buffalo Fly Trap

Dual Flush Toilet

Still Under Development:

Bionic Eye

Flying Electronic Generator

Genetically Modified Strain of Malaria

Low Cost Method of Creating Graphine

[Orion25]

Thanks for this almost endless list Riekie,

I think I know why they have an invention for almost any human performed job and that is because they have to di it themselves. There is NO Sipho, Monica etc. you do your own gardern, mix cement etc, they just trying to make thier lives easier, an honestly I have no problem with that! Bring on comfort and convenience!!!!

We love Oz, and yes it is NOT perfect, but I would rather be here than back in SA with everything that's happening there.

T

[Banshee]

Xenophobia

It's a nanny state.

Bad service, tasteless food and the cost of living.

No incentive for anybody to improve their financial situation

A general lack of respect for everybody and everything - I suppose that is why we had to become a nanny state. Imagine the chaos otherwise.

Australians are in general not progressive thinkers. Take for example the nuclear power debate, the lack of infrastructure in some areas and the way that some archaic laws are still in existence. They don't handle change very well.

The Government's lack of balls - look at the appalling mess they have made of the refugees in detention issue.

Everything has to be designed around the LCD factor (lowest common denominator).

Barefoot shopping.

Because there aren't any real 'day to day survival issues' to deal with people constantly whinge about nothing - see I've been here so long I have become one of them!

I don't expect anybody to understand but thanks for the opportunity to vent a bit.

I am not trying to put anyone off the place just don't expect paradise.

I agree with you on many of your comments HansieSlimBergWilKlim.

[HansaPlease]

Which ones?

[funtobeaussiechick]

Xenophobia. I agree in some ways but the best is to try assimilate

Tasteless food. yes it can be but there is much more here with regards fresh foods. make your own. Also food which has lots of taste tends to have loads

of additives, worth remembering!

Nanny state, well its better than anarchy!

Bad service, depends what you are talking about, restaurants? yes maybe, govt depts ,no

Cost of living in some respects, but not with cars.

No incentive to improve their financial position. I disagree totally. Move jobs, start your own biz. It is possible to move up

Lack of respect, yes some people, but I have met the most wonderful people too. I have met some awful people in Johannesburg too, those who wanted to kill me!

Barefoot shopping? where do you see this, maybe coastal?

Dont expect paradise but expect things that do work and a safer place to raise kids. Police that do not just stop you for a bribe. I see the police as my friends here.

I am not afraid like I was. I sleep better at night. i no longer have a firearm.

[funtobeaussiechick]

Australia. love it or leave it. I love it. South Africa I love it too but to compare both countries is really hard. I honestly believe Australia is best for families as it is

much much safer with all its nanny state rules. When my kids ride bikes to school I feel happy for them. Australia is on a long road to success, small population.

I do not like the crazy bogan type people in Australia who are loud, rude and irritating but hey I do not have them in my home and they do not kill or hijack me.

Paradise is also a state of mind. There is actually very little really wrong with Australia and that is why people find small things to criticise it. I love the sunsets, the barbeques. The love life kind of spirit they have. I think us Saffers have lost our sense of humour as we have lived in a war type situation in South Africa