Is Australia still the lucky country?

[Mara]

Surferman, you will have to let me know what it is about, I googled it, but there is so much with that title I do not know what to look at.

[funtobeaussiechick]

Ridiculous (and quite narcissistic) that you would think someone is trying to change your mind just because they have their own opinion

e 2

I dont think anyone is trying to change anyones mind. Just there are 2 individuals who I do not see eye to eye with as they are definitely negative about Australia in every post. Besides they did not like the pet names I gave them and they mocked the agricultural industtry in Australia. Narcissistic, me? wow I certainly hope not. I love Australia with all my heart as I dearly love the country of my birth South Africa. I apologised for my name calling. All I wish to share is how great this country has been for our mental wellbeing. It has been our lucky country so far

[Fish]

Further to what Mara and others have said I agree that even just moving within a city can totally change how you feel about a place. I often see comments about Australia which I know from experience are often more about exactly where someone lives rather than the country they live in.

As a migrant sorting out which is which can be hard. Your first experience of the shops, doctors, neighbours, attitudes, interests etc can often define your "Aussie" experience specially if it matches your existing stereotype or what you see on TV. It may take you a long time to realise that there are other Australia's and Australians out there...

[SurferMan]

So true mate,

When I passed through Aus for the first time in 2007, it was a totally :censored: experience and I bad mouthed them where I could. Silly me. I was in my way to Fiji at the time. Now, I have remorse for that dos I now know it was totally wrong. What a cool place with many cool people, just like SA.

[Mara]

Well, like Hansa, we moved suburbs in Melbourne, from Bundoora to Sunbury... What a change, I love the openness of Sunbury, the birds that sing, the silence, the kids playing in the street (we live in a court) the village atmosphere etc etc. When we lived in Bundoora I felt closed in, surrounded, no bird song, just people, and busy busy city life! I have realised that I am more of a country type of girl!

[SurferMan]

Us too Mara, we stayed in Kinross in northern Perth and hated it. House in the middle of a bowl so it got no wind and baked in the sun. Dodgy neighbours and hoons. We moved even further north to Yanchep, and have elderly neighbours all around. Bigger yard, 300m from the beach with ocean views. Paradise I tell you. All yours for 420 a week, sheer bliss.

[ottg]

If you care following the Australian economics recently, then two great pieces of news which definitely will influence opinions on if Australia is still the lucky country!

(If we ignore some of the controversial issues around it)

a. Free trade agreement with China - it sets to boost the Aus economy with $50b pa.

b. My previous post: "from the mining boom to the dining boom" refers.

- Talks about 1 million pa live cattle exports to China which adds another $1b pa

- Rinehart to invest in a 5,000 hectares of farmland in Queensland to create what is planned to be one of Australia's largest dairy farms, which will produce an estimated 30,000 tonnes of infant formula for export to China a year. That requires a lot of cows and many more consumers :-)

Much more to come and many opportunities.

[SurferMan]

ottg,

Don't let chzaau see that! Waahaaaaa! could not help myself.

[Tazzn]

liking all this talk about Agriculture being on the up and up ... makes me happy

[ottg]

If you care following the Australian economics recently, then two great pieces of news which definitely will influence opinions on if Australia is still the lucky country!

(If we ignore some of the controversial issues around it)

a. Free trade agreement with China - it sets to boost the Aus economy with $50b pa.

b. My previous post: "from the mining boom to the dining boom" refers.

- Talks about 1 million pa live cattle exports to China which adds another $1b pa

- Rinehart to invest in a 5,000 hectares of farmland in Queensland to create what is planned to be one of Australia's largest dairy farms, which will produce an estimated 30,000 tonnes of infant formula for export to China a year. That requires a lot of cows and many more consumers :-)

Much more to come and many opportunities.

To elaborate further on this topic. There are engineering opportunities in agriculture on the horison. Don't let this pass you!

A lot of things are happening up north. However successful agricultural development in the north of Australia will depend on an holistic understanding of climate, soils, water resources, pests, agronomy, management, processing supply chains and markets.

http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/news/study-identifies-engineering-opportunities-north

[SurferMan]

I have developed an app that allows real time anlaysis and response to farming. I am working with SAP to design and deliver this solution. It is a world first design and is capable of anlaysing 350 000 scenarios a second and then automatically adapats the business and farmign process for maximum profit. Good to see there are opportunities. Can't wait to see "chzaau" reply of doom and gloom.

[Riekie]

Here are the facts for 2015:

http://www.lifestyle9.com/worlds-best-country-to-live-in-2013/

[awbotha500]

Who or what chzaau ?

[SurferMan]

He has left the forum...

Edited March 5, 2015 by SurferMan

[neburr]

SurferMan

Was he not Banned?

[ottg]

Here are the facts for 2015:

http://www.lifestyle9.com/worlds-best-country-to-live-in-2013/

QUALITY OF LIVING TOP 10

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Zurich, Switzerland

3. Auckland, New Zealand

4. Munich, Germany

5. Vancouver, Canada

6. Dusseldorf, Germany

7. Frankfurt, Germany

8. Geneva, Switzerland

9. Copenhagen, Denmark

10. Sydney, Australia

Worldwide cost of living index: The top 10 most expensive cities

1. Singapore

2. Paris

3. Oslo

4. Zurich

5. Sydney

6. Melbourne

7. Geneva

8. Copenhangen

9. Hong Kong

10. Seoul

mmmmmm.....now I know: Money is very important and life is very miserable without it!

[Riekie]

mmmmmm.....now I know: Money is very important and life is very miserable without it!

The Most Expensive Cities in the World to live in were announced 2 days ago:

1. Singapore

2. Paris

3. Oslo

4. Zurich

5. Sydney

Cheapest Cities:

1. Karachi

2. Bangalore

3. Caracas

4. Mumbai

5. New Delhi

Most Expensive Groceries in the World : Seoul

[SurferMan]

Ahh thats it! LOL

[Fish]

The Most Expensive Cities in the World to live in were announced 2 days ago:

1. Singapore

2. Paris

3. Oslo

4. Zurich

5. Sydney

Cheapest Cities:

1. Karachi

2. Bangalore

3. Caracas

4. Mumbai

5. New Delhi

Most Expensive Groceries in the World : Seoul

These surveys are misreported. They do not measure how expensive it is to live in each city...ie cost versus wages....they just compare how expensive it is for an american expat travelling to each country using the current exchange rate against the US dollar, which is a totally different measure that totally ignores local wages.

Newspapers report these "cost of living" surveys with totally inaccurate headlines and stories.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Fish

[funtobeaussiechick]

Ah they are back, dare I say it Cheezy and Saffacup welcome back!

[SurferMan]

PMSL

[ottg]

Some of you smart entrepreneurs may be interested in this. A new breed in digital venture capital.

All the VC wants to know is what you’re bringing, and therefore they are introducing the The Big Pitch competition to find out.

Here: http://thebigpitch.com.au/

Sure if you are following the "Lean Startup" approach they would like to hear from you!

[SurferMan]

Sweet ottg,

I am a lean startup!!! Ill get in touch with them and let you know how I go.

[Bob]

In regards to South Africans wishing to come to Australia, I think time is running short.

About 5 years ago now, I forecast that Greece would be kicked out of the Eurozone.

Germany has made repeated bail-outs to Greece, but unless they reform their economy, it is really just a basket case that cannot be supported indefinitely.

Greece, as I write, now has 2 days to show that it's willing to reform its economy before the next bail-out is lent to them to keep the Greek government's head above water.

We'll see, but I don't think things will work out favourably.

So . . . . . the GFC hit the world in 2007 / 2008.

I have said before that the debt which caused the GFC is still out there. It hasn't been paid off.

The bankers have craftily shifted their debt to their political mates, so that now the taxpayers in many countries (am thinking of Ireland) have taken on the debt that was previously owned by individual banks.

With many European taxpayers in various countries being saddled with enormous amounts of tax to pay, this has dampened demand . . . they simply don't have the expendable income to spend on things like previously.

There are other banks, around the world, that also owed debt, but got the debt passed onto their local governments.

How this is going to play out is anyone's guess, but I don't believe it will be pretty. Many Western governments are deeply in debt.

Australia was a lucky country exporting its products in the immediate years before the crash at high prices and getting a big bucket of money in reserve . . . the golden years . . . so that it was able to sail thro largely on its reserves of cash that other governments didn't have. The incoming Labor gov't, at the time, spent all Australia's reserves without undergoing any reforms to the economy, so that Australia is now saddled with high debt and an unsustainable economy. The previous Labor gov't just bought Australia time, but didn't fix any of the problems, leaving the problem solving to the current Liberal (Conservative) government.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Australia, we are greedy. Had it too good for too long. We don't accept lessons easily, especially when there's a big bucket of money sitting in front of us.

We speculate on house prices (Australia has a house price bubble which is unsustainable) and many speculators are hoping to make some easy money before it crashes. Others just don't see the reality, and want to build up an investment portfolio at any cost as an income stream in their retirement years, paying exorbitant prices to do so.

We've seen what housing bubbles can do to the economy (America in 2008) but choose to ignore the symptoms, so it will play itself out in the near future in a similar fashion, largely, to what happened in America 7 years ago.

Australia has had many years of exciting growth. We restructured our economy, like Canada did at the time, back in the 1980s and this has propelled Australia into the C21st

Now, with the world economy changing at a fast rate, we'll need to re-adjust.

This is going to be a bit painful, but necessary.

On a personal note, I think that white South Africans are a really interesting crowd . . . resourceful, because of sanctions against South Africa in the old apartheid days caused them to invent, renew and trim things all the time . . . . and I have faith in them making it in Australia among a similar people with similar cultural values and outlook.

They are, what I would call, "value".

Some migrants simply aren't interested in integrating into Australian life. Instead, they want us to change.

There is the other side of the coin.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Bob

[ottg]

.......I think that white South Africans are a really interesting crowd . . . resourceful, because of sanctions against South Africa in the old apartheid days caused them to invent, renew and trim things all the time . . . .

I always said to make a peace of pipe fly, in a specific direction and hit a target flying at 900km/hr in a different direction 3km away takes some doing. Now do that simultaneously for a few targets at once- RSA developed successfully their own ground-air missile multi-tracking systems.

To develop an attack helicopter with a full arsenal of weaponry and to make it flying upside down or to roll it while fly at night with full night sight vision take some doing - RSA developed successfully their own doing that

To develop a motorized canon that can throw a 9kg round more than 90kms far using only kinetic energy within an accuracy of 100m2 takes some doing - RSA developed many of those

To develop oil form low-grade coal requires sophisticated chemistry and infrastructure development - RSA have done that

Successfully (copied?) a nuclear power station with no failures or catastrophic events takes some doing - RSA have done that

To put a satellite in orbit equipped with ultra sensitive sensors and successfully deploy and operate it from earth downloading realtime data takes more than a mobile phone & internet.

The sad news is all of these things happened before 2000 but most of those people are now in Australia (battling to get sensible high tech work while politicians argue about trivial stuff)

Lets hope everything goes well with the radio telescope - however they already proof of concept models available.