People Are Warning Others Not To Move To Australia And Here Are 30 Of The Reasons Why
Interview
While many of us travel for relaxation, adventure, or good old-fashioned tourism, some folks board planes, trains, and automobiles because they are on their way to their new home. As it often happens, you only really learn what life is like in a new country after you’ve spent some real time there.
People who have moved to live in Australia as well as Aussies share the challenges they encountered and the things they ended up disliking. From unexpected hurdles to new social norms, people share their examples, so get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites, and comment your thoughts below.
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Treatment of indigenous people. I'm from New Zealand, it is definitely not perfect there and not without work to be done. I debated posting because there are so many smug white Kiwis in Australia who look at Australia's history with indigenous people and think "oh we are sooo much better than you at this" - which we are, but the bar for better is so low it's in hell, I don't really think it's something for kiwis to brag about objectively. I guess it's also not really on topic though because it's not unique to Australian culture.
I had one friend that was raised in an east asian country and hated how Australians went overseas and behaved like animals. I think he was referring to this type that go to Thailand to sample the women, get drunk and just treat the entire visiting country at their backyard.
When he spoke about it to other australians, he would get dismissed as if its just those people but i think he was trying to get the point across that it occurs at such numbers that is more cultural than a unique individual.
The culture of toxic masculinity that permeates through Australian society. Sad.
A few years ago, I saw a news item about a group of adult men (they grew up in catholic orphanages) who were abused by pedopriests as children. The cult called them "golddiggers" and toxic infantile "males" whined that they should 'man up'.
Bored Panda got in touch with Minute-Masterpiece98 who shared one of the original posts about the difficulties of moving to Australia and they were kind enough to share some more thoughts. Firstly, we wanted to know why they made this post.
“In short, going through the immigration process from start to finish is exhausting. It can be very taxing on one mentally and maybe sharing our experiences helps us to deal with it, as well as feel like we are helping the wider immigrant community. Misconceptions vary depending on where an individual comes from. I've noticed that many British citizens are led to believe that Australia is this paradise of endless sunshine, free of hardships simply because the average wage is higher.”
The insane amount of casual racism.
WhatEver405:
I agree so much with this! I'm a poc studying in melbourne (year 9) and the amount of times people call me curry muncher, brown (or mention my skin tone) in a derogative way, or exclude me from things because I'm not white (and raised here) is absolutely crazy! And this isn't limited to just my school, I've experienced this in places like woolies and shopping malls, from adults!! I usually just awkwardly laugh it off but it's still so annoying.
Anti-intellectualism. So hard to have discussion about ideas instead of other people.
Valuing sport, those who play sport, those who watch sport over any other type of achievement.
"In my experience, the reality is that the overall quality of life is about the same, there are simple trade-offs in certain areas. For example, temperatures during Winter are warmer than in England but then residents end up feeling colder because the homes are so poorly built, with little insulation. The one takeaway that I would like to add is that after 7 years of living here, I've come to realize that Australia operates less of a migration system and more of a "visa-selling business". Profit is ultimately the top priority, with things like workers' rights being the least of their concerns."
Tall Poppy syndrome.
FridayNightSodomy:
Yep, frowned upon to do well or even have the mindset to achieve higher. "You're tryin too hard mate".
Frowned upon to even do your job properly or efficiently, especially in the public sector. Crazy self entitlement culture.
Short-termism. If that’s a word. Everything is built/ planned and done with such a short view on the world. Buildings are c**p and ugly, with no view on building beautiful buildings that last forever. A great example is the Melbourne convention Centre, a building that looks fantastic. Until you realise it’s cheap and made of concrete not sandstone like the style it’s imitating. Business is planned and executed quarter by quarter with no real aspiration.
It’s all so short sighted and the country is worse for it.
Same as anywhere. I see all these old houses/buildings that stood the test of time and think why can’t we do it that way?
The denialism and tall poppy syndrome.
When someone is different or has a topic or issue they want to discuss, Australia n mainstream culture is very quick to go through the motions of making that person feel like an outsider. Mainstream Australians love to accept people in as long as they just talk footy, cricket and just carry along with the program... They treat indigenous and immigrant Australians this way.
If people from a non mainstream background share their story, a view or want to be heard it usually tries to be ignored and Australians love to put their head in the sand. If the conversation gets going, it's usually nah mate you've got it wrong, she'll be right and it gets requalified and explained away. Just be "normal" is a strong force and and Mainstream Australia can even get angry and lash out at people for.being different and opinionated... It happens especially around issues of race, even left wing Australians are often guilty of tiptoeing around subjects and going.down the denial or shell be right route. Look at how long it took us to come to terms with Adam Goodes or Grace Tame exerting their views.
I don't think I'm quite putting my finger on it but I feel growing up in Australia, it has a way of hazing you. To make you know that everything is good here and laid back and as long as you are.one of us you can stay. Mention the racism you experienced in the primary school playground and you get anything ranging from unhappy looks, patronising explanations that you read the situation wrong or real anger.
Ironically I've tried to explain this to plenty of white Australians and I've been told I've got it wrong, and everything is fine.
Weirdly I think on a level it is fine, I meann it's better than the overt racism you can encounter in other countries or indeed in this one on more punctuated incidences. But come on Australia just admit that you have an issue with acceptance of difference, it takes you so bloody long. And somebody speaking about their experience is not a personal attack on you and your culture, stop being defensive everytime someone says Australia is racist. Listening and understanding nuance is something Australia needs to work on. It's why when even just newly arrived Europeans mention politics at their first Aussie BBQ, they have people freeze up like they've.just walked in with a live hand grenade.
TL;DR Australia isn't as laid back as it pretends to be.
EU has the tall poppy syndrome problem as well. When I (african) have tried discussing colonialism and racism with EU/UK people they get super evasive and embarrassed. Also, DK is infamous for tall poppy syndrome. Jantelagen. Do not stand out. White south africans have this problem too, I assure you. If you mention apartheid they say "get over it", "that was a long time ago", "oh well look how the ANC have f****d up the country", "stop racialising this" etc etc. Head in the sand = white privilege.
While many of us think of Australia as a place Britain would send its criminals to, that practice died out a long time ago and since then, it has become a pretty desirable place to stay, despite the plethora of things that can kill you. Indeed, these days, Australia is synonymous with spiders, snakes, and scorpions that have all collectively been participating in a sort of arms race. This is unfortunate, as, otherwise, Australia boasts wonderful beaches, a high quality of life, good food and generally friendly people. Yes, you might have to do battle with the errant giant spider now and then, but it’s all part of the package.
Aussie larrikinism is just an excuse for a lot of Aussies being absolute d**kheads.
OoFymm:
Definitely this, it reminds me of the whole "Boys will be Boys" thing that was prevalent awhile ago, but now it's just "tradies will be tradies"
BOGAN: a stereotype which includes residing in the outer working class suburbs of larger cities, having teeth that have not had dental care due to cost, having an anti-authoritarian or jingoistic stance, as well as being interested in classic rock music, hoon-driving and excessive alcohol consumption
American born and raised, but lived in Oz a long time and married to an Aussie. I love living in Oz and would never go back but in the spirit of this post, here's my list of things I hate about Oz:
* Australian exceptionalism, and the strong and emotionally charged rebuttal that it doesn't exist. Sorry to tell you but there are a lot of uncomfortable similarities with my homeland in this regard.
* People unironically calling it "the lucky country" while not understanding that the designation was originally said mockingly.
* Related to the first point, the absolute inferiority complex that Aussies have when talking about anything to do with America, especially if an American mentions anything negative about Australia no matter how trivial. For example, an interaction I had here in Sydney last week : "man how s**t is commuting by train these days" "yeah well at least we have unions and a living wage, what does America do with their train workers?" I s**t you not, this sort of exchange happens way more often than you'd expect. Like ok dude, just trying to make small talk, jeez.
* Still related to American things (I'll get to other things too, I swear): the complete insensitivity when talking to an American about horrible things happening in America. Yes, we all see in the news that there was another shooting, or major protests, riots, deadly covid wave, etc. No, I would not like to talk about the horrific dangers my loved ones are facing (and common past traumas to myself in the case of school shootings which everyone under age 40 has experience with) when I'm just trying to have a casual chat whilst waiting for coffee. It's just news drama to you but it's actually real to me. Thanks.
* Now to silly things: 'Mexican' food - please just give up and stick to thai food
* Birds - learn to sing properly. Magpies you're doing great. Cockatoos please shut up forever.
* NRL - THROW the ball FORWARD.
* AFL - you are complete chaos, like hockey without ice or poetry without letters. Never change. I love you.
* Condiments - why in the f**k am I paying for tomato sauce with my chips!? It's like renting a car and getting charged extra for tyres
* Gambling is boring and lame and harmful. Stop selling it, stop doing it, just stop.
* Formal clothing. This is an incredibly hot country (yes even Melbourne is hot, coming from a Chicago native) yet shorts aren't acceptable in many offices and men are expected to wear suits, ties, collared shirts in many offices, even if it's 30+ and humid as f**k
* Property. No I would not like to talk about property. Please excuse the screams as I shove a fork in my eye whilst you talk about the unit you bought in 2014 and how you leveraged it to buy your house last year.
There's probably more but I'm up for citizenship soon and don't wanna jeopardise anything.
Agree with you about the gambling. As for the formal clothing/suits: were you here when they tried to foist 'safari suits' on us? We're still waiting for a non-absurd substitute for suits, collars, and ties.
The indigenous Australian ‘acknowledgment of country’ used as some kind of corporate virtue signal. If don’t mean it to the core of your soul (truthfully), why say it?.
These days, Australia is a unique melting pot, combining an ancient, indigenous tradition with British culture. Since the Second World War, US influence has been growing, while the 70s saw a wave of immigration. The result is a place that is both culturally and geographically unique, although this comes with some drawbacks, like the cost of imported goods and slow internet.
Gambling.
ExarchKnight01:
As an Australian who works in hospitality and sometimes works in a gaming room, fully agreed. When I'm doing the gambling shifts it feels like I work in a cr*ckhouse.
Well, to be fair, it's not just Australia that has casinos and various forms of gambling. But I agree it does take over some people very easily.
Lack of family values and care for parents are they grow older. I see so many lonely people dying by themselves in nursing homes and hospitals with no family members visiting them or caring.
The price of cars here is f**king ridiculous. I advise you to look into how much it costs to import your own car vs. buying here.
It’s not hard to see why people would want to live there, particularly if you are from an English-speaking country. But, as the examples here show, Australians might be relaxed, but that doesn’t seem to apply to their bureaucracy. Somewhere along the way, regulators and lawmakers decided that a mountain of paperwork was, somehow, the solution to every problem.
Poor sportsmanship is accepted and encouraged - sledging, cheating, dirty play. The win at all costs mentality gets a bit toxic.
Briphone:
The way that sportsmen (and yes I am talking male sport players here) are revered, they just get a slap on the wrist no matter how bad their behaviour was, and then they are brought back in to the team as quickly as possible and everything is forgotten about.
I think the treatment of the players involved in the sandpapering incident (cricket) is a good example of this. I agree that Australia tends to take a "holier-than-thou" attitude towards cheating
Another thing to note is be cautious of where you rent or buy — flooding, fires, hurricanes, etc. [Australia doesn't] really get earthquakes, but plenty of other weather can damage the home and insurance costs can be huge."
As an Australian I hate the drinking culture we have and how you are treated as weird if you don't drink.
yeet_and_defeat:
Yes! Everything revolves around booze and no one bats an eyelid. It nothing to blow $400, lose half your personal effects and disgrace yourself completely in public on a Friday night. Everyone thinks that’s “having a good time”. It clutch-my-pearls shocks me, and I’m a born and bred Outback Aussie.
The selfish driving is a big one because I'm driving alot for work...
If you indicate to change lanes, half the time the guy behind you takes it as an mortal offence and will try to cut you off.
Same with trying to merge onto motorways etc.
And noone will ever pull over to let people past if they are going slow.
I didn't think NZ driving was all that great, but my Aussie GF was amazed when we went back for a holiday recently.
People defending Australia's dogs**t urban planning. For some reason people get really butthurt about this one. The reality is, in most Australian towns and cities, you cannot do anything without a car. Back in Europe, I would drive only when needing to move something big and heavy over a non-walkable distance, or travelling to another city. Why am I walking 40 minutes over a big dirt/patchy grass field "green space" to get to my local shops? Also in general Australia's overzealous zoning is just terrible. Why in f**k is it Residential, massive green space area, commercial? They literally go out of their way to make Australian cities non-walkable. Every time I complain about this, people get really defensive. I just don't understand it. Like okay you like your quarter acre block, but the reality is, you generally don't even have the choice with mixed zoning/medium-high density living unless you're filthy rich.
It's true, there is a tendency in Australia for the cities to spread out. But why not, the country is big enough.
Sexism and racism. The sexism is particularly noticeable, this country is practically segregated, go to a BBQ...you can stand around the Barby with the men and b***h about the women or you can make salads in the kitchen and b***h about the men. Relationships are horrible here.
It's not across the board. We have family events where the men man the swing set and trampoline, coralling the kids while us gal's take a load off too. Yeh, the BBQ is like an open air man cave but I don't know many men who won't clean the heck out of that baby when done and pick up after themselves at the table when done eating too. Sometime the kitchen sink is man cave 2.0, men just follow each other and it only takes one enlightened male in the group to flip the switch, it's kinda nice to see.
As an Indonesian, I hate how (some) Australians just go to Bali and be like “oh my god Indonesia is so amazing there are no rules”. Like no you just went to one island of a massive archipelago and I bet you didn’t even try any real Indonesian food or experiences, you just went raving and eat western food why bother flying out the country
Also I hate how most men go to south East Asian countries just to sample the girls. It’s creepy, Especially those divorced old men who bring a young SEA woman back
Edit: also I feel like Australians mostly going to Bali is a bit Islamophobic. Like I get it you’re allowed to drink in Bali but bro don’t let it be the foundation of your trip to Indonesia 💀
And plus the Muslim locals in the other islands don’t really mind foreigners.
Speaking as SAfrican where we have separation of church and state, even Bali is too religious for my liking, and the religion infuses too much. Eg. the recent proposal to disallow unmarried couples to share a room or whatever. I won't support any theocracy (state which does not separate out religion).
Littering. How common place it is for people to leave their rubbish behind on public transport, after a picnic; even tossing things from their vehicles.
Something that a Danish person told me that irked her about conversations with Australians. She’d get asked ‘how are you going’ as a welcome/introduction but nobody actually wanted to know how she was going.
Being too comfortable. as long as they feel comfortable and feel like they are doing ok in life they let the fat cats r**e and plunder the country's riches. they make obscene money off this country's great natural resources and don't leave much behind for the future.coming from an area of the world that got stripped of natural resources by the spaniards i have seen the struggle of whats left behind. I think apathy is the word I'm looking for.
Attitude toward pets. Dogs shut out in tiny yards all day filled with dog s**t. Animals not desexed. Dogs on the back of utes whilst doing 110 down freeway. Dog s**t not getting picked up on sports fields. And don’t get me started on cats.
Pets are members of your family and should be treated that way.
"I think one needs to have a salary of at least $200K or have at least $2M wealth to be comfortable in Sydney. That's in AUD and for 2023.
tejedor28:
Moving to Australia was the best thing I ever did (10 years and counting), but it’s not to be done on a whim. Be aware that Australia is an astronomically expensive country to live in, even without the current crisis.
Lived in Melbourne most of my life (6 years in Tokyo), have been to the US, Europe a lot of Asia and Australia is not astronomically expensive. Sydney is more expensive than Melbourne but to say you need 200K (salary?) is taking the p!ss. There are many cheaper places than Australia and utilities, food and housing aren’t cheap, but if you live here it’s offset by decent salaries for the most part
Rental Market - The current rental market is incredibly competitive. Unlike some countries, few states here have laws that protect against rental bidding. Essentially giving the upper hand to those with greater comparative wealth. Those who can't afford to pay well above the weekly asking price often get stuck, or forced into sub-standard dwelling that is a great distance from their preferred location.
Probably worth pointing out also that tenants have much more limited protections when compared to landlords. If they want to kick you out for no reason, they pretty much can.
It should be noted there is no easy fix for this. There's a housing shortage and houses don't get built overnight. The majority of landlords aren't making a profit from the rental increases, they are out-of-pocket to cover their mortgage due to rate rises. There are always cowboys, but that's nothing new. There are other factors at play, none are easy to fix in the short term. Also tenants DO have greater rights than landlords on average. Landlords can't kick you out for no reason, unless you have signed a dodgy contract and didn't read it
Learn basic beach safety (swim between the flags, learn to recognise rip currents if you are going to unpatrolled ocean beaches). If you are young-ish, there's a moderate amount of socialisation that takes place around water. You'll be invited to the beach or pool parties and water is more dangerous than people give it credit for.
Australia is the most beautiful country in the world. So much space. Food is so amazing. And safety is basically guaranteed. I was raised in Berlin where you are faced with a heroin pandamendic every morning..
I'll also say. Germans take a long time to become your friend and when they do, it's a strong friendship. An Australian will be your best friend when you meet them for the first time, but may not ever include you in their circle.
S****y loud cars. Only in Australia is it acceptable to drive a “hotter up” commodore with a broken exhaust. Just stop.
Two things drive me nuts:
1. Resistance to change. This might just be a rural thing. Our church changed to singing songs written after the year 2000 and replaced the pews with soft chairs. Almost all of the 60+ crowd left because they didn't like it.
2. Very indirect speech. If I'm doing something you don't like, instead of saying "I don't like that", Australians will dance around the topic. Or they will complain to other people about you, but not talk to you. Drives me nuts.
Our public transport is incredibly bad and it differs hugely state to state.
Geez, I know I’m commenting a lot and I don’t wanna be ‘that guy’ defending everything but the public transport system in Melbourne ain’t bad. I catch trams and trains everyday to work and 95% of the time they work fine, generally very safe and a lot of work has been put into improving infrastructure
Our internet sucks and public Wi-Fi is scarce and always incredibly slow (Macca's is your best bet and probably most common option). For mobile phone plans, I'd recommend either a Telstra or Optus reseller — Telstra if you plan on spending a lot of time in regional/rural areas. Avoid Vodafone and Vodafone resellers unless they've drastically improved their coverage in the last few years.
The obsession with wealth, property and accumulation of 'stuff' as the measure of success and happiness.
Apathy...we just put up with c**p services, c**p politics, c**p corruption, c**p environment and keep paying out the a**e for it and will complain about it but then do absolutely f**k all to influence change in that situation.
We can be very parochial to the point that (see above) we don't stand up for ourselves against government or businesses.
The totally false sense of egalitarianism and 'fair go' you have about yourselves.
Case in point - the attitude about private schools. A third of Aussie kids will go to private school, while only 3% of Kiwi kids do. In NZ I'm a bit embarrassed to say I went to a well to do private school (1st world/ 1 percenter problem I know, it would just be met with harmless eye rolling basically), meanwhile here it seems to be the other way around.
I can't believe I'm in my mid 30s and people still ask me what school I went to so they can make their assessment of my background. Honestly, grow up.
I hate how much funding the government gives private schools. It is making the divide between haves and have nots grow with every generation.
The fact that people don’t seem to grow out of their high school cliques which results in a population that seems largely cliquey and insular, and doesn’t really want to accept outsiders.
This never happened to me. Even when we were in school, there were friendship groups, but not cliques, like you see in US tv. Maybe it depends on which school you went to, mine was fairly small.
The lack of critical thought and skepticism, a propensity to trust opinions as facts. The distrust of professionals, especially regarding the sciences. Wilful ignorance, cognitive dissonance and rank hypocrisy of many citizens and far too many members of the government. The fact we look at people in religion as the pinnacle of humanity, as we forgive these criminal organisations of far too much. Tax the f*****g churches! The same goes for corporations.
I disagree about the distrusting of scientists. You only have to look at how the various state governments acted in relation to Covid and how the scientists were pushed to the forefront. You can look back and point to where things could have been handled better, but at least we didn't have anyone in government suggesting we should ingest bleach, for example
Inability to take criticism or suggestions for how things can be improved. If you don’t like it, go back to your country etc.
As an Australian I do not like the conservatism. We pretend like we’re better but we’re literally not. In many ways, we are starting to become more and more conservative and political even though we claim to be laid back. It’s not normal for catholic schools to teach about anything beyond sexually transmitted diseases. They forbid gay relationships, they say no sex is the best way to go because it’s what god asks.
For a country that claims to be so free and calm, our school systems do not reflect that. I hope the future kids after me get a better education in health and well-being.
You can't compare the Catholic school system with the public school system, anywhere not just Australia. And there are currently Labor (i.e non-conservative) state governments in all states except Tasmania as well as the Federal government of course, hardly a swing to the right-wing. Extremists don't get very far in Australia; parties such as One Nation are still very marginal
Start every criticism with a compliment. Australians are amazingly entrepreneurial, smart, crafty and hard working. Love this. They can do anything they put their minds to. But will they? So what I don’t like much is the strange conservatism. It’s a particular flavour of weird conservatism that is so peculiarly Australian. Also goes hand in hand with a sheepish tacit acceptance of b******t laws for example, or b******t situations in general. A kind of apathy. We complain but we won’t protest on the streets, we won’t revolt. So nothing changes. (Im becoming Australian I think because I just used “we” without thinking.).
The disrespect towards women.
As someone that was raised to respect women, it baffles me how men talk down to women here and how family violence is a common thing here, to the point where they have to put ads out. Men also get away with sexual harassment, rape. You also have people s**t talking rape victims.
I know it's not common in the sense that u see it happening to everyone around u, and there are countries that are worse than this, but I love Australia and honestly expected better :/.
Housing Standards - This is perhaps subjective but I imagine you would be hard to find any immigrant from the USA or Europe that would say that housing standards, in general, weren't a problem in Australia.
Building regulations are typically much looser and property developers can get away with cutting corners. This has been going on for years and has resulted in much of the housing stock being comprised of poorly built apartment blocks, with cheap materials, poor insulation and often poor ventilation.
There is probably an argument to be had as to how much this matters, depending on the climate and where you are in Australia but it certainly becomes an issue in the colder regions like Tasmania or Victoria. Dangerously low household temperatures during winter and black mould are much more common than one might expect. Its quite embarrassing when I think about it.
Stuff around housing in general. I'm not just talking about cost/accessibility either. Like, I grew up in a mid-sized city in Canada, & until I came here I hadn't heard this whole idea that you buy a place to get on the property ladder, instead of to live in - it's just insane to me. I was floored when I first heard that. And then you get the spillover effect, where people buy homes in places they've never been to and have no desire to live in, just so they can own a property and become a landlord, driving up the costs in places where they have no intention of ever staying... and then as landlords, they put the bare minimum into their places, letting them get all moldy and full of bugs and whatnot, and just don't overly care unless it affects their bottom line in some way.
Like, I've moved around a *lot* in my life - I'm in my late 30s and I've lived in our current apartment for almost 4 years now, and that's by far the longest I've ever lived anywhere in my entire life. So I've had a lot of experience in a lot of different homes, especially rentals. Aside from commercial operations, most rentals were properties the landlords (or their families) actually lived in at some point. And it's not to say landlords back home were all great (they weren't, lol), but they certainly had a bit more of a sense of pride and responsibility in their own properties. And the culture around buying or renting out a place is just a *lot* more sensible. (That said, NSW Fair Trading seems to have a lot better teeth than the equivalent back home, which I appreciate.)
Also, I miss cafes that are open til 8-9 pm where they're happy to have you hang out there for however long you want.
The lack of formality combined with the love of paperwork. Everyone is so “easy going” about things in person (even if professional environments) but then you have the British love of Paperwork. Everything has 10 bits of paperwork to fill out, every job has a specific qualification you need it just never ends.
Politics on the work floor. Seems as soon as a job is just a bit more senior, if you don't have the network, not from the right school or have the right mates.. you're kinda out.
That's a british disease. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/30/england-old-boys-club-zahawi-wealthy-network
The obsession with buying a house(via loans) as if it is the ultimate goal in life is certainly weird considering it isnt something you see as much in many other countries.
Definitely a cultural thing.
I think we just like the security of a roof over our heads that can't be taken away on a whim. I know renting laws may be more favourable than other places (i.e. we have formal tribunals for rental disputes, and you can't legally be kicked out at the drop of a hat), but we still like the security of owning our own home (Disclaimer: I am an aging boomer who got his house before ever owning your own home became an impossibility for many people)
Born and raised elsewhere but I've lived in Australia for almost half my life now. I've also lived overseas as an adult. My list would be: - indifference/apathy towards anything that happens outside of Australia, unless maybe it's the US or the UK. Maybe it comes from being an island. - the casual sexism and racism specially from older white Australian men - worshiping of sportsmen/athletes as if they're gods. Goes in hand hand with AFL/NRL being such a big part of the 'culture' - people not wanting to have deep intelligent conversations because they want to be seen as just regular Aussies (can't quite articulate this one well, I hope people understand what I mean) - the overused phrase 'the lucky country' - the mistreatment and opression of Aboriginal Australians that has resulted in intergenerational trauma. I absolutely hate that the kids and young adults in the communities are caught up in a cycle of abuse because of this.
I agree that historically Australia has tended to not really pay much attention to anything other than what might be happening in the UK or USA. That is changing to some extent (e.g. with what SBS has been doing since its inception), but honestly I can even remember the last time I saw a news story on the main channels about anything going on in New Zealand for example, even though supposedly we have a close relationship geographically. The mistreatment and marginalisation of Aboriginal Australians has to be acknowledged, and of course there is still a long way to go to right the wrongs of the past.
I think people ive met so far are generally really nice BUT Teenagers are the exact opposite of that lol, being racist in video game voice chats, throwing stuff through car windows at night while you're walking. I get that they are young but bad behaviour is a bad behaviour.
Visas - If you arrive on a temporary work or student visa, you will be subject to many limitations. For instance, unless there is a reciprocal arrangement with your home country, you will typically need to take out mandatory private health insurance.
If you have family, you won't be able to access any childcare or schooling subsidies, with many of the fees being substantially higher than that of ordinary citizens. You typically wont be able to access welfare services or support either. In summary, you will be on your own and you have to ensure you make enough / bring enough funds to support yourself, for all eventualities.
If you’re on a temp work or student visa, why should you be able to access tax funded subsidies or welfare?
I'm not sure if this is just limited to certain age group or demographic, or even corporate entities, but there's this perverse obsession with rent-seeking and ripping people off everywhere in order to get ahead.
Like we see this clearly in housing with people wanting multiple investment properties so that they can get ahead and have other people pay for their mortgage at the expense of everyone else.
My previous landlord for example bought a land intentionally to build multiple level townhouses in the most cheapest manner possible to sell them off.
Even in cars, many people actually dont want to enjoy owning a car nowadays more like wanting to "flip" something for profit.. I know people intentionally putting their name on car's order book so they can flip it later.
Add to this corporate and big business Australia with their neverending dodgyness and just wanting to get ahead at all cost e.g see Qantas, Harvey Norman.
And the Big Four banks with multi-billion dollar profits it's now nigh on impossible to get into the housing market, exacerbated by such high rents imposed by investment properties and negative gearing making it impossible to save for a deposit for home loan despite mortgage repayments being less than rent.
Working in Australia, I can't just dive into work-related issues with co-workers in a concise and efficient manner. Every approach (phone or desk) requires a few minutes of mind-numbing chatter, how was your weekend, how are the kids, bla bla, before we can talk work, at work, it makes me crazy. (free upvote if you guess my cultural background).
The Australian pizza is rubbish.
I'm from here but I feel like we've been called 'the funny country' so often that too many people are starting to believe they're being referred to specifically. If I have to hear 1 more bloke saying the most banal s**t like 'I'm not gay, but $20 is $20!!!!' and expecting me to laugh, I'm going to go insane. We're only funny if we're not trying (see: 99% of Australian stand-up comics).
I'm confused- what does 'I'm not gay, but $20 is $20!!!!' mean, and why is it meant to be funny. It's not something I've come across before in Australia. I find plenty of Aussie comedians funny, though don't go to stand up shows by anyone from any country, I usually see them on panel shows.
Permanent Residence - If you plan to work your way towards PR, the system thats in place can be very bureaucratic, with lots of red tape. Often, qualifications in your home country won't be fully recognised, prompting you to pay for further education. Your existing skills will often need to be evaluated by an assessment body (which can easily run into thousands of dollars). There is also criteria such as minimum working experience in Australia and certain rules around any applicable company sponsorship that need to be adhered to.
In short, many complicated rules and lots of fees to account for. It isnt uncommon for some people to work close to a decade trying to secure their residency, only to be forced to return home, sacrificing all that tax they had paid in the process.
If you meet the criteria to get yourself a Permanent Residency work visa, before arriving in Australia, in my opinion, it is 1000% worth it. It will give you so much more peace of mind and that added sense of security. If you lose your job, you wont have to panic, trying to find a new one within 60 days.
Almost all shops in Australia close early. Trying to go to a bank or a post office if you can't get out of work is just horrible.
insurgent_dude:
Most shops, besides supermarkets and Kmart and take away/fast food, close at 5pm, except Thursday and Friday where they'll normally close 8–9pm. Going to the bank or post office can be a nightmare because they shut so early and aren't open weekends.
I moved over here from England about seven years ago and I was surprised at the amount of documentation I needed for pretty much everything — getting a job, renting an apartment etc.
I came over here totally unprepared for a prospective employer to ask to see my degree certificate, but that was exactly what happened and I needed to get a notarised copy organised and sent over pretty quickly.
This probably varies depending on your line of work, but I think I've needed it every time I've changed jobs since arriving here.
We have this c**p in SA too... and we also disauthenticate notarisations that are older than 3 months, so you have to get it all redone every 3 months. It's b******t.
In England the police always gave me a sense of safety, here I feel more on edge when the police / community officers / PTV are around than when they aren't.
Australian police don't see it as an 'us and them' thing. They know that there's 'us' (police) and 'them' (offenders). But, there's also 'the others' (everyone else). They're not much interested in 'the others', the police aren't there to help 'the others', they're there to advance their own careers and situations. 'The others' only become of interest to them when they appear to be, in any degree, an impediment to what they're doing (and a lot of police believe that they can do anything that they want). At that point, they cease to be one of 'the others' and become one of 'them'.
Aussies are a friendly bunch... until they're not.
We (born overseas but proudly Aussie) tend to ex-communicate with people we have a beef with rather than talk it through.
In the workplace we will often ostracise a co-worker who doesn't quite fit the preferred mould.
I've heard yeah nah and nah yeah f***s with people from other countries heads, guy I used to work with went to Europe with his missus and when a waiter asked if they wanted more bread sticks he said nah yeah nah and the waiter just stood there staring at him.
This is a Canadian thing too. It's basically a verbal tick. I do it and don't even realize it.
I hate how so many Australians will b***h and moan about something they don't like to their friends, but will never complain about it to someone who will actually do something about it. Every place I've worked here, whenever I raise something with management that should be changed I'm met with "well we've never heard this before/nobody else has an issue with it", when it's something I've had conversations with about with every colleague.
The idea of wearing outdoor shoes inside your and other peoples' home is still a little horrifying.
I HATE THIS TOO!!!!!!!! OUTSIDE SHOES SHOULD never EVER BE WORN INSIDE !!!!!!!!!! MOST AUSSIE HATE REMOVING THEIR SHOES TO GO INSIDE !!!!!!!!!!
Barefeet.
I do not want to see your feet while I'm tryna buy food. And im not even talking about people in sandals cuz at least its shoes, but the people who wear absolutely nothing ?! Not only does that feel unsanitary to me but also what if you step on something? Rusty nail anyone?
That was longer than I meant it to be but as someone who hates feet and has been here about 3 months and seen so many feet it irks me.
Happens in SA too. Must be a newer colonies / hotter country thing.
If you’ve got a high level qualification for what you do, I’d start by applying for jobs here first. If you can secure a position first, everything afterwards is a lot more straightforward. Opting for somewhere outside the capital cities would help too. It worked for us — got work and moved out on a three year specialised worker visa, then permanent residency and citizenship as soon as we were eligible.
I understand taking the p**s out of your mates and knocking down tall poppies but I feel like there is zero intellectual culture in Australia. You can’t be an expert in anything.
Old SA joke: what's the difference between yoghurt and Oz? One has an active culture.
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Did you notice. Not a single complaint about Australian wildlife. We love our venomous natives, our snakes and spiders, our leeches and ticks, our mozzies and bush flies, our sharks and stinging tree. We really do.
Well, here in Czechia we don't like hornets, but we don't complain about them. (What if they take it personally.) So maybe it's the same thing?
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I gave up after the first few. Most of what I was reading was not just limited to Australia. Many countries are having similar issues. If you 'Hate' those issues, you'll have a hard time living in any other Western country.
I think that was half the point of the post. The way I see a lot of Aussies comment on social media (esp regarding news in the USA), they make it sound like they have no problems except big spiders, and posts like this show that while Australia has some benefits, they're not all that different from other developed countries. Some of the people who posted to the original thread seemed to expect Australia to be vastly different when they moved from other countries.
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I have been living down under for few years and I absolutely loved it. Stay the same Australia
JFK BP... now Australia hurt you too? American here standing in solidarity with my Aussie compatriots. Why the "hate" BP, why...?
As an Aussie, I don't view most of it as hate
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Seems like being mad at Americans is passé now, time to be mad at Australians
Hmm, I see that BoredPanda has gotten bored of their biweekly posts about how the United States is a spectacular s**t show and has now moved on to Australia. Damn, this site has gotten so negative anymore.
Hmm. I noted a few points about race but it's a sensitive issue for us in SA. Allow me to leave you all with a decent Australian song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E
I think censorship... uses SA for South Africa, rather than South Australia, but I could be wrong.
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Yeah a lot of these are not really Australia only things, or at the very least they are dependant on what part of the country you are living in. Do we have issues with some of the things mentioned? yes. Are they as bad as people claim? not always.
You just have no concept of toxicity, do you? "What do you hate about [...]?" is just not acceptable anywhere, any time, for any reason. It's not acceptable when you do it about America; it's not acceptable when you do it about Australia.
As I read through the posts, I couldn't help thinking how much it' sounded like the USA. Had wildlife been mentioned, it would have been different, I suppose, but the cultural behavior sounds very American. I'm from the US and have never traveled out of country, but I once thought I would like to at least visit Australia. Sounds too much like home to me.
After someone hunted children down in a forest, we brought in strict gun reform in approx 2 weeks. I would say the Land of Oz is not that bad. Are we perfect, no, but we are so much better than most.
To be perfectly honest and fair, most of these attitudes apply to pretty much any country that was colonised by the English/British. Especially if the white European population maintained historical links with the "Mother Country "
Except south Australia, which was founded as a free settlement.... and it might surprise you to know a lot of Australians are descended from immigrants who came here willingly..... so lowlifes and ne'er do wells.. I don't think so....
Load More Replies...
Did you notice. Not a single complaint about Australian wildlife. We love our venomous natives, our snakes and spiders, our leeches and ticks, our mozzies and bush flies, our sharks and stinging tree. We really do.
Well, here in Czechia we don't like hornets, but we don't complain about them. (What if they take it personally.) So maybe it's the same thing?
Load More Replies... I gave up after the first few. Most of what I was reading was not just limited to Australia. Many countries are having similar issues. If you 'Hate' those issues, you'll have a hard time living in any other Western country.
I think that was half the point of the post. The way I see a lot of Aussies comment on social media (esp regarding news in the USA), they make it sound like they have no problems except big spiders, and posts like this show that while Australia has some benefits, they're not all that different from other developed countries. Some of the people who posted to the original thread seemed to expect Australia to be vastly different when they moved from other countries.
Load More Replies... I have been living down under for few years and I absolutely loved it. Stay the same Australia
JFK BP... now Australia hurt you too? American here standing in solidarity with my Aussie compatriots. Why the "hate" BP, why...?
As an Aussie, I don't view most of it as hate
Load More Replies... Seems like being mad at Americans is passé now, time to be mad at Australians
Hmm, I see that BoredPanda has gotten bored of their biweekly posts about how the United States is a spectacular s**t show and has now moved on to Australia. Damn, this site has gotten so negative anymore.
Hmm. I noted a few points about race but it's a sensitive issue for us in SA. Allow me to leave you all with a decent Australian song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E
I think censorship... uses SA for South Africa, rather than South Australia, but I could be wrong.
Load More Replies... Yeah a lot of these are not really Australia only things, or at the very least they are dependant on what part of the country you are living in. Do we have issues with some of the things mentioned? yes. Are they as bad as people claim? not always.
You just have no concept of toxicity, do you? "What do you hate about [...]?" is just not acceptable anywhere, any time, for any reason. It's not acceptable when you do it about America; it's not acceptable when you do it about Australia.
As I read through the posts, I couldn't help thinking how much it' sounded like the USA. Had wildlife been mentioned, it would have been different, I suppose, but the cultural behavior sounds very American. I'm from the US and have never traveled out of country, but I once thought I would like to at least visit Australia. Sounds too much like home to me.
After someone hunted children down in a forest, we brought in strict gun reform in approx 2 weeks. I would say the Land of Oz is not that bad. Are we perfect, no, but we are so much better than most.
To be perfectly honest and fair, most of these attitudes apply to pretty much any country that was colonised by the English/British. Especially if the white European population maintained historical links with the "Mother Country "
Except south Australia, which was founded as a free settlement.... and it might surprise you to know a lot of Australians are descended from immigrants who came here willingly..... so lowlifes and ne'er do wells.. I don't think so....
Load More Replies... 
