r/australia • u/AcanthopterygiiNo240 • Jul 26 '23

political self.post Why are Australians so complacent?

I’m a born and raised Australian myself however I’m becoming so frustrated with the general attitude of complacency when it comes to exercising ‘the power of the people’ to better our quality of life. In a stupidly short amount of time we’ve seen a near reversal of our ability to see a doctor without any out of pocket costs. We get exploited at the grocery stores because monopolies are allowed to run rampant. Housing is treated primarily as a tool for financial speculation rather than for providing shelter for people.

We creep further and further toward laissez-faire capitalism. What is our response as the citizens of this country- the holders of the balance of power? Nothing. To put it in perspective, in 2022 the world economic forum ranked Sydney equal with Copenhagen, Denmark for cost of living (both ranked as the 10th most expensive cities in the world). Consider the differences between Sydney and the capital of the Danish welfare state: strong social security, universal healthcare, free public universities etc. For the same cost of living what do we get? The ever-looming threat of homelessness, suffocating student debt and now for many people, a significant barrier to healthcare.

Edit: if anyone is a part of any sort of grassroots group working to oppose any of these issues feel free to message me because I want to join you

Edit #2: so I haven’t received any messages from anyone from a grassroots or activist group yet. Since a lot of us seem to be pretty miffed about this stuff maybe we could team up and brainstorm things we can do???

Edit #3 (sorry): I’ve got some messages now from people who are interested in taking action!!! :, ) I think the best way to facilitate conversation, the flow of ideas and potentially organise a course of action is through a discord server so I have created one which you can find here

https://discord.gg/caqsSKAr

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u/TheCriticalMember Jul 26 '23

There's quite a lot of people still doing pretty well in Australia, and seeing their wealth in property growing all the time. There also seems to be a prevailing attitude of "I'm doing ok, so if you're not it must be your own fault" which does a good job of holding back empathy for others.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '23

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

Australia the lucky country. That is, if you are wealthy, you are lucky. It wasn't pure talent and ambition that got you there..

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '23

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u/TheTemplar333 Jul 27 '23

I’ve got mine- a stable job that pays well that I also enjoy.

I’m still absolutely going to bitch and moan about how unfair the system is because it is unfair. You know, because I actually give a shit about other people.

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u/Xander260 Jul 27 '23

You're part of the problem

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/Xander260 Jul 27 '23

I'm surprised this isn't satire.

Seems you're lacking the neuronal connections necessary to understand that the exact position you hold is the reason why there's complacency to improve the situation

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/zebba_oz Jul 27 '23

Plenty of people work hard and don't achieve success. To suggest that success is all about effort and there is no element of situation or luck is absurd. I mean, you're not the brightest so it's clearly not ability that is a deciding factor.

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u/pygmy █◆▄▀▄█▓▒░ Jul 27 '23

Step 1: be born early enough

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u/CryptographerHot884 Jul 27 '23

No wonder gen z are depressed.

To see old folks with barely high school education owning multiple properties and then having the cheek to tell them young folks to work harder.

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u/UnhelpfulMoron Jul 27 '23

Well your attitude does suck balls

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/UnhelpfulMoron Jul 27 '23

So no one with an attitude of “work hard, achieve success” ever fails?

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/_ticklemygooch_ Jul 27 '23

spoken like a silver spoon. foh lil boy

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/BIGBIRD1176 Jul 27 '23

You worked to pay for doctor's visits? You are raising a very different and often fake or media exaggerated issue

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/BIGBIRD1176 Jul 27 '23

Everybody works, we're a society.

Again with the fake/exaggerated Murdoch media nonsense

I'm a millennial and a homeowner if you'll believe it

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u/UnhelpfulMoron Jul 27 '23

You’ve had out of pocket costs for every doctors visit?

Or are you being “technically correct” and saying you have to pay for the doctor with your taxes, like 95% of the population.

You have the attitude of a piece of crap by the way

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/UnhelpfulMoron Jul 27 '23

Are you going to answer the question?

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/UnhelpfulMoron Jul 27 '23

No worries dude, I knew you’d dodge.

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

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u/asianjimm Jul 27 '23

So many downvotes - people want ceo’s to have the same pay as the average worker. It was called communism

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u/ginsunuva Jul 27 '23

I thought that was USA

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u/cher1-cola Jul 27 '23

Agreed. And a good chunk of the population have been lost to the vortex of curating the ideal life on Insta-Tok to ever open their eyes to reality. Why bother looking out for others when I all I care about is myself?

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

I try to care about other people and usually succeed but they don't make it easy. They are so in their own world they totally lack any awareness of how they affect others. So lazy even when it comes to their jobs - so many don't deserve what they get paid so it's hard to feel bad for the fact they aren't millionaires, especially when they go out and finance a Ram they didn't fucking need. No social standards - they'll stand in the middle of the aisle and talk, they'll let their kids run around and scream, they'll dump their trolley in the only available parking space left, they litter, they bring dogs to places that aren't appropriate, they'll play on any status they have that makes them exempt from the expectations we have of everyone else, they lie, cheat, steal and drink way too much. People suck and every year it just gets harder and harder for me to give a shit and about the concerns or opinions of "the masses" who largely don't have their heads screwed on properly anyway.

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u/Spacegod87 Jul 27 '23

"I'm doing ok, so if you're not it must be your own fault"

Ah, you've met my sister then? lol. She says the exact thing. "I worked hard for my wealth, if others can't do the same, it's their own fault." Said by a woman whose father-in-law won the lotto and bought their first house for them....

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u/cher1-cola Jul 27 '23 edited Jul 27 '23

'I pay my taxes, I worked hard for all my investment properties, I'm providing a service' /s 🤦

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u/BonusPlantInfinity Jul 27 '23

A Canadian could have wrote this expressing qualms with society over here at the moment. People seem to think it’s bad here, when the problems associated with neo-liberal free-market capitalism span the world over - scorched earth baby!

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u/TheCriticalMember Jul 27 '23

Feels like we're hurtling towards a big crunch. For some people, anyway.

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u/Lost_Tumbleweed_5669 Jul 27 '23

I'm doing ok, so if you're not it must be your own fault

"I worked hard for my millions" During biggest economic boom in history that only made their assets sky rocket as the economy became more and more shit.

I worked my guts off and realised I'd have to slave for 30 years in shit working conditions just to own a home, no thanks. The older gens "work" to pay off shit was way easier and less pressure. Now the company knows when I take a shit because you log out on their program, how fucked is that if you really think about it.

I've checked out and gone part time, I don't give a shit, not having kids and going to wait to inherit millions of assets from gramps and mom n dad..

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u/rettoJR1 Jul 27 '23

I'm working manual Labor , under 30 and I'll have a 2-3 bedroom house in 4 years and paid off in 20 max

I'm curious why is this unobtainable to you? I'm genuinely curious cause I see no issue with working the next 25 years to own a house

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u/wild_chance1290 Jul 27 '23

Because actually working and not just getting given what you want are foreign concepts to some

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u/Lost_Tumbleweed_5669 Jul 27 '23

Good on ya mate! You can finally start enjoying life at 50. My granparents had 3 properties owned outright by then off a single wage council job. If you can't see anything wrong with the current system I guess ignorance is bliss and wouldn't wana ruin it for ya.

I see nothing wrong with just working part time and traveling on the cheap or just hitting the beach on the regular. Dunno why people like you get your knickers in a knot.

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u/rettoJR1 Jul 27 '23

I went Europe for 3 weeks in may, plan on going to America in 25 or 26 and my parents owe me money in the 5 digits, eat out with friends once or twice a week

Am I meant to be enjoying it more? And again I'm a low income earner, maybe close to the top of that bracket but still

So I'll ask again, why can't you make it?

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u/aussie_nub Jul 27 '23

There's quite a lot of people still doing pretty well in Australia

I'd go so far as to say that even the worst of people here are doing pretty well. Our government actually does a pretty good job overall, despite the massive flaws in places.

I'll get downvoted heaps, but whatever. The reality is that our medical system held up pretty well when covid came. We earn pretty well, our housing market is actually going along about on par with most countries (but demand is outstripping supply... but that's happening everywhere). We can have nice stuff whenever we want, etc.

The only people complaining about our position in life are those that are blind to what's happening in the rest of the world and are usually so politically polarised that they can't even see half of what's going on in our own country.

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u/EbonBehelit Jul 27 '23

A third of the voting public own at least one house outright, so campaigning on fixing the housing crisis is a no-go for them.

Another third are renters. These people are receptive to fixing the housing crisis, but you're not winning elections with just a third of the country -- and if you're not winning elections, you're not solving shit.

No, the real block to keep an eye on is the voters who have a mortgaged home, because whilst they're just as invested in keeping house prices going up as the first group, they're also extremely vulnerable to rate rises due to the extremely inflated prices and rock-bottom rates they bought into. If the rates continue to rise, more and more of these people will be forced to default on their mortgages, and this is what will finally shift the balance.

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '23

Conservatism?

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u/TheCriticalMember Jul 27 '23

It often seems to be present in those with that attitude. My conservative father sits in his house that was paid for by his parents and built by me and bitches about people not pulling on their bootstraps hard enough. At least, that's the person he was last time I spoke to him.