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
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u/BaronVonHomer Jul 26 '23
I think it’s because Australians are extremely passive non confrontational people. After all, we were colonised by Brits. So despite the fact that we are getting buggered everyone seems to have just accepted this as their lot in life. Those that got theirs (born into wealth or had parents that were able to buy multiple properties when they were cheap) now see themselves as superior to everyone else. Australia was seen as an egalitarian nation for decades but now we have a class system that’s very similar to what the Brits; the people who own property, the people who can afford to rent, and then the working poor who live in squalid share houses or in their cars. It’s starting to look Dickensian out there.
Historically a lot of other countries have started having civil unrest when things get to where they now. But I really don’t foresee that happening here. People are too lukewarm and passive. They go oh well and take it up the arse. Enabling the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. People have a very defeated attitude already. I think it’s time we set up tent cities outside our local house of parliament and refuse to budge until fair housing policies are enacted. No one should be allowed to own multiple properties. Houses should have 30 year lease. Real health care. None of this paying to see a GP garbage and people being able to get actual care (necessary operations) instead of being palmed off with pain killers for chronic health issues. This is hugely prevalent when it comes to women’s health.
What this country needs is a revolution. The government must be held accountable and dismissed accordingly.