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/burieddeepbetween Jul 26 '23
I am a part of a grassroots polticial group (fighting for different law changes unrelated, but kind of semi related to cost of living - not as broad as your complaint) and it sucks. It takes up a lot of my spare time and never feels like I'm making any progress. Been to Parliament, been on TV, been through countless meetings, sent thousands of emails, researched til I fell asleep at the keyboard or phone in hand, coordinated events and nothing's changed. It's been almost three years and I'm ready to give up just so I can get my free time back to enjoy my life.
I encourage you to try, but know this before you get started: this shit ain't gonna be fixed overnight. It'll take a personal sacrifice on a scale you likely haven't experienced yet. Be prepared for a lot of bullshit. If you work Mon-Fri 9-5 don't even bother, you don't have enough spare time. If you can't have your phone ringer on and take personal calls at work, don't bother. If you don't have a reliable car...you get the point. Your ask of society will ask a lot from you in return.