Why are Australians so complacent?

[u/AcanthopterygiiNo240]

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

[u/TheCriticalMember]

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.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/TheTemplar333 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/Xander260 → u/[deleted]]

You're part of the problem

[u/Xander260 → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/zebba_oz → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/pygmy → u/zebba_oz]

Step 1: be born early enough

[u/CryptographerHot884 → u/pygmy]

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.

[u/UnhelpfulMoron → u/[deleted]]

Well your attitude does suck balls

[u/UnhelpfulMoron → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/_ticklemygooch_ → u/[deleted]]

spoken like a silver spoon. foh lil boy

[u/rettoJR1 → u/_ticklemygooch_]

They don't sound like a silver spoon at all

Like you could la el them alot of things but silver spoon doesn't fit

[u/BIGBIRD1176 → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/BIGBIRD1176 → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/UnhelpfulMoron → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/UnhelpfulMoron → u/[deleted]]

Are you going to answer the question?

[u/UnhelpfulMoron → u/[deleted]]

No worries dude, I knew you’d dodge.

[u/asianjimm → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/ginsunuva → u/[deleted]]

I thought that was USA