To the outside world, Australia is the land of plenty. Laid-back people, picturesque beaches, blue skies — the world’s smallest continent has it all. However, this is for many Australians just the postcard stereotype many foreign visitors envision, one that Bari Weiss fell for in her Jan. 8 opinion piece headlined “Australians have more fun.” For people living here, life is not the constant indulgence in fun she portrays. Making ends meet here can be just as hard as in America.
If you are a temporary visitor, you may think Australia is the best place to live — universal healthcare, an overly generous welfare system, a decent education system — the country would be a great place to start a new life.
I do hope Weiss enjoyed her time here, though I really wouldn’t recommend spending seven hours on the beach — rates of nonmelanoma skin cancer hovers around a million a year. Australians also work extremely hard, and on average put in an extra six hours a week (38 hours is the norm).
They also face problems with a moribund wage growth being rapidly overtaken by the cost of living. Infrastructure is a joke, and the nanny state is a joke — bicycle helmets are mandatory across the country, bars and nightclubs in New South Wales and Queensland are subject to lockout laws, and expect a hefty fine and a loss of demerit points for not wearing a seat belt.
Oh, and public health paternalism is massive here, not that the Australian Medical Association likes this label — they prefer “preventative health.” They would do better by wrapping people in cotton wool.
Australians do love fun, but there is always a load of red tape from people who think they know better than the masses. Then we have to live with other political nonsense.
Any assertion that Australia “is not in the midst of a raging culture war,” as Weiss suggests, is sheer ignorance. Take for instance the national day, Australia Day. Passionate debate exists as to whether commemorating British settlement is appropriate or insensitive to Indigenous Australians.
This is a strong debate which elicits strong emotions among those for and against. Each year there seems to also be a political act, whether it’s far-left local councils scrapping celebrations and citizenship ceremonies to the current Liberal government scrapping their right to hold ceremonies and, in the future, making ceremonies mandatory on Jan. 26. As for the people, a vast majority want to keep the date, in contrast to the likes of the greens and fringe socialist movements aiming to rid Australia of anything “colonial.”
Increasingly, as with the U.S., far-left and far-right movements are further encouraging the culture wars, particularly over immigration and asylum seekers. Other issues such as coal mining, labor laws, even down to pushes in schools and universities that Australia was colonized rather than invaded or settled, are emblematic of a deep culture war.
Inclusive on this debate is the fact that Australia retains Queen Elizabeth II as our head of state — yes, that Queen Elizabeth II that rules the United Kingdom. Before going on about the political nature, one should remind Weiss that mocking another country for retaining links to the United Kingdom is just as rude as someone from England traveling to America and calling the country ungrateful for declaring independence. One only needs to remember the trouble Charles de Gaulle’s “Vive le Quebec libre” speech caused.
Australia also voted overwhelmingly to keep the queen in a 1999 referendum for many reasons, including concerns over the presidential model recommended, general pragmatism (the system works), respect for the queen herself, and support for those British ties. A funny phenomenon is that Australian millennials are becoming strongly pro-monarchy for their own reasons, in contrast to Spain and even Britain.
However, despite the claims of Michael Fullilove that the monarchy holds Australia back, there is a very strong distrust of the political, corporate, and intellectual classes which overwhelmingly support the republican case. There is a genuine fear of giving the Australian political class absolute control of politics, functional and symbolic.
Distrust of politicians is nothing new. Australia has a strong irreverence to leadership and egalitarian tradition, possibly going back to the nation’s heritage as a convict colony. Recent actions, though, have turned irreverence into derision.
This is not new, it’s a phenomenon across the West. People often complain politicians behave worse than kindergarteners during Question Time, and the partisan mudslinging has only made things worse. As Australia’s political system is strongly modeled on the Westminster System, down to the chamber design, the rowdy adversarial nature of the political theater is something inherited and tolerated.
However, the leadership spills of both sides over the last 11 years have only incensed voters, coupled with policy decisions that many see as against the public interest (the decision by Malcolm Turnbull to oppose a Royal Commission into the banking sector only to be forced to do so by backbenchers threatening to switch parties, and then have the multitude of banking misconduct revealed comes to mind, along with Julia Gillard’s Carbon Tax backflip).
Former Prime Minister John Howard admits political spectrum is less tribal than the days where the split was 40 percent Labor, 40 percent Liberal, and 20 percent undecided or minor parties. Weiss may be right, but Australians by nature are passionately vocal about their opinions — many just see no hope in either party.
Do not get me wrong, I love my country, and most Australians do, too. However, the average Australian is realistic. We do like to dream, but we keep our feet firmly on the ground. While we dream of a better Australia, and we know we have got it better than most of the world, most of us would think Weiss’ depiction is incorrect.
The grass is always greener on the other side. I would advise Bari Weiss that the Australian postcard often differs from the reality.
Jake Elson is a law student at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. He is involved with the local branch of the Conservative Party.
