• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Let's talk about the problems in Australia for a change!

spikepipsqueak said:
pood said:
Speaking of Australia.

After enduring a BRUTAL New York City winter, I have lately got the notion in my noggin to move to Sydney, Australia.

Why? I have never been there, but have studied it online, and I love the harbor and the opera house (opera fan) and I understand it has great beaches (I am a beach bum). Plus, the weather, unlike here, seems equable year-round. New York City is COLD six months of the year, and I am too old for cold.

I know there are several Australians posting here, so maybe they could advise me on what it would take to move to Sydney, what the cost of living is like, and whether an American would be welcome there, given that pretty much the whole world now hates America because of Trump.

Keep in mind that within 15 years or so, should I live so long, I will likely be a doddering and drooling old coot who yells at everyone and everything (actually, I kind of yell at everyone and everything already, though I am still physically spry and mentally acute).
Click to expand...

Very few Australians hate Americans. You would be welcome here at a grass roots level, not sure about gov't requirements. They might require that you bring lots of money to the table.

Sydney is lovely (and I say that through the inhibiting action of the Melbourne/Sydney rivalry), it can't be denied. Also the highest real estate prices in the country. You should also investigate Adelaide. If it comes to that, any of Australia's State capitals would be warmer than NYC, and none of them are a complete cultural desert. All of them have beaches. Good beaches.

What many of us are hesitant about are some of your mores, which are leaking over to us via film and television and, increasingly, news coverage. You can keep your shooting massacres and your notion that only the rich deserve health care and to get away with all sorts of illegal activity unscathed. Thanks, anyway.

The thing that might be confronting, and I think this is what has SoHy in a snit, is that we can see from the outside things that are going wrong in the US, that are less obvious from within, on the Frog Principle, and until you lose some of your accent it will become wearing that so many people want to tell you about it. With the best of intentions. They will be assuming that if Americans had noticed this stuff they would have done something about it. And we DO like a political discussion.

Elixir said:
WAB said:
I just wanna know one thing. Does turning your glass over in an Aussie pub mean you want to get into a fight?

Apologies if pub is not the correct word...
Click to expand...
Was the glass full?
Click to expand...

That WOULD get you into a fight, if it was the other person's glass.
Click to expand...
I saw a video on Youtube, which was a bit from an actual film made in the early 1960's, which was filmed inside a pub in Sydney. A few of the old regulars - and these were rather scary types with a couple front teeth missing, who were about fifty to sixty - who claimed that if you finished a drink and turned your glass upside down on the bar, that meant that you were itching for a fight. A few others that were interviewed said that this was ballocks, or that they knew nothing about it. I will look high and low for the film, and link to it if I can.

Stay tuned...I know I'm not bonkers!
 
Oh Crikey, one search yielded a whole bunch of matches! Come on, fess up!

 
bilby said:
pood said:
Speaking of Australia.

After enduring a BRUTAL New York City winter, I have lately got the notion in my noggin to move to Sydney, Australia.

Why? I have never been there, but have studied it online, and I love the harbor and the opera house (opera fan) and I understand it has great beaches (I am a beach bum). Plus, the weather, unlike here, seems equable year-round. New York City is COLD six months of the year, and I am too old for cold.

I know there are several Australians posting here, so maybe they could advise me on what it would take to move to Sydney, what the cost of living is like, and whether an American would be welcome there, given that pretty much the whole world now hates America because of Trump.

Keep in mind that within 15 years or so, should I live so long, I will likely be a doddering and drooling old coot who yells at everyone and everything (actually, I kind of yell at everyone and everything already, though I am still physically spry and mentally acute).
Click to expand...
I reckon you might enjoy Sydney; As a New Yorker, you will probably find the things I dislike about the place to be positive (or at least neutral) - It's a big city, with the big city rushing around, focus on work and self, busy busy vibe.

It's a very good place to live if you don't need to earn a living. Retirement there could be fun. Winters there are mild, but still too chilly for this Queenslander.

Sydney is pretty expensive, at least compared to other Australian cities; Real estate is absurdly pricey, though again, as a New Yorker, your opinion may differ.

When I came to Australia from the UK, there were a few things that struck me as absurdly inexpensive, and a few that seemed oddly pricey, or even just plain unavailable. A lot of food here is far more expensive than in the US (but rather cheaper than the UK), particularly if you eat out - But the price on the menu is what you will pay; We don't have sales taxes (There is GST, but it is included in the price, not added afterwards), and we don't tip. Simple foods are not so expensive, and you can eat well on a budget if you cook your own meals, but fast food is no longer the cheap option it once was.

Anyone is welcome in Sydney; It's incredibly cosmopolitan, and even Americans ;) won't cop serious abuse there - Though you might have to endure some banter from the locals.

Moving here can be difficult, but it depends on your circumstances. If you plan to work here, you likely need a skill that is in short supply, or a job already lined up with an employer who will sponsor you. The current options can be found at: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing

If you want to retire here, it has become rather difficult since 2018, when the Investor Retirement Visa was closed to new applicants. You may need to limit your stay to a maximum of 12 months, which is the most allowed on a Visitor Visa.
Click to expand...

I was actually looking at Sydney as a retirement option, which is why I mentioned that 15 years or so down the line I will likely be a crotchety old man yelling at small children to get off my lawn (even if I don’t have a lawn). I don’t know if Australians will tolerate such behavior. 🫤

I have a friend from Australia who drinks like a fish and smokes pot and has now brought property down in New Mexico where is building two houses, and he has invited me to eventually rent one of them. That is another option. The weather down there, on the Mexican border, is gorgeous. However, the whole place is practically barren. The main landmark is the cemetery. His accent is so thick I can barely understand what he saying half the time, but he is a nice guy. I did a good pencil portrait of him.

I assume Sydney is pretty multi-culti, because that is a must. I don’t want to hang with a bunch of of boring old white guys like me.

I can definitely dig the idea of hanging at the beach all day, weather permitting, and then going to that gorgeous opera house in the evening.
 
pood said:
I was actually looking at Sydney as a retirement option, which is why I mentioned that 15 years or so down the line I will likely be a crotchety old man yelling at small children to get off my lawn (even if I don’t have a lawn). I don’t know if Australians will tolerate such behavior.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Sydney is more tolerant than the rest of Australia in that regard; Many of the city's residents don't have a lawn, though they are frowned upon by those of us who do. ;)
 
bilby said:
pood said:
I was actually looking at Sydney as a retirement option, which is why I mentioned that 15 years or so down the line I will likely be a crotchety old man yelling at small children to get off my lawn (even if I don’t have a lawn). I don’t know if Australians will tolerate such behavior.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Sydney is more tolerant than the rest of Australia in that regard; Many of the city's residents don't have a lawn, though they are frowned upon by those of us who do. ;)
Click to expand...
Fuck your lawn. It turns brown/white every summer anyways. I like my cactus and my house cat.
 
Anyways,
Tigers! said:
TV and credit cards said:
I think the cunts should... sorry, I just can't do that.
Click to expand...
Thank you.
TV and credit cards said:
I think Aussies should call out what is wrong with their country.
Click to expand...
We do but nobody outside about Australia listens or cares. Actually we don't even listen or care inside Australia.
TV and credit cards said:
We Americans have no problem doing so. Barbos has no problem calling out all the ills of his country. Okay, that's a flat out fucking lie. But I do like to hear about what is going on in other countries. I know Britain has no shortage of problems. It would make me feel a lot better hearing about how fucked up everyone else is. I call that being worldly.
Click to expand...
We are stuffed too if that will make you feel content.
Click to expand...
B - Believe me when I say, I understand. I thought this might be part of it but didn't want to make such an assumption.


I thought about moving somewhere, anywhere else as my healthcare is portable and this is a big check in the box for some nations. But hell, I couldn't even stay in California, it was too foreign for me. Some people can move, others can't. I always had a desire to be back home. I also learned it is difficult for a city mouse to become a country mouse as options become very limited; where, perhaps even what you eat, entertainment, social interaction, quick and easy access to stores, medical care, etc, all of it changes in an instant.


I enjoyed Adelaide most of all for what little time I spent there. That was the late 80's though. Folks are friendly but folks are mostly friendly everywhere I've been. This is what I think the news skews most in people's perception of other cultures, that they may not be accepting of outsiders.
For as bad as people might think a bustling city might be, rural areas can be so much more of a disappointment. Neighbors are few but can be quite obnoxious, from yards filled with junk to shooting off guns to noisy off road toys tearing up the landscape. People who have lived their entire life in the same small town, in such cultural isolation, never venturing out have some of the craziest notions of how the rest of the world works.
 
WAB said:
I saw a video on Youtube, which was a bit from an actual film made in the early 1960's, which was filmed inside a pub in Sydney. A few of the old regulars - and these were rather scary types with a couple front teeth missing, who were about fifty to sixty - who claimed that if you finished a drink and turned your glass upside down on the bar, that meant that you were itching for a fight. A few others that were interviewed said that this was ballocks,
Click to expand...
… and one of them lost another tooth in the ensuing fight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WAB
barbos said:
I noticed lots of Australians move to ...... Russia.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sure they do. :rolleyes:

I do recall a story a few years back about an American family moving to Russia because the moronic mom and dad wanted to escape homosexuality and other Western “blights.” After a while all they wanted to do was return to the U.S. Don’t know what happened to them.

Hell, even Lee Harvey Oswald had enough sense to move back to the U.S. after a stint in the horrific Soviet Union.
 
Ha, ha, just looked it up! The dumbass father, Derec, wanted to escape “woke” culture. The Russians obliged him by sending him to fight on the Ukrainian front line. Good going, Derec! Not surprisingly he is from Texas.
 
Actually, if anyone wants to point out a problem that Australia has worse than anyone else in the world it isn't drinking,

It's gambling.

Let's discuss.
 
pood said:
Yeah, sure they do. :rolleyes:

I do recall a story a few years back about an American family moving to Russia because the moronic mom and dad wanted to escape homosexuality and other Western “blights.” After a while all they wanted to do was return to the U.S. Don’t know what happened to them.
Click to expand...
IIRC, the father was recruited to fight in Ukraine even though he was promised nothing like that would happen. Also, IIRC, he didn't come back alive.

ETA: Ooops. Ninja'd.
 
Patooka said:
bilby said:
pood said:
I was actually looking at Sydney as a retirement option, which is why I mentioned that 15 years or so down the line I will likely be a crotchety old man yelling at small children to get off my lawn (even if I don’t have a lawn). I don’t know if Australians will tolerate such behavior.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Sydney is more tolerant than the rest of Australia in that regard; Many of the city's residents don't have a lawn, though they are frowned upon by those of us who do. ;)
Click to expand...
Fuck your lawn. It turns brown/white every summer anyways. I like my cactus and my house cat.
Click to expand...
Jokes on you, in Queensland summer is the wet season, and my lawn looks beautiful right now after two days of heavy rain.

It turns brown in the winter. :)
 
Patooka said:
Actually, if anyone wants to point out a problem that Australia has worse than anyone else in the world it isn't drinking,

It's gambling.

Let's discuss.
Click to expand...
I agree. Australians are nuts for all kinds of gambling. It's the national vice.

Perhaps we need better mathematics lessons in our schools.
 
bilby said:
Patooka said:
bilby said:
pood said:
I was actually looking at Sydney as a retirement option, which is why I mentioned that 15 years or so down the line I will likely be a crotchety old man yelling at small children to get off my lawn (even if I don’t have a lawn). I don’t know if Australians will tolerate such behavior.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Sydney is more tolerant than the rest of Australia in that regard; Many of the city's residents don't have a lawn, though they are frowned upon by those of us who do. ;)
Click to expand...
Fuck your lawn. It turns brown/white every summer anyways. I like my cactus and my house cat.
Click to expand...
Jokes on you, in Queensland summer is the wet season, and my lawn looks beautiful right now after two days of heavy rain.

It turns brown in the winter. :)
Click to expand...

But the winter is approaching for you now. Meanwhile for me summer is approaching! And today, even though it is still technically winter, the temp is miraculously 70! :cool:
 
southernhybrid said:
Since we have a few Aussies who think they know everything about the USA, and what Americans are thinking etc, maybe we should talk about Australia's problems for a while, as that country, along with many other so called democratic countries are also facing problems similar to ours. Of course, there is nobody as bad as Trump, the malignant narcissist, with symptoms of dementia and psychopathy, and his own party lacks the courage to stop him. But......it's not just here. Maybe idiocracy is coming to the world. Is it too much plastic in our. brains? Who knows!

And, I have no idea is the term Aussie is an insult, but you guys are the only ones who refers to us as Yanks. We are not Yanks. The Yankees are a baseball team, who are often referred to as Yanks, and way back when, people from the North who moved to the South were referred to as Yankees, but in the past couple of decades, we no longer hear that term and now the South is extremely integrated culturally, racially and ethnically. But, I digress and I haven't even started. yet. While the article in the link is in a current source of news, it was written back in June 2025. Don't worry, I'm sure I can find more negative things about Australia's current political problems

https://www.thetimes.com.au/world/3...ined-in-government-report-now-for-some-action

Threats and challenges to Australia’s democracy are well outlined in government report. Now for some action​

  • Written by Carolyn Holbrook, Associate Professor in History, Deakin University
The Strengthening Australian Democracy[1] report released by Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil this week provides a sophisticated diagnosis of the challenges facing democratic governance around the world. The report also offers a broad prescription of how Australia might meet those challenges.

The Strengthening Democracy Taskforce, established by O’Neil in 2023, prepared the report, which is based on wide consultation and deep research. It positions Australia as a global leader and innovator in democratic practice.

The report argues we need to recognise and safeguard against our own vulnerability to anti-democratic headwinds and regard the defence of democracy as an issue of vital international importance. We don’t want to become “an island of democracy in a sea of autocracy”.

The threat to democracy​

The scale of the global threat to democracy is well-recognised. We are seeing the erosion of democratic institutions and conventions such as a free press and judicial independence around the world, including in Brazil, Venezuela, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, India and Indonesia.

In the United States, the politician who has already shown he is prepared to disregard democratic norms, in a nation that trumpets itself as the bastion of democracy, may well be re-elected as president. “Strongman” populists in the style of Donald Trump, armed with simplistic and potentially dangerous solutions to extremely complex problems, are — in the words of O’Neil— “replicating at an exponential rate”.

The Strengthening Australian Democracy report conceives Australian democracy expansively, as a community-wide project. Community consent through the electoral system gives licence and legitimacy to our elected politicians.

Our democratic practice includes not only those electoral and political systems, but vital elements such as judicial independence, anti-corruption bodies, publicly owned media and civil society.
Click to expand...
Australia is in a stronger position than many other countries. However, there are alarming signs of democratic decay in rising levels of polarisation and distrust in our democratic system. This is particularly so among the young and less advantaged.


The report also details the threat to Australian democracy posed by foreign actors through various means. These include the use of human commentators by a surprisingly high number of overseas governments — 47 in the year to May 2023 — to distort online debate and seed conspiracy theories. It also includes the deployment of AI technology to spread distrust in government.
Click to expand...

So, what ya gonna do about your own country's problems? We got enough on our hands to deal with. We don't need your criticism. We know we're in a mess. Do you know you're in a potential mess of your own?
Click to expand...
Americans are referred to as Yanks by other than Australians ( such as your fellow Georgians) and Yanks refers to the Yankees, as in the portion of the US who fought in defense of our nation and who won, defeating the southern Rebels who fought fir the right to continue to hold black people as property, no more than cattle with the side benefit of being acceptable to rape enslaved women to create future generations of enslaved people to continue to treat as livestock, except for when it came to raping them to create more enslaved livestock. That is what the team, the Yankees refers to.

You’ve been living in Georgia too long.
 
bilby said:
Patooka said:
bilby said:
pood said:
I was actually looking at Sydney as a retirement option, which is why I mentioned that 15 years or so down the line I will likely be a crotchety old man yelling at small children to get off my lawn (even if I don’t have a lawn). I don’t know if Australians will tolerate such behavior.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Sydney is more tolerant than the rest of Australia in that regard; Many of the city's residents don't have a lawn, though they are frowned upon by those of us who do. ;)
Click to expand...
Fuck your lawn. It turns brown/white every summer anyways. I like my cactus and my house cat.
Click to expand...
Jokes on you, in Queensland summer is the wet season, and my lawn looks beautiful right now after two days of heavy rain.

It turns brown in the winter. :)
Click to expand...
My lawn turns a lovely white in the winter.
 
Toni said:
southernhybrid said:
Since we have a few Aussies who think they know everything about the USA, and what Americans are thinking etc, maybe we should talk about Australia's problems for a while, as that country, along with many other so called democratic countries are also facing problems similar to ours. Of course, there is nobody as bad as Trump, the malignant narcissist, with symptoms of dementia and psychopathy, and his own party lacks the courage to stop him. But......it's not just here. Maybe idiocracy is coming to the world. Is it too much plastic in our. brains? Who knows!

And, I have no idea is the term Aussie is an insult, but you guys are the only ones who refers to us as Yanks. We are not Yanks. The Yankees are a baseball team, who are often referred to as Yanks, and way back when, people from the North who moved to the South were referred to as Yankees, but in the past couple of decades, we no longer hear that term and now the South is extremely integrated culturally, racially and ethnically. But, I digress and I haven't even started. yet. While the article in the link is in a current source of news, it was written back in June 2025. Don't worry, I'm sure I can find more negative things about Australia's current political problems

https://www.thetimes.com.au/world/3...ined-in-government-report-now-for-some-action

Threats and challenges to Australia’s democracy are well outlined in government report. Now for some action​

  • Written by Carolyn Holbrook, Associate Professor in History, Deakin University
The Strengthening Australian Democracy[1] report released by Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil this week provides a sophisticated diagnosis of the challenges facing democratic governance around the world. The report also offers a broad prescription of how Australia might meet those challenges.

The Strengthening Democracy Taskforce, established by O’Neil in 2023, prepared the report, which is based on wide consultation and deep research. It positions Australia as a global leader and innovator in democratic practice.

The report argues we need to recognise and safeguard against our own vulnerability to anti-democratic headwinds and regard the defence of democracy as an issue of vital international importance. We don’t want to become “an island of democracy in a sea of autocracy”.

The threat to democracy​

The scale of the global threat to democracy is well-recognised. We are seeing the erosion of democratic institutions and conventions such as a free press and judicial independence around the world, including in Brazil, Venezuela, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, India and Indonesia.

In the United States, the politician who has already shown he is prepared to disregard democratic norms, in a nation that trumpets itself as the bastion of democracy, may well be re-elected as president. “Strongman” populists in the style of Donald Trump, armed with simplistic and potentially dangerous solutions to extremely complex problems, are — in the words of O’Neil— “replicating at an exponential rate”.

The Strengthening Australian Democracy report conceives Australian democracy expansively, as a community-wide project. Community consent through the electoral system gives licence and legitimacy to our elected politicians.

Our democratic practice includes not only those electoral and political systems, but vital elements such as judicial independence, anti-corruption bodies, publicly owned media and civil society.
Click to expand...
Australia is in a stronger position than many other countries. However, there are alarming signs of democratic decay in rising levels of polarisation and distrust in our democratic system. This is particularly so among the young and less advantaged.


The report also details the threat to Australian democracy posed by foreign actors through various means. These include the use of human commentators by a surprisingly high number of overseas governments — 47 in the year to May 2023 — to distort online debate and seed conspiracy theories. It also includes the deployment of AI technology to spread distrust in government.
Click to expand...

So, what ya gonna do about your own country's problems? We got enough on our hands to deal with. We don't need your criticism. We know we're in a mess. Do you know you're in a potential mess of your own?
Click to expand...
Americans are referred to as Yanks by other than Australians ( such as your fellow Georgians) and Yanks refers to the Yankees, as in the portion of the US who fought in defense of our nation and who won, defeating the southern Rebels who fought fir the right to continue to hold black people as property, no more than cattle with the side benefit of being acceptable to rape enslaved women to create future generations of enslaved people to continue to treat as livestock, except for when it came to raping them to create more enslaved livestock. That is what the team, the Yankees refers to.

You’ve been living in Georgia too long.
Click to expand...
Nobody uses that term in the South any longer. At least not that I know of. Besides there are probably more people from NJ in the South than actual natives of the South now. ;) Did you ever watch that episode of South Park? Most of us get along quite well these days, at least in my small city, which is majority Black but has plenty of MAGA white people as well. The Black people I know have a lot more common sense.

They did use the term Yankee, when I moved to SC in the 70s, but I haven't heard it in decades. But, here's an old joke for you, if you've never heard it. It does refer to people from the North who move to the South.

What do Yankees and Hemorrhoids have in common?

If they come down and go back up quickly, they're not too bad, but if they come down and stay, they're a pain in the ass.

I think a nurse who was a native of SC told it to me when she learned I was from NJ. She was quite a character who I worked with when I was a public health nurse in the late 70s. Are we off topic enough?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom