A few weeks ago I wrote a post called Australia’s Ever Changing Economy; Have Sydney and Melbourne Peaked? It was based on the latest State of States report from CommSec and my conclusion was that maybe the days of Victoria and New South Wales being the powerhouses of Australia were coming to an end.
A reader called Peter gave us his thoughts in the comments…
Two very succinct statements, but are they true?
First, just to check, obviously because if anybody needs to know the answer to this one, it’s me, I googled “Is Bob an idiot“.
Prominent in the results was American rapper Bobby Ray Simmons (more widely known as B.o.B) who apparently, sometime in 2016, declared to his Twitter followers that the world is flat and he could prove it.
I couldn’t find anything about me being an idiot, so I’ll take that as a win.
Now the more complex issue and one that is important to more people than just me, the question of whether Australia is finished? So, here are the headlines from a Google search for “Is Australia finished“.
Is Australia finished?
Looks like the Aussie dollar is struggling, there’s a bit of talk about various sports and even a TV show called ‘Australian Ninja Warrior‘, whatever that is, gets a mention.
Crikey, the second top result is about Australia’s seasons!
Other than that, nothing much going on here.
Is the UK finished?
Obviously this website is about moving to Australia and as such, I compare Australia to other countries, most notably the UK and in some part the US. So for comparison purposes, I googled “Is the UK finished“, and that was a different story.
As you can see from the headlines, quite a few people think that it is.
What about the US?
Is the US finished?
Same search, here are the results…
Looks like season 3 of “This Is Us” is finished and the men’s national soccer team finished 12th in something or other. From the looks of the other six headlines though, there is much talk about the possibility of the US being finished.
So I have decided to dedicate today’s post to Peter and call it…
The grass always looks greener on the other side
Here goes.
Ahem!
No, sometimes it doesn’t.
I thank you.
A better explanation
Maybe I should try and explain that a little further.
The way I see it, all countries are declining these days, no place seems to be going from strength to strength. If you stay in one country you can only judge it by comparing it with how it used to be.
When things aren’t as good now as they used to be 10, 20 or even 30 years ago, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that the place is finished.
I think it’s all comparative, every country is going through the same kind of decline, so the only comparison is one country against another.
On the basis of the unquestionable science of using Google search and the results that has given us above, I think we can see that Australia is still doing okay compared with its peers.
Australia is not finished yet, despite our politicians best efforts (see breaking news).
My thanks to Google for its infinite wisdom.
If you want to have a discussion, stop censoring my comments.
If you are not willing to have a free discussion, stop talking badly about me.
I stand by my previous comment – Australia IS finished.
There are dozens of logical, scientific, economic and environmental reasons to back up my claim. Quality of life has been declining for years and will continue to do so.
Peter, (for the record, the same Peter who inspired this post) you made five comments in eight hours on this page, and one of them was automatically held for moderation as it used some words to trigger that process.
When I reviewed that comment today, I found that it did not comply with my Comment Policy on three counts, specifically the first three items in my ‘What I hate about comments’ list.
The comment was also in breach of this website’s Terms of Use; specifically a number of those listed under User Conduct. For even further clarification, because it was a very long comment, it was the words you used to describe some immigrants after ‘Howard opened the gates’, that were most offensive.
For that reason, your comment was not approved. This is not censorship, this website reserves its right not to give a platform to the kinds of views you expressed.
You are now no longer welcome to comment on this website, and any comments that you do attempt to post will be deleted immediately.
Censoring again ?
I have a suggestion for you, Bob.
Google “Australia is finished” again and keep your eyes open.
What you will come across is the following link,
Immigrating to Sydney: Why do immigrants leave Australia?
http://blog.sydneybybyron.com/2009/12/why-do-immigrants-leave-australia.html
I suggest you read it VERY CAREFULLY.
Australia is based on exploitation of overseas students, that is all there is, Bob.
I did a degree in Australia and cannot tell you how humiliated I have been by this whole ‘export industry’. Australian baby-boomers are the most selfish generation ever and I cannot wait to see them slowly die. Selfish parasites.
Hey Bob,
While you’re chatting international students. Our long term goal is emigrating. We have 3 children and obviously uni is something we want to plan for in case they decide its for them. Any clues where we would stand in terms of fees? We would love to get PR but I’m so confused by all the visas and requirements, I don’t know if we would get PR status by the time the oldest may want to study…. They may all decide to become plumbers and I’m wasting my time! ?
Well, I’m only going by what other parents are told in the past, and the last time I spoke about student fees with anyone was at least a couple years ago.
So here’s what I think I know.
I don’t think PR will help you at all, I think people on PR have to pay for university, what will help though is Australian citizenship. Even then it’s not free, but you do get a student loan which is only payable back by the student when they are earning a certain amount of money each year. The money is then taken out of their salary automatically and I remember speaking to one student and he said the weekly amount was quite small, in fact he hardly noticed it at all.
Whether what I think I’ve remembered is correct or not, I really don’t know, but if you get serious about this idea, I would certainly suggest you find out the latest information direct from the relevant state education department.
Hi Bob,
Don’t waste your time on this.
Something that is true and I have mentioned before, is that life in Australia for international students is tough. Some students share rooms with 2 or more people.
I have a friend that lives with other 8 people in a 3 bedroom apartment.
Most of them, work for the minimum wage, “the lucky ones”, other do uber eats for a living. and Cleaning.
He might be saying that.
Anyway, is not that easy to find a job these days. And is even worst if you are with limited work permit.
Cheers,
Alex
PD: I have been here in Brisbane for the past 7 months and I love this place. Every piece of it.
Yes, got to agree with you Alex about Brisbane, I love it here as well.
As for students, it was never the intention of that arrangement for youngsters to come here and earn good money, it’s more of a lucrative business selling education to international students.
I think it is primarily aimed at well off international students coming here and paying their way, rather than earning their way. I agree, it’s the lucky ones that earn the minimum wage.
The guy who posted that comment did it on a page about the Australian economy, so I don’t think he was referring to international students.
There are still some good jobs about for skilled adults though, I have a page about how much you need to earn here in Australia and I’ve had lots of people posting the salaries they’ve been offered to move here.
Some people are still getting some great salaries, quite a few at been offered salaries of $90k per year or more, and I think one recently said he was offered $170k. So decent jobs are still about for the right people.