I used to adore this country. I felt a sense of pride as a child growing up in this country.
Its beautiful, wide open plains that poets waxed lyrically over. Its carefree attitude, with its ocker sense of humour; one that never took itself too seriously. Its unashamedly brash support of the underdog, and patriotism egging on its little battlers on the world stage.
What has changed? Here is a list of reasons why I have grown hate this country.
- Not possible to leave the country, except if you qualify under strict conditions*
- While the population is not able to travel abroad, the Prime Minister can leave to NZ and UK without even attending G7 and the Queensland Premier is free to plan a trip to the Tokyo Olympics
- Almost every other democratic country has opened its borders and allows its citizens to travel abroad
- Significant barriers to re-enter the country if you leave
- Lockdowns in almost every state when virus numbers are almost non-existent compared to other countries where no lockdowns are imposed; leaders completely dumb to the fact that the repercussions of the lockdown far outweigh the benefits
- State Government letting people in then locking us down. Letting interstate people in when there was covid there (while other states blocked them) and then getting locked down.
- Impossible to get a covid vaccine for under 40s even if you want one combined with relatively slow rollout of the vaccine* (while you can practically get the vaccine in every other developed country)
- Rise of issues that have no interest to majority of population (LGBT, equality, Aboriginal rights) to a point where they crowd out issues affecting the population
- Rising push to change national symbolism because it offends segments of the population (Australia Day, rewording of the national anthem)
- Rise of political correctness to a point where you have to be careful about what you say in case you offend someone
- Poor attitude where people are becoming more entitled, and less willing to work hard
- Anecdotal evidence of rise of employees faking claims to receive compensation from their employer
- Decline of friendliness; not long ago people were happy to speak to strangers, while people are becoming increasingly wary of others and also full of complaints
- Incompetent leaders and opposition leaders at both the federal and state level with no vision for the future whatsoever
- Federal and state governments took on enormous amount of debt and continue to embrace debt, while completely ignorant of the consequences, which are certain to come
- People are always arguing for handouts and not thinking about where the money is coming from
- Media is conformist; the media is almost completely of the one opinion with no opposing views (primarily leftist viewpoints)
- Leaders and media are always attacking China and Russia
- Attacking China for human rights issues but ignoring far greater human rights abuses in India and Saudi Arabia (that Australia implicitly supports) along with many other countries around the world (e.g. Saudi killings in Yemen receive no coverage in the media)
- Attacking China for its sovereign issues but ignoring separatist movements and uprisings in Israel, Spain, Lebanon, Chile and other parts of the world
- Taking the lead in provoking China to a point where Australia is the only country China has imposed such harsh economic sanctions and tariffs on, while Japan and India (that are also part of the Quad) have escaped unscathed
- Leaders and media dogmatically suck up to the US
- Vilifying individuals the country dislikes (Richard Pussey – when he didn’t commit any crime, Eddie McGuire – for jokes he made, Dave Hughes – for stating something he doesn’t agree with)
- Supporting its losers on the world sporting stage who have achieved nothing except stir controversy while never giving due credit to true champions (Nick Kyrgios v Novak Djokovic)
- Adulation of certain occupations only because they provide a public service (fire fighters, police, nurses)
- Significant share of population thinks they are living in the best country in the world, which is blatantly incorrect, subjective, and biased
- Majority of population are overweight while thinking they are not overweight
- There are other reasons I dislike Australia too (such as geographical distance) but the outlined reasons have developed over recent years
* As of June 2021
Update September 2021
- Tyrannical restrictions apply when most other western countries have no or limited restrictions despite higher covid numbers. Melbourne holds the world record for most number of days in lockdown, following which covid numbers exploded, showing a complete failure in controlling covid while achieving harsh lockdowns
- Allowing covid to spread in NSW and Victoria due to poor hotel quarantine systems and inadequate controls. It was a blatant failure of the state governments to implement any measures when Indian travellers were returning to the country, which led to this prolonged and now uncontrollable outbreak. Furthermore, Victoria was letting people in from NSW despite their high case load and the chief response officer said that they very confident that covid would be controlled and then decided to lockdown less than a week after his comments
- Deliberately thwarting people from the right to protest by stopping public transport. All the while its citizens look down on and mock protesters
- Mandatory vaccinations for certain occupations and to enter hospitality and entertainment venues, effectively destroying the lives of people who oppose vaccines. There is no freedom of choice in this country
- Incorrectly advising citizens to take vaccine shots 4 weeks apart, when it is proven that this reduces vaccine efficacy
- The Prime Minister jets off to the US while travel restrictions are still in effect. The Prime Minister is free to take off on another overseas jaunt, yet its citizens are subjected to stringent restrictions on entering or leaving the country which no other country has in place
- Australia initiating the AUKUS security pact, once again taking the lead on a belligerent stance against China, which has dismayed our neighbours including NZ, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as angering France due to the treachery in cancelling the submarine deal
- Australians are supportive and at the very least complicit of its actions against China. It is shocking that there has been no uprising or protest, when there are protests on leftist issues such as refugees or womens rights
- Appalling treatment of Djokovic who had been granted an exemption to play in the Australian Open and then stripped of it, rendering the Australian Open an inconsequential tournament as it deliberately expelled qualified players from competing (Jan 2022)
Australia masquerades as a democracy when in fact it is governed as a dictatorship.
Upon reflection, Australia has always had a racist past. Perhaps it was foolish to ignore such a dark history and believe that it could change. For decades, this country adopted a White Australia Policy, intentionally took away the rights of its indigenous population, loved racist banter, and looked down on Asians. Australia was America's dog in every war, willingly participating in pointless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, Australians expressed unease over Chinese foreign investment and frowned upon Chinese (both local and international) buying up property without paying the same attention to investment from other countries.
2023 Update:
- Deteriorating health outcomes (longer wait times, reduced bulk billing, increasing obesity)
- Declining education outcomes since 2000 (reading, maths and science)
- Increasing homelessness since 2006
- Middle class being priced out of housing while the cost of living crisis begins to impact them
- Two thirds of the population supportive of the offensive (not defensive) submarine and missile acquisition
- effectively rendering Australia as a state of the United States that would likely participate in any conflict the United States is involved in given its record in participation in previous wars
- and adding to the already enormous amount of public debt
- Australia has always discriminated against Asians. I experienced bullying in schools.
- People not happy Asian students and buying property. Bamboo ceiling - Asian no representation in executive and political roles standing up for Asian values.
- Australia will join the US in what it decides to do. I don't want to be in Australia during a war as discrimination increases, never feel safe, media coverage - the media are all totally against China and the general population is against China
