Australia Melancholia

 

 Keelan and I took a one month journey to Australia back in September, a follow-up trip from last year’s excursion to Melbourne and Sydney.  We managed a quick four-day trip to the beautiful North island of New Zealand after arriving in Sydney first for a few days, staying in a very charming and bohemian bed and breakfast home in a funky Sydney suburb called Newtown.

The first part of our trip started in Los Angeles checking in at LAX. We got checked in at 8pm but our plane was delayed until 10am the next day. With very little information or instructions from Qantas Airlines, it took us two hours to find which shuttle to take to our assigned hotel where we were to stay for the night before taking our plane the next morning.  The hotel was in Long Beach, so far away from LAX. We only had four hours of sleep as the shuttle returning to the airport picked us up at 6am the next morning. All I have to say is that LAX operations is not very organized when an international flight is cancelled or delayed and the airlines offers to put its travelers up in surrounding hotels in the LA area.

Once we arrived in Sydney, my daughter Keelan and I spent another wonderful time in the ‘land down unda,’ as we had a great desire to return after a three month stay last year. I was able to spend more time actually participating in typical Aussie events like going to the horse races at Randwick Track; going to pubs to drink beer with beautifully handsome Aussie mates; going to Farmers Market every weekend to buy our organic vegetables; watching footie and cricket games at the city parks, and going to some fashion shows among Sydney’s fashion elite.  As much as all that was fun and different from what we would do in the ‘States,’ I could not help but observe something lacking the socio-economic mores of the Australian society.

Australia is a country that is stuck in the 1980’s, much where America was during Reagan’s time as President. It’s heavily encouraging young men to join the army. The TV advertisements are pushing military pride and recruitment while it heavily encourages young men to join the army, in the same manner as Reagan’s administration’s war machine did to push military recruits during the 80’s. Though some say that Reagan was responsible for ending the Cold War as a result of his timely media announcement to let the Berlin Wall fall.  However, not many foresaw that he was beginning to ramp up the military in anticipation of the approaching war on terror.

The Conservative government of Australia that is currently in office has eliminated such social programs as school training, mentally handicapped benefits and assistance to immigrant families. There has been an increasing government push to disavow new immigration, encouraging stricter policies to curb the flow of entering immigrants into the country. Economically, the AU government is starting to deregulate industries – shipping production out of China and India more and more. They don’t even want to usher in alternative energy projects in support of maintaining their prize and well-lobbied coal mining industry. Sadly, coal only represents 1% of AU’s GDP- hardly an economic prize for their shaky one-dimensional economy. Australia prides itself in its strong natural resources. But the government did not put energy into production and manufacturing. No wind turbines or solar panels, and very little electric car importation. I have only seen two Teslas in Sydney in the six weeks I stayed in the city.

Social welfare programs? What is Australia’s long term plan? People’s dependency on social welfare cheques which discourages work incentive. Lack of services in the food and hospitality industries is a fine example. If people are not tipped then they don’t want to go that extra mile to give good service. If the service is not there, then repeat or returning patronage is decreased – not to mention negative word of mouth and the powerful effect of social media influence on public opinions.

I found that when living among and interacting with Australians, they are insecure with themselves generally, socially awkward and lack simple etiquette. I might meet a well-educated person, well traveled and have success in their career, but they lack social graces, charm and courtesy when talking with me. At times I’ve witnessed down right rudeness when if in Europe or in the US, men in particular are usually gallant, gentlemanly and chivalrous. Not in Australia. I’ve been told that even if a man fancy’s you, they’ll still act rude to stand out. It’s a form of wooing, the rooster fluttering its feathers to get your attention. I’ve heard that recently, Australian businessmen are now hiring etiquette teachers to show them the more refined manners and social graces in order to move among their international counterparts on the same social level. I even met an Australian businessman in Las Vegas last year who spoke to me in proper English but with a faint Australian accent.  Later, after speaking to him on the phone while he was back in his native land, he reverted back to speaking in a very heavy Australian draw. He told me that he spoke proper English when he travels internationally for his business meetings, but that he’ll speak his typical Aussie accent when back at home. As a fact, a great many of these men have not acquired these social graces from their upbringing, nor from their education.

No matter what my misgivings are about Australian people, I still think that they are the most humorous, fun-loving and charitable people in the world. I love Australia and I love their culture, their food, the atmosphere and city sites. And I particularly love their accents. It’s a country I could see myself retiring to later when I am ready to settle down.