Australia in genral

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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Why do Victorians like their bloody AFL?

Why does our (Victorian) Police Comissioner look like Big Kev?

Why can't the state liberals win elections?
 
why kant tori spell... nah, just kidding.

as for the state Liberals, that is a long term historical thing. Maybe they just can't get their act together, maybe people see fit to vote them in federally and leave it at that, who know? I have a theory that it's all of the above combined with a tendency for the state parties to house some of the more out-there reactionaries in their ranks. And let's not forget the Nationals either (in Queensland at least, still basically the main opposition party. And in Queensland, they have Joh's rotting corpse to thank for their doldrums. Yes a lot of people loved Joh, but that era stinks like hell nowadays, and the changing nature of the state affects things too, urban vs. rural).
 
One place I visited in my recent trip to Turkey was Gallipoli, which is important to Australians. We went to ANZAC Cove and looked at all of the graves. It was so sad. Some of those boys were only 17, 19 years old when they were killed. Fifteen out of the twenty four people on my tour were Australian, and another three were New Zealanders. It was a really moving experience for this American.
 
I envy Wanderer and every other Aussie on this board for living in what is truly one of the most beautiful countries on earth.

I'm planning my first trip to Oz next year and I know so much about it that I feel like an Aussie myself (s'truth! fair dinkum mate!!).

Its so hard to believe that from beginnings as a prison colony it has turned into one of the most saught-after places to visit and live.

It really surprises me that Aussies would even THINK of going on vacation outside of Australia - why would you leave paradise???

Where can I start? The beaches, the reef, the people, the cinema (Priscilla ROX!!), the music (Kylie, INXS, Savage Garden/Darren Hayes, AC/DC, Men At Work.....the list is ENDLESS).

As you can tell, I'm REALLY looking forward to my trip and exploring everywhere from Sydney to Perth and from Adelaide to Darwin......



Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie!!! OI OI OI!!!
 
just make sure you dont have anything bad when u try to get in, customs and quarentine get awful picky. and yes australia is an incredibly sought after plce to live, just dont come illegally, those dentention centres arent too nice. Australia is great and to get into specifics Melbourne is the single greatest city
 
I can't wait to get out of the hellhole that is the state of Queensland and move to Melbourne at the end of this year. I hope that one day, I have the chance to leave Australia and move back to New Zealand, as New Zealand is far closer to being paradise than Australia ever could be (seriously, AchtungBono, don't spend all of your time on the wrong side of the Tasman; New Zealand is better, especially if you want amazing scenery and rugby). But as it stands, Australia offers me a better university education and there are people in this country who I don't want to leave.

Truly, could someone please explain why Queensland is so popular with tourists and why people move here in droves? It's too hot, too sunny, not exactly very cultured, appallingly planned, scenically uninteresting on the whole (Great Barrier Reef and a few other features obviously excluded from that statement) ...

Also, it'd be nice if the Australian customs laws were relaxed just a bit, to permit the import of New Zealand apples and Arataki honey. I've always found Aussie apples just a bit too flavourless, and Arataki's manuka honey is the only honey I truly love.
 
A_Wanderer said:
Why do Victorians like their bloody AFL?

Why does our (Victorian) Police Comissioner look like Big Kev?

Why can't the state liberals win elections?

I need to ask, why can't victorians win their bloody AFL?
:lmao:

Best thing about Victoria is it's football.

I deleted the rest of this, as Vic bashing is not helpful :wink: But feel free to bash Sydney. :yawn: and Australia, Axver.

And A_W, the Libs cant win state because they're shit.
 
My Country
by
Dorothea Mackellar
(1885 - 1968)



The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackellar
 
My daughter and her class sang the following song in school assembly and there was not a dry eye in the place!
It was beautiful!!


RAINING ON THE ROCK
Words and Music by John Williamson

Pastel red to burgundy and spinifex to gold,
We've just come out of the Mulga where the plains forever roll.
And Albert Namatjira has painted all the scenes,
And a shower has changed the lustre of our land.



And it's raining on the Rock,
In a beautiful country,
And I'm proud to travel this big land,
As an Aborigine.
And it's raining on the Rock
What an almighty sight to see,
And I'm wishing and I'm dreaming that you were here with me.


Everlasting daisies and a beautiful desert rose
Where does their beauty come from heaven knows.
I could ask the wedge-tail but he's away too high,
I wonder if he understands it's wonderful to fly.

It cannot be described with a picture,
The mesmerising colours of the Olgas.
Or the grandeur of the Rock
Uluru has power!

And it's raining on the Rock,
In a beautiful country,
And I'm proud to travel this big land,
As an Aborigine.
And it's raining on the Rock
What an almighty sight to see,
And I'm wishing and I'm dreaming that you were here with me.
 
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A few negative things about Australia...

We've got a shite anthem no one knows the words to. Give me the Turkish, Tunisian, Brazilian national anthem anyday.... or Men At Work's Down Under.

Aussie music in the 80's was the best in the world, now it's the worst in the world.....

We've got a shite flag. Simple horizontal stripes would be nice, or the Eureka Sockade southern cross flag.

We're not a republic

John Howard has been PM for 10 years and it's a national disgrace that someone like Downer could get into politics.

New South Welshmen and women

Sydney

Queensland (cept for the northern bit)

Rugby League

Real football is called soccer and real football is not the national sport.....yet (i hold hope)

The VFL is now the AFL :(

There are very few decent Aussie TV shows

Private Schools are among the most elitist in the world

Everything is too far away

Our history is tarnished by a genocide committed against the indigenous population. (although no one speaks of it)

There has never been a civil war in which Victoria, SA, WA, NT and Tassie won independence from those "people" up north. That would be utopia, almost.

We've never won a fifa world cup.

There is an anti-Victorian bias in the selection process for our national cricket team.
 
Our history is tarnished by a genocide committed against the indigenous population. (although no one speaks of it)
I think that the history wars attest to the rigorous debate going on with that topic, the assertion that there was ever a willfull campaign of genocide conducted by the colonial authorities has been challenged in recent years.
 
watching the news recently it seems that aboriginal culture isnt so good for australia, with women and children being sexually assulted and bashed, and alice springs being one of the most dangerous cities IN THE WORLD!. and SOCCER is catching on, its the most popular participation sport at the moment, over taking cricket...geez i wonder why couldent be that its not cricket season could it!. imagine what would happen if Australia won the FIFA world cup...or even beats brazil in the pool matches!.
 
intedomine said:
A few negative things about Australia...
What i've just read,you may want to change your heading to "A few negative things about NSW"

We've got a shite anthem no one knows the words to. Give me the Turkish, Tunisian, Brazilian national anthem anyday.... or Men At Work's Down Under.[/QUOTE]
Just because you don't know the words ,does not mean the rest of Australia does not either...bloody learn the words!

[/B]Aussie music in the 80's was the best in the world, now it's the worst in the world.....[/B][/QUOTE]
So what..........!

[/B]We've got a shite flag. Simple horizontal stripes would be nice, or the Eureka Sockade southern cross flag.[/B][/QUOTE]
Yawn...........!!!

[/B]We're not a republic[/B][/QUOTE]
Yet!
Who would you like to see President then!

[/B]John Howard has been PM for 10 years and it's a national disgrace that someone like Downer could get into politics.[/B][/QUOTE]
Ummmmm.........there is a technique called "voting"....use it!

[/B]New South Welshmen and women[/B][/QUOTE]
Up yours!!! *gives the finger*


[/B]Sydney[/B][/QUOTE]
MOVE!


[/B]Queensland (cept for the northern bit)[/B][/QUOTE]
*confused* MOVE!

[/B]Rugby League[/B][/QUOTE]
Oh mate....you a grasping at straws now!

[/B]Real football is called soccer and real football is not the national sport.....yet (i hold hope)[/B][/QUOTE]
I like soccer too! But i'm afraid to say it will never be the nations game!

[/B]The VFL is now the AFL :( [/QUOTE]
*confused*

[/B]There are very few decent Aussie TV shows[/QUOTE]
But we have a wonderful array of "A-List" actors

[/B]Private Schools are among the most elitist in the world[/B][/QUOTE]
Is this a bad thing?????

[/B]Everything is too far away[/B][/QUOTE]
But.....you were just complaining...nevermind!Don't move then!


[/B]Our history is tarnished by a genocide committed against the indigenous population. (although no one speaks of it)[/B][/QUOTE]
What country has not! I speak about it,and it is now in the schools curriculum....so now our kids will know.

[/B]There has never been a civil war in which Victoria, SA, WA, NT and Tassie won independence from those "people" up north. That would be utopia, almost.[/B][/QUOTE]
I hope you are joking! That would be the most disturbing thing i've read yet on these forums...a fellow countryman wishing war on another! You are a deadset disgrace!!!!

[/B]We've never won a fifa world cup.[/B][/QUOTE]
Neither has alot of other countries!!!

[/B]There is an anti-Victorian bias in the selection process for our national cricket team. [/B][/QUOTE]
Wonder why..........is it 'cause maybe they are just crap!!!

:rant:
 
Hahahahahaaa!


Well done, fly so high, a vigorous defense of one's national honor is always welcomed.

intedomine is probably a commie
 
Apparently you (Australians) consume even fewer vegetables than we (Americans -- I'm assuming they mean the US) do. :ohmy:

However, a greater portion of our veggies are potatoes and we consume more carbs (and I doubt a lot of them are complex) overall.

Here's the article from The Sydney Morning Herald from April 7 of this year:


AUSTRALIANS eat fewer vegetables each year than Americans, a new report has found.
Australians consume an average of 162 kilograms of vegetables each year, including potatoes, compared with Americans' 189 kilograms, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics report said.

While both countries have dramatically improved their vegetable intake over the past three decades, Australians are now eating only the amount Americans were eating in the 1970s. And that amount is not increasing.

"The recent trends in per-person consumption in both Australia and other developed countries suggest that per-person consumption of vegetables is unlikely to increase significantly in the short to medium term," it said.

Dr Tim Gill, the principal research scientist at the NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition said Australians had fallen short of the amount of vegies required for a healthy diet.

Australians should try to eat about 146 kilograms of vegetables a year, not including potatoes, or 400 grams a day.

He also cautioned against concluding Americans were healthier eaters, observing that Americans tended to consume more carbohydrates.

Indeed, potatoes represent about half of America's vegetable intake, compared with 42 per cent for Australians, the report found.

Changing cultural habits and eating arrangements, such as eating out, were the main culprits behind the vegetable deficiency, he said.

"It's not as if families sit down and mum prepares the evening meal these days," he said. "A lot of it is preprepared."

The report confirmed this trend, finding Australians consume about a third of their vegetables in restaurants and that, despite an abundance of local fresh vegetables, processed vegetables made up about half of Australian vegetable intake.

But most vegetables consumed in Australia are produced locally - just 8 per cent of vegetables are imported, the report found.


Vegetable consumption, 1998-99

Potatoes 42%

Other root and bulb vegetables 15%

Tomatoes 15%

Leafy and green vegetables 12%

Other vegetables 16%

:D
 
intedomine i have a horrific problem with your attitude, did you know that wishing civil war in australia is ILLEGAL its a thing called treason, its punishable by life in prison..although i think trators deserve death!. im from melbourne as well but you dont here me being completely bias against all other states, whats wrong with having a league of all states playing footy and there is no bias in cricket selection have you ever heard of a guy called shane warne, yeah hes from victoria!. and so australias never won a FIFA world cup, we make up for it in cricket world cups and olympic/commonwealth gold, weve only been to the FIFA world cup once. and you torrade about private schools leads me to assume you were rejected, well im a private school boy and there is no elitism is most private schools, scotch college maybe but not most places.
 
Those Scotch bastards :wink:

The private school issue seems extremely dubious, the majority of families that send their kids to private schools are not rich and they will pay to do what they think is best for their kids, wanting to go out and punish them for this is wrong - parents should be given education vouchers and there should be no government money going to any private schools.
 
Gee, some people take things a bit too seriously...

All of a sudden I'm a commie....i dont know how that conclusion was reached. Please explain.

The Civil War comment was taken to literally. Sorry if it, somehow, offends? It was meant jokingly I'm very much a pacifist and war is never a good thing. But I do believe there needs to be some kind of restoration of state pride and rivalry because I just think it would be good for the nation rather than relying on a government based a long way from cities such as Perth, Cairns and even Hobart. It's almost like foreign empire. There's no community spirit anymore. The best place to start would be to promote what is special about being Victorian or New South Walesian or whatever.....and I love Victoria and Melbourne and it means more to me than Australia....even if no one else shares such a feeling.

I wish the VFL never expanded interestate cause the AFL clubs seem to lack any real identity anymore. They have become just brands whilst about half of the remaining Victorian clubs are gonna merge, relocate or dissolve eventually. Plus, most NSW don't have much interest in AFL yet.

No one can justify the axing of Brad Hodge from the Aussie test team......it was disgusting and it wouldn't have happened if he was from NSW or QLD.

I know the words to Advance Australia fair, I just don't like them and many people dont know 'em and many people think it sounds bad.

Where's the logic in having another country's flag on Australia's flag? Hard to have national honour when your country is supposedly still a British colony.

I didn't vote Downer into parliament...

Most of my comments were petty and cheap shots, I'm sorry you didn't see them that way.

Jeez....
 
A_Wanderer said:
Those Scotch bastards :wink:

The private school issue seems extremely dubious, the majority of families that send their kids to private schools are not rich and they will pay to do what they think is best for their kids, wanting to go out and punish them for this is wrong - parents should be given education vouchers and there should be no government money going to any private schools.

I agree pretty much wholeheartedly.

If someschools are struggling to provide opportunity in academia, sport and the arts, then it makes sense to divert the government money from well-off private schools and into struggling state schools.

Let's face it, some private schools have more money than is necessarily, and are merely wasting it on making bigger gymnasiums and bigger swimming pools


No one is saying, or should be saying, PUNISH parents who send their kids to private schools, They are only doing what they deem is logical, and are giving their child every chance to strive and succeed. Common sense, and I'd do the same if I had kids and money.

It's just there is no sense in children being PUNISHED because they just so happen to be born to parents who have NO CHOICE AT ALL in sending them to a school which provides greater opportunity.

To fix this discrepancy is something the world should pursue.

Ultimately, the goal should not be merely equalisation, but from this moment on, raising the standard of every school, to the equal of the most perfect private school.

It would be a major victory for those who believe in privilege based on merit.
 
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fly so high! said:

What i've just read,you may want to change your heading to "A few negative things about NSW"

We've got a shite anthem no one knows the words to. Give me the Turkish, Tunisian, Brazilian national anthem anyday.... or Men At Work's Down Under.

Just because you don't know the words ,does not mean the rest of Australia does not either...bloody learn the words!

Aussie music in the 80's was the best in the world, now it's the worst in the world.....[/B][/QUOTE]
So what..........!

[/B]We've got a shite flag. Simple horizontal stripes would be nice, or the Eureka Sockade southern cross flag.[/B][/QUOTE]
Yawn...........!!!

[/B]We're not a republic[/B][/QUOTE]
Yet!
Who would you like to see President then!

[/B]John Howard has been PM for 10 years and it's a national disgrace that someone like Downer could get into politics.[/B][/QUOTE]
Ummmmm.........there is a technique called "voting"....use it!

[/B]New South Welshmen and women[/B][/QUOTE]
Up yours!!! *gives the finger*


[/B]Sydney[/B][/QUOTE]
MOVE!


[/B]Queensland (cept for the northern bit)[/B][/QUOTE]
*confused* MOVE!

[/B]Rugby League[/B][/QUOTE]
Oh mate....you a grasping at straws now!

[/B]Real football is called soccer and real football is not the national sport.....yet (i hold hope)[/B][/QUOTE]
I like soccer too! But i'm afraid to say it will never be the nations game!

[/B]The VFL is now the AFL :( [/QUOTE]
*confused*

[/B]There are very few decent Aussie TV shows[/QUOTE]
But we have a wonderful array of "A-List" actors

[/B]Private Schools are among the most elitist in the world[/B][/QUOTE]
Is this a bad thing?????

[/B]Everything is too far away[/B][/QUOTE]
But.....you were just complaining...nevermind!Don't move then!


[/B]Our history is tarnished by a genocide committed against the indigenous population. (although no one speaks of it)[/B][/QUOTE]
What country has not! I speak about it,and it is now in the schools curriculum....so now our kids will know.

[/B]There has never been a civil war in which Victoria, SA, WA, NT and Tassie won independence from those "people" up north. That would be utopia, almost.[/B][/QUOTE]
I hope you are joking! That would be the most disturbing thing i've read yet on these forums...a fellow countryman wishing war on another! You are a deadset disgrace!!!!

[/B]We've never won a fifa world cup.[/B][/QUOTE]
Neither has alot of other countries!!!

[/B]There is an anti-Victorian bias in the selection process for our national cricket team. [/B][/QUOTE]
Wonder why..........is it 'cause maybe they are just crap!!!

:rant: [/B][/QUOTE]


Well done mate, couldnt have put it better :clap: :clap: :clap:

very well said, i dont think any one sholuld slag off their country
even if their are some things you dissagre about, every place in the world is like that and thats life
 
That is exactly not what I was saying, your talk of "equalisation" is just the same redistribution class-divide shit that Latham tried to pull off last election. it is appropriating money and redistributing it away in the name of equality that I have a problem with, it is the slurring of the private schools as elitist and the proposed solution that would just drag everything down.

Australia has a fairly well balanced system, some things are definitely changing for the better (e.g. dumping mandatory student unionism, reforming HECS at a tertiary level - opening up for full-fee students). Cutting all government funding to private schools and instead offering a voucher system to parents not taking money away from private schools is much better idea and would give parents choice without taking away anything directly.
 
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LOL! i dont think indetermine was being serious, although he seems rather passionate about a great city, and well a pretty CRAP state! hahaha

I live in Melbourne, but am a northern territorian through and through and shudder if someone calls me victorian, but then what a bit of friendly competition between states?

Indira, i think the reason why americans eat more vegetables is a little something called FRENCH FRIES (or freedom fries?? are they still called that? hahaha) ;)

Reasons why Australia rocks

We have a pretty good socail system here. sure we have plenty of dicks controlling it AND rorting it but to give someone almost $500 a fortnight to "look for work" is pretty good.

SAme goes with medicare, yeah yeah its going to poo atm, but still we can go to the dr's for less then $10 a visit for working people and nothing for pov or students like me.

Sure we have arseholes and psychos like every society but on the whole its a pretty healthy safe country. We have no rabies, malaria and other type diseases, we have free vaccinations and we don't have hundreds of murders everywhere

We are multicultural, and on the whole compared to places like the US, we embraced that wholeheartedly. I love being able to experience different cultures living in Melbourne.

good food, good scenery, mostly friendly and helpful people


lots of others but thats all for now...

and the bad things

This obsession with sport. GET OVER IT! Just because someone can kick a ball or hit a ball or something doesnt mean they can get paid millions of dollars and be in my face every day. I hate it and cricket/soccer/and footy are the worse culprits of that. Case in point Sam Newman for being an ex footballer and a right tool and still having a job.

The fact that it takes a day at the least to get anywhere drving, and that we have only one proper airline that goes to most places. Like one flight a day to alice springs. WTF? We live in the dark ages when it comes to travel!

I hate that it costs more then $2000 to get out of the bloody country to go anywhere different and interesting hahah

and lastly, that we get compared to or mixed up with new zealanders! *shudders more* I dont know HOW they can say we sound similar, when they sound like they are talking with a speech impediment/brain disorder, and we sound normal. HAHAH

oh and how we have like two political parties that are exactly the same and little simpering bitches to each other and really have no alternative to them.
 
dazzlingamy said:
LOL! i dont think indetermine was being serious, although he seems rather passionate about a great city, and well a pretty CRAP state!

What's wrong with the state?:(

Wilson's Prom is gorgeous and the Great Ocean Road is an amazing drive.

Ballarat feels amazing when you go there. I can't explain it but it's unique.
 
Rochelle D said:


Well done mate, couldnt have put it better :clap: :clap: :clap:

very well said, i dont think any one sholuld slag off their country
even if their are some things you dissagre about, every place in the world is like that and thats life [/B][/QUOTE]

I thought the topic was opened so that one could voice their criticisms and opinions about Australia.

I think everyone's got the right to slag off their own country. In a democracy, one's grievances must be voiced. It's the only way things will get done.

Should pride be limited just to the nation? Is there something wrong with having greater pride in one's community or state? I think not, state and community rivalry is healthy and should be encouraged. We, as the jigsaw pieces that make up Australia, can learn from each other.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with not liking Rugby League, wanting your national football team to win a world cup, reckoning that the cricket selectors are bias, wanting a new national anthem, wanting a new flag or thinking that Victoria is better than the Northern states. Pretty much eveything else I said was a joke.....
 
A_Wanderer said:
That is exactly not what I was saying, your talk of "equalisation" is just the same redistribution class-divide shit that Latham tried to pull off last election. it is appropriating money and redistributing it away in the name of equality that I have a problem with, it is the slurring of the private schools as elitist and the proposed solution that would just drag everything down.

Australia has a fairly well balanced system, some things are definitely changing for the better (e.g. dumping mandatory student unionism, reforming HECS at a tertiary level - opening up for full-fee students). Cutting all government funding to private schools and instead offering a voucher system to parents not taking money away from private schools is much better idea and would give parents choice without taking away anything directly.

Specify how this voucher system would work and I might support it

The ultimate goal must be to ensure that children who might have only one parent working in a hard, low-paid job are given every opportunity to become the next James Morrison, or Professor Clark, or Shane Warne or Cathy Freeman or John Howard or Missy Higgins. At the moment, we know that that is not a reality. If a proposed voucher system delivers equal opportunity, then i will support it all the way, but otherwise, what solution is there? Higher taxes that will be directed into greatly improving the education system? Voters will never support that.

I'm fed up with seeing the hopes and dreams of children stifled by the failure of an education system that is discriminatory in it's offering of opportunity.

If a voucher system will solve this, then it's the way to go.

But ultimately, what harm is there in having a goal in which every school is equal in terms of the opportunities they can offer.
 
dazzlingamy said:
We are multicultural, and on the whole compared to places like the US, we embraced that wholeheartedly.


Hahahhahaaa!!

Cronulla riots anyone?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Cronulla_race_riots


"More than any other cultural or ethnic group, Muslims and people from the Middle East are thought to be unable to fit into Australia, with more than half of Australians preferring their relatives did not to marry into a Muslim family."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/18/1045330603395.html


Australians are just as racist and intolerant as everyone else on the planet, stop kidding yourself
 
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