Well I hope you do; every capital city except for Melbourne, Canberra and maybe Hobart (I've never been) has kick ass beaches nearby. Melbourne has good beaches maybe an hour and a half away though, so they're still close enough to visit on the weekend.
More seriously, our politics can best be described as dull; our two main parties are centre-right and centre (centre-left depending on the issue) and are generally considered a mostly inoffensive disappointment (with the leader of the opposition shading into offensively disappointing).
We like to play with tourists about our deadly environment, but for the most part, it's not really an issue. Snakes and crocs generally avoid cities, shark attacks are rarer than you would think and unless you live in the tropics, most of the nasty stuff will never be seen. Just give spiders some healthy respect, and wear proper sunscreen (SPF 30+ and up) when you go to the beach and you'll be fine.
We have very tight gun and firework laws (unless you're a farmer, you can't have your own gun outside of a gun club, fireworks beyond sparklers require a pyrotechnicians license), extremely strict import controls (6-12 month quarantine of any living plants or animals for example), but a relatively low crime rate.
Beer is insanely popular (it takes the edge off the heat), but we have several world class wineries across the country. Oh, and don't ever order a fosters unless you want to be laughed out of the country; no Australian has drunk that here in 20 years.
If you're a skilled migrant (either major trade like electrician etc., or educated engineer, we have a streamlined immigration system for you too! Other than that, we have good schools, and great healthcare if you want to raise a family.
We are mostly an extremely friendly population (that is in the words of my international colleagues btw, not just blind nationalism) but we have a subspecies similar to the redneck known as the bogan. You'll see them with southern cross tattoos, singlets and "fuck off we're full stickers". The rest of the country apologises for them :/ Unfortunately, they are just as common in the cities as in the country, so they're hard to avoid.
Now, time for the dirty side. I have heard some people consider the rest of us racist beyond the actions of our bogans. That seems to be from a few different things;
1) Our indigenous population is rather badly off; average life expectancy is nearly 20 years less than the population as a whole, they have much lower rates of higher education and they tend to occupy a far lower socio-economic position. That said, the government is trying to address this, with things like scholarships and additional funding for anyone of indigenous descent, but change is slow, and many people feel it could be a lot faster.
2) Somehow, boat people is an issue (the maybe a couple of thousand illegal immigrants among the tens of thousands we get every year). Don't ask me why. I have no idea; it was spun up as a stink some years back, and has lead to some very depressing results. We have 'offshore detention centres' where we can process refugees without letting them touch aussie soil (and thus being able to claim asylum under international law). This is actually sickening to most of the more liberal (in the traditional sense; The Liberal Party is our centre right political party, which is a bitter irony) residents, and there is a lot of activism about it.
3) To a lesser degree than the above; we have a tendency to refer to foreigners by slang. Americans are Yanks, British are Poms, New Zealanders are Kiwis, and South Africans are Yarpies. These are meant in good faith, and have no derogatory meaning, beyond good natured ribbing about traditional rivalries like sport. That said, other terms, like Wogs (mediterranean european) and chinks (asian) used to be used. They are considered offensive (mildly for wogs, very for chinks), and been steadily dying since the 80s, but they do occasionally rear their ugly heads.
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Topic: Moving from America (Read 14517 times)