COMMENT | A reminder we live in best country on earth

It’s easy to forget how good we have it here in Oz. But a quick comparison between life Down Under and in other countries can really put things in to perspective, writes Mike O’Connor.

It all seemed so rosy just a few short months ago. Wages would go up and we’d all be better off without that dreadful Scott Morrison occupying The Lodge.

As it turned out, real wages are going down and prices are going up and we’ve been told that unfortunately this trend will continue.

But didn’t Prime Minister Albanese promise that. Ah well, you win a few and you lose a few and in any case that was all before the election so it didn’t really count.

Meanwhile in sunny Queensland, Premier Palaszczuk and her merry band stumble from one farcical misadventure to the next blaming Scott Morrison, Campbell Newman and the dog that ate their homework for their collective, chronic and ongoing failure to deliver good and decent governance.

The voters will deliver their judgment at the next election, due to be held in a little over two years, and I suspect it will be a harsh one.

You could, of course, escape by taking that long-awaited holiday, except that thanks to Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce’s decision to use Covid as an excuse to sack all the airline’s baggage handlers, you might go to Bali but your luggage will go to Alaska.

There is, however, a bright side to these distressingly inconvenient truths, which I am happy to share, but for which I cannot claim credit, this being due to a Frenchman and an American.

The Frenchman, who is called Pascal, is charged with the thankless task of overseeing my comic exertions at his gym, which he calls Grip and Grit, but which I call Grunt and Groan.

We were chatting in between grunts recently and he said that he became angry when he heard Australians complaining about their homeland.

“This is the greatest country in the world,” he said.

“Go to Europe, go to France, go to Paris and see how life is there now and then come back here and see the difference. There is nowhere like Australia,” he said.

The American is writer David Mason, who visited Australia and made the following observations.

“Healthcare. Your basic national healthcare is a gift. In America, medical expenses are a leading cause of bankruptcy. The drug companies dominate politics and advertising.

“Food. Yes, we have great food in America too, especially in the big cities, but your bread is less sweet, your lamb is cheaper and your supermarket vegetables and fruits are fresher than ours and don’t get me started on coffee. In American small towns, it tastes like water flavoured with burnt dirt, but the smallest shop in the smallest town in Oz can make a first-rate latte. And I love your ubiquitous bakeries.

“Language. I love the way institutional names get turned into diminutives – Vinnie’s and Salvos – and absolutely nothing is sacred. Everything’s an opportunity for word games and everyone’s a nickname. Lingo makes the world go round.

“Free-to-air TV. In Oz, you buy a TV, plug it in and watch some of the best programming I have ever seen – uncensored. In America, you can’t get diddly-squat without paying a cable or satellite company heavy fees. In Oz a few channels make it hard to choose. In America, you’ve got 400 channels and nothing to watch.

“Small shops. Outside the big cities in America, corporations have nearly erased them. Identical malls with identical restaurants serving inferior food.

“Religion. In America, it’s everywhere – especially where it’s not supposed to be, like politics.

“Roads. Peak hour aside, I’ve found travel on your roads pure heaven. My country’s ‘freeways’ are crowded, crumbling and insanely knotted with looping overpasses.

“Real multiculturalism. I love the distinctiveness of your communities and the way you publicly acknowledge the Aboriginal past.

“Fewer guns. You had Port Arthur in 1996 and got real in response. America replicates such massacres several times a year and nothing changes. Our religion of individual rights makes the good of the community an impossible dream. Instead of mateship we have ‘It’s mine and nobody else’s’. We talk a great game about freedom, but too often live in fear.

“There’s more to say – your kaleidoscopic birds, your perfumed bush in springtime, your vast beaches. These are just a few blessings that make Australia a rarity.

“Of course, it’s not paradise – nowhere is – but I love it here. No need to wave flags like Americans and add to the world’s windiness.

“Just value what you have and don’t give it away.”

Amen to that.