Dick Smith: 12 reasons why Australia one of the best countries in the world

Dick Smith considers he ‘won the lottery of life, just by being born in Australia’. Here he gives 12 reasons why. Have your say.

I believe we live in one of the best countries in the world. Here are 12 reasons why:

1. We are away from political hotspots, and we feel very secure.

2. We have a small population; only three people per square kilometres. That’s fantastic.

3. Our passports are among the most highly valued and welcomed in the world. We can travel to over 100 countries, and I’ve done that.

4. We’re generous to other people who are less well off. Australia helps other countries with our foreign aid of over $4 billion a year.

Dick Smith has travelled to over 100 countries – and Australians are welcomed at all of them. Picture: Justin Lloyd

6. One of the other best things about Australia, and I have done this over the last 12 months, is that you can go right around our continent without having to show any paperwork or have a passport. We have no land borders, which is very good for our security.

7. We can afford to travel overseas, and more than 9 million Australians did this last year.

8. We have freedom of religion. There’s over 40 different religions in Australia and we’re generally pretty tolerant.

9. Our country covers a huge changing latitude, from the warm seas and the monsoons around Darwin, to the bracing cold in southern Tasmania. We can go from skiing in the morning in the Australian Alps and drive down the coast and go to some of the best surfing beaches in the world. So we’re incredibly fortunate.

Australia is “incredibly fortunate” to cover a huge changing latitude, from warm seas and monsoons to the bracing cold. Picture: Nikki Short

10. We have about nine hours of sunshine a day in Australia, compared to 4.8 hours a day in London.

11. We have four doctors per thousand people, which is one of the highest ratios in the world.

12. I think one of our greatest attributes is mateship; we help each other.

I’m 80 years of age now and, in my lifetime, we’ve grown from a population of about eight million to now 27 million. And I’ve been very fortunate to be part of that.

I consider I won the lottery of life, just by being born in Australia.

Dick Smith is an entrepreneur and former Australian of the Year.

Originally published as Dick Smith: 12 reasons why Australia one of the best countries in the world