We can do better — but is there anywhere else you’d rather be?

Australians are a prosperous and generally tolerant people and yet our big cities have never been more divided, or our regions under more strain. I still can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather live.

While Australia’s major cities remain divided, there is nowhere I’d rather be, writes Bernard Salt. Picture – Getty Images

After a lifetime of looking at the lives and lifestyles of the Australian people through a demographic lens, what have I learned?

I have learnt that we are a prosperous and a generally tolerant people. Since the end of World War II we have welcomed millions into our communities, including international students who cluster in university precincts.

We have developed our modern nation through agriculture and mining, and created narratives around rural life such as Clancy of the Overflow. But today, especially west of the Great Divide, it’s a different story. Young Australians typically leave the regions after high school and head to the big cities in search of job opportunities, education, training and relationships. And then, after university, there’s often another migration to destinations overseas. We are a colonial people with a yearning to test our mettle in bigger markets.

Australia’s biggest cities are divided by class, religion and socio-economic status. Picture: Sarah Matray

Our biggest cities are vast, but they are also divided. Middle Australia now dominates the middle suburbs. Low income households generally follow the distribution of public housing, which is often located near the city’s edges. This is very different to how things were over a century ago when struggling workers lived within walking distance of factories in places like Collingwood and Redfern.

Today the inner city is largely the preserve of the well-to-do, of the educated, of the childless, of those least likely to have any form of religious affiliation. Perhaps the sharpest contrast in the social divide was revealed by the 2023 Voice referendum, where people in the centre of our big cities tended to vote Yes. The 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite also revealed a divide between the progressive views of central Sydney and the traditional views of modern Bankstown.

But perhaps the most impactful social shift over the past half-century has been the postponement of couples having children – which has led to a greater demand for tertiary education and to a general upskilling of the workforce. A single scientific step like the development of the contraceptive pill in the ’60s transformedrelationships and, over time, diminished labour pools globally. Indeed, the control of fertility will bring about a contraction in world population later this century.

The introduction of “no-fault divorce” in 1975 freed many from the bonds of an unhappy relationship and helped reshape the narrative of everyday life. Most Australians are married or involved in a committed relationship by the age of 30. Kids usually arrive across the thirties. By the mid-forties there’s separation and divorce – not for everyone, but for many.

By age 55 many couples downshift and downsize. In their sixties, grandchildren arrive. The happiest time in life, according to a new Census question on mental health, is the 15 years or so after retirement. Belief, or more simply spirituality, becomes more important later in life too – so church strategists should plan for bigger congregations by 2035.

Yet despite all these social changes, we still manage to deliver most Australians a good quality of life. We can do better, of course, especially for those at the margins, but overall I’d have to say I still can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather live.