‘Decline’: ‘Lucky country’ going to the dogs

Australians have taken to the internet to vent about the nation’s “decline”, saying our reputation as “the lucky country” is dissolving.

Unattainable house prices, a struggling education system and the demise of treasured Australian brands were all among the factors cited by pessimistic residents.

The flood of worry for the country’s direction came in response to a viral Reddit thread titled: “Is it just me or is Australia just totally ‘blah’ at the moment?”

“I’m in my early fifties and just look around and feel like this great country is directionless, boring and divided,” the author of the original post said.

“Nothing much to look forward to and be proud of anymore. Is this because I’m getting older and have passed my youth, or is it something more? Do younger Aussie Redditors feel the same, or hopeful and excited about where we’re headed?”

The post has been upvoted well over a thousand times, and at the time of writing had attracted about 900 comments – with an overwhelmingly negative tone.

We’ve collected some of the most eloquent ones below.

“I don’t feel particularly excited about the future,” said user ProfessionalKnees.

“Mostly it’s because of financial pressures and worrying about old age: I can’t afford a home, and I don’t have a huge family so I’m worried that unless I spend every waking minute working, I won’t be able to afford a safe future for myself.

“I also think we’re in a bit of a cultural decline. Music festivals are getting cancelled, there isn’t a lot of good Aussie content on TV or at the cinema, and hospo is copping it. The Australian brands and stores I grew up with have closed down and there haven’t been a lot of quality replacements. There are these weird, soulless, pop-up experiences everywhere that seem to be only created so people can take photos of themselves pretending to have fun, and then go back to worrying about how they’ll afford to put food on the table.

“I don’t love it. I want better for us all!”

Another user, Isisius, argued Australia was “a shadow of the country it used to be”.

“We could once be proud of our world class free healthcare system. No one in Australia had to pay a cent to visit a doctor, you just went. Hospitals’ emergency didn’t have 12+ hour wait times, nurses weren’t being forced into doing triple shifts,” they wrote.

“Our public school system was up there with the best in the world. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is in a critical state. The conditions for teachers are just horrific, not the pay, even teachers will tell you the pay isn’t the issue, but the sheer amount of admin they are expected to do, plus apparently the jobs of the parents.

“We have gone from a country where a full-time employee earning a median wage could afford a home, because his loan was only four to five times his annual salary, not 15-20. And the fact that people actually considered them homes, not investment vehicles you could rent out to peasants to grow fat on like the fedual lord you are.

“Somehow, a household income has gone from one person working full-time with the other looking after the kids, to two people working full-time but no real increase to buying power.

“What exactly is there to be proud of or excited by in Australia? We have been shown to be a nation of shortsighted, greedy, selfish lemmings.”

User Christopher theorised that Australia was “a few years behind” Canada and Britain. Like many other commenters, he brought up the issue of housing affordability.

“We are slowly moving back to a feudal-style society where the rich are the ones who own multiple houses and the serfs are pretty much renters,” he said.

“Housing has been so expensive that it’s sucking capital that could be used to create innovative business and other industries.

“Mass migration is also causing a population trap, where our economy is basically addicted to immigration to grow but our infrastructure doesn’t grow with it, also causing a drop in living standards and GDP per capita.

“Since it looks good on paper that overall GDP is increasing but not on a per capita basis, every time we are close to a technical recession, the government is gonna basically open the immigration floodgates to increase GDP. It’s a vicious cycle.”

CrashedMyCommodore – not a great omen as usernames go, it must be said – claimed people in their generation “have no future except what basically amounts to indentured servitude”.

“I can’t afford a house, I can’t afford kids, I can barely afford a new car,” they said.

“Most of my money goes to rent-seeking landlords and putting food on the table for myself. Going out to do anything costs an arm and a leg.”

The thread continued in much the same vein.

The original poster later thanked everyone for their “incredible comments and thoughts”.

“I think the scope and magnitude of the response here suggests that what I’m feeling isn’t just a product my age and demographic (Gen X),” they said.

“I take solace in that, but mourn that our ‘lucky country’ seems to be wallowing in this insular cultural, political and economic malaise and that it’s such a struggle for younger people.

“I’ll try and change my perspective to ‘glass half full’, but it’s hard when you’ve grown up in a golden age that’s turning into tin.”

Poetically put.