Originally Posted by the troubadour

Tend to agree there. Time frame far too short. Things move slowly Out West. Besides that would Perth become the number one city?

Besides being a head office for various resource companies that perfom the task up north there is little to suggest any real valid reason for Perth to be more than that.

Water looks to be a very big factor as well into the feasabilty of future greatness.

Originally Posted by Deancm_MKII

If Perth was more established it would be the best place to live in Australia. As it stands right now, visiting Perth is like visiting Melbourne in the early eighties.

In 20 - 30 years, Perth will be the place to be in Australia.

Originally Posted by Deancm_MKII

You should have seen what Perth was like in the eighties...

Originally Posted by GreenMan72

Good points. Maybe I am optimistic, but to me, Perth has a great template to build on with its excellent climate.

Other factors such as infrastructure, affordability etc can be altered, whereas the climate is (to an extent) unchangeable.

Originally Posted by the troubadour

So what has prevented this happening to a far greater extent in the past?

Originally Posted by the troubadour

So what has prevented this happening to a far greater extent in the past?

Originally Posted by GreenMan72

You are probably in a better position to tell me given I've never lived there. I just get the impression that a lot of people are disgruntled with the infrastructure, cost of living etc etc.

Personally those things do not bother me so much and I think I'd be happy with the way things are (my biggest driver is its climate - I am financially stable and do not want much out of life other than a nice place to hang my hat :-)).

Originally Posted by HelenTD

My theory: smug complacency of long-time Western Australians, many of whom hadn't even left the state back in the 1980s; dislike of things/ideas from "over east" or overseas; a "nothing wrong with Perth" attitude; more long-time Western Australians compared to "newcomers"; totally incompetent politicians and bureaucrats at national, state and local level; cronyism and general bovine (aka laid-back) nature of general population. (Hope that doesn't come across as insulting to cows.)

Originally Posted by the troubadour

Oh yes. You have described it to a tee. Recall all the shoddy deals that were part of the period in the 80s.Banks, politicians and big business corrupt practices and the loss of so much tax payers dollars in the process.
The great Australian sense of Apathy ruled supreme and only a few gave a 4x.
Brian Bourke,corrupt police the list goes on and on .....long before the time of most folk here now on BE though.

Originally Posted by Kalenge

Because the OP asked ... "Why the negativity?", and "Can anyone give me some positives about Perth or WA as a whole?"

Generally I dont bother with these type of threads as they so often go nowhere, but thought I'd chip in to counter the usual negativity. I guess it's a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Originally Posted by renth

Observation Shitty Hotel?

Still, not as bad as QLD under Sir Joh.

Originally Posted by renth

I was here then too - remember "Bondy" and WA inc. and the shady deals to build Observation Shitty Hotel?

Still, not as bad as QLD under Sir Joh.

Originally Posted by the troubadour

I do although not in WA for most the eighties always knew what was happening through friends here in politics at the time.

Anyone who suggestered this was anything but the Wild West must have had their head in the sand.

Queensland,now that was something else. Joh ran that like his personal kingdom.
Yet the folk,or many of them seem to adore him. Call a spade a spade and strong on law and order allowing a lot of Queenslanders to happily disconcern themselves from politics and let him get on with it.
Hinze,his massively overweight police minister was another self opinionated full of live(in the sense of being in your face) red neck character as well.

Life is sure different today......isn't it?

Originally Posted by Japonica

Why is it that if someone actually likes Perth then they must be in denial, living in ignorant bliss, looking at the city uncritically? That seems a pretty broad generalization.

I don't know of anyone here who is "uncritcial in acceptance and in bliss with their environs." The people I know who like Perth and want to stay here do so with a pretty substantial appreciation of the situation. They know the infrastructure needs work, the road system sucks (ugh Kwinana), it's expensive, it's a million miles from anywhere. You can be critical of your home and still like it enough to keep living there.

In the end, it makes no difference what people say...some will like Perth, some will despise it...funny though that we don't see the endless "I hate Sydney" and "Melbourne bites" threads on here. Again, expectations. I didn't come to Perth expecting it to be something it's not and cannot provide. That's like moving to Regina and being ticked that it's not Vancouver.

Originally Posted by fish.01

It was disgusting under Joh. Don't forgot the gerrymander that allowed him to remain premier with his party sometimes getting as little as 20% of the vote.

Originally Posted by Deancm_MKII

You obviously have no idea what the difference is between the inner urban population versus greater metropolitan area population.

Those figures are for the inner urban area and not the greater metropolitan area. Comparing a city such as Perth you need to compare the greater metropolitan area otherwise you are comparing apples and oranges.

Following on from Birminghams wiki:

"Birmingham's metropolitan area, which includes surrounding towns to which it is closely tied through commuting, is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000"

I could do the same for Manchester. Geography not your strong point?

If you are a teacher, God help the kids.